King County offering Kaiser Permanente health plans to employees
Crossposted from Healthy Incentives During Open Enrollment (Nov. 1-15), King County employees can choose Kaiser Permanente’s SmartCare Connect plan. It offers high-quality care provided by the highest-ranked medical group in the state.1 It also has the lowest out-of-pocket costs of all your plan options. Now is the time to review your options and choose the plan with the coverage, convenience, and cost that best fits your medical needs and your life. Selected for care and convenience King County has selected Kaiser Permanente SmartCare Connect for a number of reasons, including the quality of care available and the… Read More
Tech Tip: Power BI is not a superhero, but it can turn you into one!
Microsoft’s Power Business Intelligence (Power BI) is a KCIT-delivered service that creates useful and powerful visualizations from your data. With visualizations, it’s easy to tell the story you’ve always wanted to tell but couldn’t get the staff of graph paper on your side. The analytics piece of the program allows you to test and explore ideas. KCIT is delivering Power BI training Dec. 6 for the incredibly low price of $75.00. Sign up and become your team’s newest superhero. Register here.
General Election ballots due Nov. 7
Don’t forget to vote! Ballots for the General Election are due November 7. Here’s how to return your ballot: By mail: Put a first-class stamp on your ballot and mail it back to King County Elections. Your ballot must be postmarked by Election Day. Ballot drop box: Return your ballot to any one of the 54 ballot drop-off locations; no stamp required. Your ballot must be returned to a ballot drop-off location by 8 p.m. on Election Day. Accessible voting centers: King County accessible voting centers (AVCs) are open to voters who may have difficulty completing their mail… Read More
Going beyond carbon neutral: New solar panels installed in our parks
Crossposted from King County Parks Plog In the fall of 2016, DNRP announced it achieved carbon neutrality a year ahead of scheduleby removing or reducing more GHG emissions than its operations create. But we didn’t stop there! For the past year we have continued to make changes in our department with a green mindset. Recently, two of our parks became a little more sparkly with the welcome addition of more than 300 solar panels. We’re pretty psyched about the project. Check them out! Marymoor Park Last month 112 new solar panels were installed at the North… Read More
KCInform test will help us reach employees in emergencies
Thank you to everyone who participated in Tuesday’s test of KCInform, King County’s employee emergency notification system. The results of the test will be used to ensure we can reach employees in an emergency with critical, time-sensitive information – at work, home or on-the-go. If you haven’t yet registered your personal contact or work cell information, please contact kcinform@kingcounty.gov or 206-296-3830 (between 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday – Friday) to request your unique registration link. Watch this short video to learn more or visit our website.
A job with a view
This article originally appeared in the Seattle Transit Blog. It features Link operator Kevin Gumke. In a tight workspace with barely enough room to turn around, light rail operators enjoy some of the most unusual views of Seattle from their cabs as they traverse the city. Like all Link operators, Kevin Gumke started out driving for King County Metro Transit, before transferring over to the light rail side in 2010. To qualify, bus drivers must have a squeaky-clean driving record and complete 8 weeks of paid training, starting with a week of classroom instruction. “It’s… Read More
King County Noxious Weed Program launches web pages in four languages!
Crossposted from Noxious Weeds Blog Want to learn more about noxious weeds in Spanish—or know someone who does? How about Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, or Somali? Well now, King County’s Noxious Weed Control Program has made a start to offer just that. This week, the program launched a revised and expanded version of its Spanish web page, along with four brand new web pages hosting noxious-weed-related resources in an array of languages. You can find these pages gathered under a new “Languages” landing page as well as linked directly in the right column of the noxious… Read More
eCourt: Case filing made easy
With over 200,000 case filings a year, King County District Court clerks processed 2,429,000 pieces of paper in one year alone using a 1980’s software system jokingly referred to as the ‘black screen of death’. In order to improve workflow efficiency, expedite cases and reduce their carbon footprint, District Court is launching eCourt, a new electronic case management system that offers new functionality County employees and residents will enjoy, electronic filing being one of them. “Not only the Court is reducing its carbon footprint, we’re helping other people reduce their carbon footprint on… Read More
King County Executive, Governor celebrate Colman Dock project and our future home
Crossposted from the Captain’s Blog As crews continue to build King County Water Taxi’s future home, Executive Dow Constantine, Gov. Jay Inslee and other transportation leaders took time last week to celebrate the progress of the Seattle Multimodal Terminal at Colman Dock Project. The Executive was one of the keynote speakers at a celebration inside Colman Dock, the state’s busiest terminal, which overlooks the site of the Water Taxi’s future Passenger Only Ferry (POF) facility. Executive Constantine – who has long made improving mobility throughout the region one of his priorities –… Read More
Recognizing service and sacrifice of DAJD employees
On Oct. 24, the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention honored friends and colleagues for their outstanding service and sacrifice at the 18th Annual Employee Recognition Award Ceremony. “To me, there’s no greater responsibility than serving the public, including our youth,” King County Councilmember Dave Upthegrove said at the event. “And it’s a duty we all share, and it’s an effort and a battle that you fight every day. This deserves to be acknowledged, and you deserve this recognition. So on behalf of myself and the King County Council, I want to… Read More
