The True Stories Project – 8 Stories: 1 Division
The Prevention Division of Public Health – Seattle & King County held it’s first ever all-staff gathering. From the variety of diverse programs in the division, this short video by Drew Emery captures eight stories that show what we have in common: we care.
King County Elections and community partners kick-off General Election voter engagement
Earlier this year, King County Elections and the Seattle Foundation launched a pilot program to engage limited-English speaking voters. After soliciting two rounds of proposals, 22 organizations received funding for their voter outreach field plans. In total, the pilot program has awarded nearly $242,000 for community-based voter engagement. On August 16, those community-based organizations officially kicked-off their work at Elections Headquarters in Renton. “This represents a new way of doing voter outreach and community engagement in general,” said Director of Elections, Julie Wise. “Rather than assuming we know the right way to… Read More
Celebrating 50 years of work to keep our waters clean
Crossposted from the Wastewater Treatment Division blog In 1966 the Wastewater Treatment Division was created to protect our waters and our health every day. Here’s one story of our progress. – By Monica Van der Vieren Raw sewage flowed from pipes at every street end. River waters in cities were so dead that fish would avoid swimming upstream. “Scum and toilet debris floated on the water,” said one person, shaking his head. “It stunk.” That was the Puget Sound region 50 years ago. Half a century later, WTD is celebrating all of… Read More
Ryerson Base wins safety competition
Ryerson Base has won the 2015 Base Competition Award. As part of the Transit Safety Program, a Base Accident Competition was initiated in 1982. Each base is analyzed by how many collision per million miles they have had and that is compared to the previous years performance. The base with the most improved accident record is recognized for their achievement. This year the award was won by Ryerson Base who reduced their collisions by 19.7 percent.
Ideas to Boost Survey Participation Rates
Today we started our series of engagement survey orientation trainings. At the very end we did a brainstorm exercise to generate ideas for boosting participation in this year’s survey. Our response rate last year as 60% which is good enough to make the data valid, but we’d like to see more people participate. For the brainstorm exercise we asked people to write an idea on an index card and then exchange cards 3 times with people in the room anonymously rating each idea on a scale from 1 – 5 where 5… Read More
Interim HR Director provides employee satisfaction from the outside in
It’s not easy to step in to a new role, especially for a short time. It takes an understanding of the job duties, but also an appreciation of its goals and culture. Susie Slonecker has stepped into the role of interim Human Resources Director with just this, as well as an awareness of the work being done and also a positive and collaborative way to improve upon it. A northwest native, Susie first came to Washington for college, attending the University of Washington, Seattle. She returned to her hometown of Eugene, OR… Read More
Executive reaffirms commitment to immigrant and refugee services
Foreign-born residents face particular challenges upon arrival in the U.S., and King County employees have been easing the transition for immigrants and refugees in the area for nearly forty years. King County Executive Dow Constantine visited the Downtown Public Health Center in Belltown Thursday with members of the media to thank those County employees and to show examples of the important services King County provides to immigrants and refugees shortly after they arrive from Sea-Tac International Airport. In light of the national attention immigration is currently receiving, Executive Constantine wanted to showcase… Read More
Social Media Spotlight: King County Department of Public Defense blog
For The Defense tells stories about the people who work for King County’s Department of Public Defense: Their work, the issues they face, the challenges they experience and the successes they celebrate. It looks at the criminal justice system through the lens of public defense — issues of racial disproportionality, the criminalization of people who are poor and mentally ill, reforms that are needed to make the system fairer and more equitable. Finally, it looks at the clients we serve. When we can, we’ll tell their stories, too. Follow the For The… Read More
Featured Job: Industrial Maintenance Electrician
Closing Date/Time: Mon. 08/29/16 4:30 PM Salary: $39.63 – $41.56 Hourly, $82,430.40 – $86,444.80 Annually Job Type: Career Service, Full Time, 40 hrs/week Location: West Point Treatment Plant – 1400 Discovery Park Blvd, Seattle, Washington Department: Department of Natural Resources & Parks – Wastewater Treatment Division Description: This position performs a variety of highly skilled journey-level work constructing, troubleshooting, maintaining and wiring a wide variety of equipment and conducting preventive maintenance programs. This position requires the use of analytical skills in implementing various aspects of process control. The Wastewater Treatment Division is committed… Read More
Kudos! Compassion and respect earn client kudos for public health nurse
This note came to the department’s public inbox this month. For context, many state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) offices include an office staffed by public health nurses, who are based in nearby public health centers and deliver Maternity Support Services (MSS) and limited family planning services. One of those nurses is Paddee Buzzard, from Federal Way Public Health Center. To Whom This May Concern- I found out I was pregnant early on and was completely scared. I came in to DSHS to take another test and to just talk to… Read More
Employee News 