Curiosity and Gratitude
Jennifer Hills, Director of the Office of Risk Management in the Department of Executive Services, was “devastated” when she looked at the engagement scores for her division. Lower than she expected “I was surprised because we’d been doing a lot of strategic planning and our 2012 employee survey results were so good.” Hills resolved to approach the conversation with her 22 person division with “curiosity and gratitude”: curiosity about the underlying reasons for the scores and gratitude for the opportunity to be able to address concerns. This opened the door for honest communication… Read More
Dr. Gene Mueller: Lean supporter, employee advocate, animal lover
With the success of ensuring nearly 9 out 10 cats and dogs find a loving home and lowering the euthanasia rate to an all-time low of 12 percent, people are wondering what’s next for Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC). For this reason KC employees reached out to RASKC Manager Gene Mueller to learn what their secret is and the future direction of the agency. Originally from Illinois and a longtime licensed veterinary practitioner, since 2012 he has worked with King County to build on the work being done and further… Read More
Resurfacing project will have major impact on parking at Goat Hill Garage
Parking spots at Goat Hill Garage will be extremely limited in April. A resurfacing project will temporarily block off part of the 8th floor and the entire 9th floor. Approximately 80 parking stalls will be unavailable for the duration of the project. The work is scheduled to begin during the first week of April, and will take about four weeks, depending on weather. Goat Hill Garage users are strongly encouraged to use other transportation options such as carpools, vanpools, or public transportation. Please visit King County Employee Transportation Program for additional options…. Read More
Kudos! Route 4 bus driver
Just recently a bus rider noticed her route driver had a positive, courteous attitude and thought to share her praise for him with KC Employees. “I was riding on route 4 from downtown towards the Central District. The driver had the BEST attitude and GREAT customer service. There was a panicky rider who though he missed her stop and he handled it with such grace. She even ended up having a nice, relaxed conversation with him all the way until she got off. He greeted everyone and said good-bye to everyone. If you can… Read More
Skype for Business for Interviews
Recently, KCIT Leadership team members successfully used Skype for Business to conduct the first round of interviews for the Deputy Chief Information Officer position. Highly qualified resumes came in from across the U.S. “We scored the resumes but Chief Information Officer Bill Kehoe said the ability to communicate was really important and we didn’t exactly have budget to fly in folks from around the country,” said Alex Jacobson, KCIT Human Resources Associate. Enter Skype for Business. Each candidate had a 30 minute Skype interview with a presentation. “It took a lot of… Read More
Web Advertising on the Assessor’s Website
The King County Assessor will begin testing the viability of web advertising on the Department’s website this week. This Pilot Project for web advertising was approved during the 2015/2016 budget process and is aimed at testing the revenue generating potential of web ads on the Assessor’s website. Web ad security is a priority for this pilot, and a strong security protocol has been put in place to ensure that the ads are not vehicles for malware or viruses. In addition, the content of the ads will be focused on consumer services and… Read More
Best-run government in action: Public Agency of the Year Award
Crossposted from the DES Express King County has been recognized by the Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council (NMMSDC) as the Public Agency of the Year. This award comes thanks to the efforts of Sandy Hanks and the Business Development and Contract Compliance (BDCC) team in FBOD. NMMSDC covers a seven-state area, linking major corporations and public agencies to minority-owned businesses for the past 38 years. King County received the highest number of nominations ever for a public agency, and beat out contenders like the City of Seattle, City of Portland, and… Read More
ORCA cards make transfers between buses and Link free and easy
Crossposted from Metro Matters Now that Link light rail and our northeast Seattle and Capitol Hill bus changes are just around the corner, we’re hearing a lot of questions about how fares will work when using both buses and Link light rail to make trips. Having an ORCA card will be the easiest and cheapest way to pay. This post will hopefully help you better understand how to navigate the Metro and Sound Transit system seamlessly, how ORCA can work for you, the different ways to get an ORCA card, and how… Read More
Child Death Review: Prevention through collaboration
Crossposted from Public Health Insider Since 2003, not a single child in King County has died from a helmet-preventable bicycle injury. What helped lead to this victory? King County’s Child Death Review – a collaborative effort to identify opportunities and interventions that prevent children from dying. As the ‘doctor’ for the community, we are responsible for looking at broad trends and understanding the systems, policies and practices in our community that can prevent disease and death. Our local hospitals look at deaths in their systems, and we look at deaths in our… Read More
Five questions with Paige Shevlin, Economic Development Policy Advisor
1. Why did you start as a policy advisor with King County? When I moved to this area for my husband’s job I considered opportunities across the region including in philanthropy and the private sector but local government appealed to me most. It’s an opportunity to use my federal government experience but have more of a direct impact on people’s lives. King County is especially appealing because it represents the whole region and people live and work across city lines.
Employee News 