Still warmer than normal
Crossposted from KC Emergency News While we won’t see temperatures in the mid-90s like last weekend, temperatures remain warmer than normal. So, take precautions: When playing or working outdoors, wear sunscreen and avoid prolonged exposure to the sun and heat. Drink plenty of fluids. (See more safety tips in earlier post below). Adhere to water safety directives when boating or swimming in pools, rivers, and lakes. Always wear a life vest, even if you consider yourself a strong swimmer. Remember that fire danger remains high and a burn ban is still in… Read More
Seasonal home maintenance seminar
Whether you own your home or are renting, make sure your home is ready for the seasons ahead! This seminar is presented by HomeStreet Bank to help you learn basic home maintenance, what you need to do when the temperature changes, covering the cost of home maintenance and you’ll be provided with a home maintenance checklist. This class will be held at King Street Center, Thursday, September 22 from noon to 1 p.m. Registration is required. Call the Hometown Hotline at 888-425-6990, or visit http://www.homestreet.com/KingCo.
Transit Advisory Commission seeks new members
Crossposted from Metro Matters Do you ride transit and have a desire to improve transit service for everyone? King County is seeking several new members for its Transit Advisory Commission. The commission helps improve transit services, planning, and programs by advising Metro, King County, and leaders about transit policy (visit the website to learn more). The commission’s members include residents and other transit stakeholders. Our goal is to reflect the county’s diversity. Most members ride the bus, and all live in King County. Each serves a two-year term. The commission meets monthly… Read More
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
Employee News 