King County’s Nondiscrimination, Anti-Harassment, and Inappropriate Conduct Policy
By Whitney Abrams, Chief People Officer At King County our work is guided by our True North – Making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive – and our values. Our True North and values represent what is important to us as an organization, what we stand for, and the way we act. The way we treat one another and the way we expect to be treated are critical in building a workplace culture based on respect, belonging, and inclusivity. There is no room for any type of harassment or discrimination… Read More
30 years at King County: A love story
By Katie Hayhurst In 1993, Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP) employees Greg Rabourn and Mary Rabourn (née Pehl) began working as Special Waste Technicians in the Solid Waste Division. Little did they know it was also the start of a beautiful relationship. This couple’s “meet-cute” involved 900 acres of squishy garbage at the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill. Greg started working one month before Mary was hired and agreed to take the new person out for a tour of the landfill. Mary recalled the scene as semi-trailers slowly shuffling 40 yards… Read More
Reminder of required training: We Are Racially Just: Our King County Values at work
To reach our True North – a welcoming community where every person can thrive – we must achieve racial justice. “We Are Racially Just” is a core value of King County. Through personal testimonies from King County employees, the We Are Racially Just: Our King County Values at Work eLearning course explores what it means to be racially just and helps to familiarize employees with King County’s Pro-Equity and Anti-Racist actions and identify behaviors that can support these actions at work. This training helps to ensure that each of us understands what it means to be… Read More
King County’s Ruth Woo Emerging Leaders Fellowship: Empowering tomorrow’s public service leaders
We are excited to introduce the 2023-2024 Ruth Woo Emerging Leaders Fellows. The Ruth Woo Emerging Leaders Fellowship offers a unique one-year, paid fellowship and is dedicated to nurturing the next wave of public service leaders. Inspired by Ruth Woo, a dedicated advocate of public service and mentor to elected officials, the Fellowship provides immersive experiences across various County departments. Fellows will actively contribute to projects aligned with King County’s core values of equity, social justice, and community well-being, engaging in tasks ranging from supporting government initiatives and strategic planning to tracking… Read More
My proposed one-year supplemental budget
Dear fellow King County employee, Today I transmitted to the County Council the mid-biennial budget proposal, which revises the County’s 2023-2024 budget that was adopted last fall. This is the first step in a two-month public process, leading to Council adoption in November of a final County budget. As I shared back in April, the county’s general fund is facing a significant shortfall due to the state’s arbitrary and outdated one percent limit on property tax collections – the largest source of revenue for the general fund. This cap, combined with rising inflation and increased costs,… Read More
Celebrating employees who provide customer service
National Customer Service Week is Oct. 2-6 and an opportunity to recognize the hundreds of employees at King County who serve and support customers on a daily basis. “We focus on the customer” is one of the County’s core values. To standardize the customer service approach at King County, a new Customer Service Playbook offers guidance and tips for employees who support customers, both internal and external. Employees who want to further develop their customer service skills are encouraged to take the Customer Service Fundamentals training in NEOGOV. Providing exemplary customer service is what we aspire… Read More
Wounded motorcyclist aided by TFD painter
Early last month, Salvador (“Sal”) Garcia, was returning to South Facilities after finishing up his day painting comfort stations. On his way back, Sal came across a troubling scene—a man was lying on the ground next to three idling motorcycles. Sal knew something was amiss. He could see another man at the end of the block, also harmed, and clutching his shoulder. Sal was worried, so he courageously got out of the van to investigate the situation further. When Sal approached the man, he could tell he was in distress. Sal then called… Read More
We are racially just: Our King County values at work
A message from King County’s Learning & Development team To reach our True North – a welcoming community where every person can thrive – we must achieve racial justice. “We Are Racially Just” is a core value of King County. Through personal testimonies from King County employees, the We Are Racially Just: Our King County Values at Work eLearning course explores what it means to be racially just and helps to familiarize employees with King County’s Pro-Equity and Anti-Racist actions and identify behaviors that can support these actions at work. This training… Read More
Reminder of Racially Just training for all Executive branch employees
King County has launched a new training, We Are Racially Just: Our King County Values at Work, to help ensure that we all understand what it means to be racially just and what we can do in our own work to advance racial justice at King County. “Racial justice necessitates breaking with the status quo, disrupting business as usual, and approaching our work differently,” King County Executive Dow Constantine said. “It can be hard work and it can be uncomfortable, but in order to make progress we must lean into one of… Read More
New Racially Just training for all Executive branch employees
Dear fellow King County employee, One of our core values is “We are racially just.” This means that we work purposefully and intentionally against racism and discrimination, and toward equity for all by building anti-racist and pro-equity approaches into our work, our policies, our budgeting, and our trainings. It means that we make racial justice a central part of how we work and act as King County employees. That is why we have launched a new training: We Are Racially Just: Our King County Values at Work. This training will help to… Read More
Employee News 