Employee News
Telling the stories of King County employees
Crossposted from Public Health Insider As cases skyrocket and hospitalizations increase, Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County and Matias Valenzuela, Equity Director for Public Health, shared updates on COVID-19 spread, reviewed what the public needs to do to turn this trend around, and discussed new data that shows where people most frequently report being exposed to COVID-19.
Crossposted from Metro Matters On Nov. 15, Gov. Jay Inslee announced a four-week statewide set of restrictions in response to the increased rate of the COVID-19 infections in Washington and across the country. King County also has seen an increase in cases, with south King County disproportionately impacted. Since the beginning of the pandemic and especially during this time, the safety of Metro’s employees, customers, and community members remains our highest priority. Read more.
Last week, many King County employees were able to take time to celebrate the Thanksgiving Day holiday, but many employees continued to serve our community throughout the holiday. At this time, as we battle the spread of COVID-19 and care for people impacted by the virus, we want to thank the many employees who continued to serve our community during Thanksgiving. We send a special thank you to the many employees – bus operators, medics and other health care professionals, Isolation and Quarantine Facility staff, corrections officers, sheriff’s deputies, and many others… Read More
The State of Washington has launched a new app that alerts residents if they have potentially been exposed to COVID-19. WA Notify is a simple, anonymous exposure notification tool to help stop the spread of COVID-19. By adding WA Notify to their smartphones, Washington residents will be alerted if they spent time near another WA Notify user who later tests positive for COVID-19. WA Notify uses privacy-preserving technology jointly developed by Google and Apple and works without collecting or revealing any location or personal data. WA Notify is free and can be enabled in… Read More
Seattle CIO, part of a national leadership network that recognizes chief information officers (CIO), recognized Tanya Hannah, King County CIO, with its 2020 Public Sector ORBIE Award. This award recognizes CIOs who have shown excellence in technology leadership, and honors Tanya for her work in government and with education organizations. The CIO of the Year ORBIE Awards is the premier technology executive recognition program in the United States. Since inception in 1998, over 1,200 CIOs have been honored as finalists and over 300 CIO of the Year winners have received the prestigious… Read More
As our Annual Giving Drive winds down, you can still make a difference through the Employee Giving Program. Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving powered by social media and collaboration. For just one day, we have reopened the online pledging system for payroll donations. To join the movement, give now. More than 500 past contributors have yet to renew payroll for 2020. Renewal is easy — but not automatic. Renew now. If you’ve already pledged — thank you for your generosity! On Giving Tuesday and all year, we work with… Read More
Mindfulness and Emotional Resilience – Online – This 2-session workshop introduces techniques specifically designed to enhance participants’ ability to be aware of and respond to difficult emotional situations with both mindfulness and compassion, a combination which cultivates emotional resilience. This training takes place on Dec. 10 and 17, from 9:00am to 11:00am each day. The training is free and space is limited. Register here. Communication and Problem Solving Skills – Online – Join instructor Lenny Borer for this two-day training. He will address communication and problem-solving skills with the public and with co-workers. This two-day class covers skills for effective listening, speaking, dealing with conflicts,… Read More
Access to the PeopleSoft system is now restored for all users. Thank you for your patience.
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in King County and Washington state, we are in a more dangerous time now than we were last spring. We have reached a new peak in case counts – the positivity rate is too high, and hospitalizations are up. The Governor has issued new restrictions to help bring the numbers down. The actions we take now as individuals and families will make the difference. We can all play our part in slowing the spread of the virus by following King County’s COVID-19 workplace safety measures: Do not report… Read More
Employees across King County responded to the call to support one another during the COVID-19 pandemic by donating leave. As of November 13, nearly 285 King County employees donated sick and vacation leave valued at $774,687. Their generous donations have benefited more than 300 employees in need who’ve been granted 23,162 hours of emergency leave so far this year. Some employees have been impacted by COVID-19 more than others and exhausted their paid leave. Access to donated leave has helped them focus on recovering their health or caring for loved ones. “COVID-19… Read More
Some employees are experiencing difficulties accessing the PeopleSoft system. We are working with our support partners to restore service and will send an update when the system is available again for all users. Thank you for your patience.
Drop boxes are a low-tech solution that fell out of favor in the internet age. But the Facilities Management Division (FMD) resurrected these relics from the past to serve customers safely while King County buildings remain closed due to COVID-19. In spring 2020, FMD installed nine new drop boxes in collaboration with Treasury, Records and Licensing, Assessments, and Metro. The boxes typically average 100-150 parcels per week, and that number skyrockets up to 350 parcels a week during tax season. “Yes, people still conduct transactions via the internet; however, there were… Read More
Hi! My name is Maxwell and I am available for adoption. I was brought in by my previous owner on March 3, 2020 because they were moving. I lived in a home with another other cat. My previous owner described me as shy, but loving. I was nominated as the Pet of the Week on 10/19/2020. This means that my adoption fee has been waived. However, please note that a pet license is a requirement and therefore a fee may be applied. This helps my safe return home should I become lost,… Read More
Join instructor Lenny Borer for this two-day online training. He will address communication and problem-solving skills with the public and with co-workers. This two-day class covers skills for effective listening, speaking, dealing with conflicts, and dealing with defensive behavior. This training is $65 and space is limited. It takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 8 and 9, both days from 1-4:30 p.m. Register here. Please visit our King County Eventbrite page website for more opportunities. Winter Seattle College courses have been posted. For more information, contact the Learning and Development Team at KCTraining@kingcounty.gov or visit Learning and Development at www.kingcounty.gov/learning.
COVID-19 has changed so much about the way we work, but one thing that hasn’t changed is that we are stewards of the public’s records. As such, we must maintain both good records management practices and provide timely responses to requests for public records, whether those come from the public directly, or through a public records officer (PRO) or coordinator. The PROs coordinating public records requests are working to collect responsive records as efficiently as possible while trying to minimize disruptions to the important work that is being done under uncommon conditions. One… Read More
As Executive Constantine’s new Chief of Staff, April Putney will be responsible for administration of the Executive’s staff as well as directing external and internal policy coordination and strategic initiatives. Putney previously served as the Director of Government and External Relations, overseeing local, regional, state, and federal relations. Putney replaces Rachel Smith, who was named President and CEO of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce today. Smith, who also serves as Deputy County Executive, will retain that position until she leaves the Executive’s Office at the end of the year. “April brings… Read More
It has been a challenging year, and during this national time of thanksgiving, we would like to take the time to say Thank You to our employees, for their dedication to making King County a beautiful, welcoming, and civic minded region. Thank you for the work you do every day. Thank you to your families and loved ones for supporting you to do it. And thank you to our community, and our region, for allowing King County to serve you. We wish you a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.
Salary: $75,332.82 – $95,489.26 Annually Location: Seattle, WA (telecommute) Job Type: Special Duty Assignment or Term Limited Temp (TLT) Department: DPH – Public Health Job Number: 2020CF12431 Division: Prevention Closing: 12/1/2020 11:59 PM Pacific Learn more about this position or view all available positions.
Crossposted from Public Health Insider As cases skyrocket and hospitalizations increase, Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County, shared updates on COVID-19 and what the public needs to do to turn the outbreak around. “The upcoming holiday season greatly adds to the risk, and to the importance of taking action now. If people travel, or gather for Thanksgiving celebrations or other get-togethers, we could see an explosion in COVID-19, causing human suffering unlike anything we’ve experienced in modern times. We want to remind everyone again that we… Read More
On June 11, 2020, King County declared racism a public health crisis. In partnership with advocates, community-members, and public servants throughout King County government, Executive Constantine put together a package of budget proposals to reform the criminal legal system, and begin an ongoing, multi-year effort to shift resources from systems that cause harm, to upstream programs aligned with racial and social justice. King County staff developed anti-racist policy agendas and biennial budget priorities based on demands from Black, brown and indigenous people of color. To aid in further effective policy and investment development,… Read More