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Holiday travel? Metro will help you get there
Emergency exercise tests communications ahead of World Cup
King County Wins 2025 Geospatial Professional Network Award for Innovative AI-GIS System
Recognizing the service of Metro veterans
News
Breaking down barriers with Supported Employment: Janet Mejie
King County’s Supported Employment Program matches job seekers with developmental disabilities to jobs by identifying efficiencies and unmet needs throughout King County government. One of the new hires is Janet Mejie, who recently started working in Transit Safety & Training section. “It’s made us more efficient and more effective as a safety staff in general in the Safety office to have this type of backing and support from Janet,” said Michael Marks, Superintendent Transit Safety. Watch the short video below that highlights Janet in the Supported Employment Program and contact Christina Davidson to learn more about ways you… Read More
Helping employees get back to work
King County’s Return-to-Work (RTW) Program assists employees who have been injured or ill transition back into the workforce, a program that benefits both employees and the County. “This year I’m looking to place two employees with temporary medical restrictions in Renton with the Elections team during their upcoming busy election schedule,” said Jamie Christensen, Disability Services Consultant with King County’s Disability Services, Leaves and Supported Employment section in the Department of Human Resources. “If I can find employees for departments requesting transitional duty workers, then that’s interviews that departments don’t need to… Read More
Reaching out to diverse job seekers at career fair
Teams from around King County, including the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Public Health, Transit, Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Sherriff’s Office, and Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention, spent the day at the recent Pacific NW Public Sector Diversity Career Fair in Renton help build pipelines and networks with job seekers from diverse communities. “It was part community outreach and part straight recruiting,” said Julie Dunn, Employment Manager with Department of Human Resources. “We were asked to participate as one of the sponsors, and they wanted to get a bunch of our… Read More
Don’t forget to vote!
Dear Colleagues, It’s election time! You should have received your ballot for the November 6, 2018 General Election. If you haven’t, make sure to get a replacement ballot online or call 206-296-VOTE. I know that voting can be stressful, even downright intimidating with all the instructions and information. Here’s the good news. You’re not going to do it wrong. Whether you use a pink glitter pen, forget to use the security sleeve, make a mistake or skip some races, no problem – we’ve got you covered. We can securely count your ballot… Read More
Honoring the victims of Pittsburgh synagogue attack
Dear fellow King County employee, On Saturday morning we woke to the terrible news that 11 innocent people had been killed by a gunman in a hate-filled anti-Semitic attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue. We grieve for those who lost their lives celebrating their faith among family and friends. We stand with the people who lost loved ones and the entire city of Pittsburgh. This horrifying event is another tragic reminder that we can no longer accept the status quo. When not even our places of worship are safe from gun violence –… Read More
Training Spotlight: Building Change Management and Effectiveness and Basic Data Visualization
Building Change Management and Effectiveness, Nov. 5: In this 2-day program and learning lab for change agents and teams responsible for stewarding a change initiative or program for their department or division, we will focus on the tools and processes necessary to produce change acceptance and help the initiative make progress. Designed for teams and team leaders responsible for making a change be successful, we will work through the Change Acceptance Process Model (CAP) and each team will directly apply the tools to their change project, thus making actual team progress over the two days. Rather… Read More
SNOM phones replacement project
KCIT is completing the SNOM phone replacement project that began at the beginning of this year. Since January, more than 1,200 devices manufactured by SNOM have been replaced. There may still more SNOM phones around King County yet to be found, and KCIT needs help locating them. Employees are asked to check their workspaces, and if any of these phones are found in service or sitting around as a spare, contact KCIT at the number below or send an email to ZZGrp, KCIT Production Ops UCM with subject line “SNOM REPLACEMENT.” KCIT will arrange for… Read More
Pet of the Week: Hershey
Crossposted from Tails from RASKC We have a sweet one for Pet of the Week: meet Hershey! This young girl was brought in by her previous owner because they had too many cats. Hershey can be pretty shy at first, but when she knows that she can trust you she will melt in your arms! Her personality color is “Bashful Blue,” meaning she is a gentle and loving cat who likes to take things slow. Read more at Tails from RASKC
Kudos! Water Taxi receives rave from Seattle Times readers
This piece was featured at the top of the Seattle Times’ Rant and Raves list for October 20, 2018. Kudos to our efficient King County Water Taxi! “RAVE I’ve had many opportunities to interact with the King County Water Taxi crews this year, mostly going to and from Sounders and Mariners games. They are always efficient, polite, and have a great way of making sure everyone gets aboard before taking off — and yet are never late!”
King County tax transparency tool helps residents estimate the impact of proposed taxes on their property
Recently profiled in The Seattle Times, this new tool offered by the King County Department of Assessments allows for property owners and renters to see exactly how much in tax they would have to pay on their individual properties. The Tax Transparency Tool is useful because it is more personal and precise in its calculations. Assessor John Wilson explained this as an essential part of its design. “The intent here isn’t to take sides one way or another,” Wilson said. “You just want people to understand.” Read more in the original article at The Seattle Times.
Launch of Professional Development Scholarship Fund
In support of Executive Constantine’s commitment to Investing in YOU, King County and the Coalition of Unions are pleased to launch the Professional Development Scholarship Fund Program. Scholarship funds will be awarded to eligible employees for training that occurs in 2019. The intent of the scholarship is to support employees in achieving their career goals at King County or enhance their work related skills. The maximum total amount an eligible employee can receive for the year in training funds is $2,500. Applications are now being accepted for training that will begin anytime between January 1, 2019 – March 31, 2019…. Read More
Considering KingCare Select? Hear what your co-workers think
Crossposted from Balanced You Open Enrollment is just around the corner. Are you considering the newest health plan option, KingCare Select? Watch the video below to learn what a few King County employees think about this plan. Note: At this time, the KingCare Select medical plan is not available to Deputy Sheriffs, Sheriff Captains, and TEA-Transit employees.
Employees practice “Drop, cover and hold”
On Thursday, October 18 King County participated in the Great Washington Shake Out, an earthquake drill to help residents prepare for the next possible earthquake. This even included the Senior Leadership Team, who dropped, covered, and held on until the drill ended. Pictured here are Labor Relations Manager Bob Railton, Chief Operating Officer Casey Sixkiller, Director of Labor Relations Megan Pederson and Chief People Officer Whitney Abrams.
Q&A with our Elections translators: Signe Chan, Chinese
Crosposted from Election Connection We’re highlighting the great work our translators do helping make our elections and services accessible to every member of the community. Here we sit down for a brief Q&A with Signe Chan, our Chinese language translator. What is your background and what brought you to working in local government at King County? My family immigrated to the United States when I was a teenager. Often times I have to interpret for my parents and elderly friends who speak limited English. Helping people is one of my specialties; I started… Read More
The many ways to vote in King County
King County Elections makes it simple and convenient for voters throughout the county to make their voice heard. In addition to offering prepaid postage, Elections also provides accessible voting centers and an online ballot marking program for people who need assistance completing their ballot. The accessible voting centers are operated by trained staff and have special equipment available to help voters with disabilities cast a private, independent ballot. The equipment is a special machine called an Accessible Voting Unit (AVU). It has a touch screen and audio ballots to accommodate voters. These centers guarantee all King County voters… Read More
U.S. Department of Defense to present awards to King County and DAJD
The Department of Defense’s Employer Support of the Guard (ESGR) will present King County and the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention (DAJD) with awards, Nov. 8, in recognition of their support of County employees who currently serve in the Reserve and National Guard. King County was nominated for the award by Senior Master Sergeant Michelle Helpenstell, a corrections officer with DAJD, who also serves in the Reserve. “When I learned of the Freedom Award I immediately knew I needed to recognize those who have been so supportive to KC military members,” said… Read More
Sisters Who Care about breast cancer awareness
True to their name, the Sisters Who Care really do care about their Juvenile Court colleagues and clients. This group of employees includes African American women who champion various causes and projects throughout the year. They are responsible for the annual Juneteenth celebration, and this month they feature Justice in Pink, a focus on Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Justice in Pink is the brainchild of Superior Court Renton Unit Supervisor JoeAnne Taylor and Renton Juvenile Probation Counselor Darlin Johnson who noticed many co-workers and family members were affected by cancer diagnoses. Justice in Pink is designed to educate Juvenile Court staff… Read More
Look for Open Enrollment information in your mailbox
Check your home mailbox for important benefits and Open Enrollment information mailed recently to the address you have listed in PeopleSoft. Open Enrollment takes place Nov. 1 – 15 and is your opportunity to: Enroll in the new short-term disability plan (Regular employees only)—Learn more at Life and Disability Insurance. To help you decide if this benefit is right for you, use the decision support tools, including videos, claims examples, rates, and coverage highlights. Change medical plans—Use the Plan Comparison Charts and other resources on the Medical plan page to consider whether Kaiser SmartCare or KingCare Select (Regence) makes… Read More
Supported Employment Program recognized at Governor’s Employer Award Program
King County’s Supported Employment Program was nominated for the Employment and Disability Issue Governor Awards for 2018 Public Sector Employer of the Year. The awards ceremony was held at the Microsoft Conference Center on Wednesday, October 17. The program was recognized by the Washington State Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues & Employment (GCDE) for the efforts of public employers (federal, state, local government) and their efforts to recruit, hire and advance the employment of individuals with disabilities. Although King County did not win the award, (hats off to the City of Bellevue) this was a great opportunity to not only… Read More
Employees participants needed for discussion about engagement data
The employee engagement team is looking for employees with ideas on how to improve the county’s response to what employees have said about their experience at King County. Contact Brooke Bascom at Brooke.Bascom@kingcounty.gov if you are interested in participating in a discussion that looks at: Are we responding to the engagement data in the most effective way? What works about action planning at the workgroup level? What doesn’t work about action planning at the workgroup level? What do we need to do that we’re not currently doing to improve engagement at King County? What should we keep… Read More
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