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News
Employees take noxious weed fight to the streets
The employees of King County’s Noxious Weed Program know they can’t stop the spread of invasive plants on their own, so they’re bringing a secret weapon to the fight – local residents and businesses. “We try to teach people enough so they can do better at controlling these plants. A lot of people want to control noxious weeds and invasive plants, but not everyone knows how. We offer that expertise,” said Sasha Shaw, the noxious weed education specialist. Throughout the year, staff from the program attend public events to answer questions about… Read More
Radio brings out employee’s passion for music
When Sandy Macdonald isn’t working as a civil rights investigator, he is playing music – as a radio host, producer and in a band. “I just enjoy playing the music and I enjoy being part of live radio,” Macdonald said. An 18-year employee with what is now King County’s Office of Civil Rights and Open Government, Sandy gets in the radio booth every second and fourth Sunday of the month to host 91.3 KBCS’s show, “Sunday Folks” from 9 a.m. to noon. The show describes itself as “A morning mix of traditional… Read More
PAO’s Annual Food Frenzy Drive Raises $11,600 for Food Lifeline
The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (PAO) completed its annual two-week fundraising project in July called Food Frenzy, which raised $11,600 for Food Lifeline which equals last year’s total. The money will provide 46,400 meals for hungry children. Food Frenzy is a “friendly” competition between law, accounting and engineering firms with the goal of feeding children during the summer months when food bank shelves aren’t well stocked and school lunch programs aren’t running. The PAO again won the competition in the Public Sector category for 2014 and has won in that category for the past… Read More
Lync Awareness Event at King Street Center
More than 175 employees stopped by the KCIT Lync Team’s booth on July 23 and 24 to learn more about Lync. Some of the questions we heard were focused on: What’s changed in Lync 2013 compared to 2010 Update on the Outlook contact phone numbers in Lync issue How to get your picture in Lync How to get more information and training.
Lunch and Learn highlights County’s efforts to end human trafficking
According to Kelly Mangiaracina, King County’s Task Force Coordinator for Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC), an estimated 300-500 children are forced into prostitution in Seattle every year. When the CSEC Task Force was convened by Juvenile Court Judge Barbara A. Mack in 2013, it hoped to change that. “King County was very fortunate to realize this is an issue. We’re very fortunate to have great organizations in the area that want to do something about it,” Mangiaracina said at the Equity and Social Justice “Stopping Human Trafficking” Lunch and Learn held on June… Read More
Five Questions with Judy Garcia, Director of Probation Services, District Court
1. What was your first role at King County and how did you progress to Director of Probation Services? I began as a Volunteer for the Federal Way District Court Probation Department in 1982, while working for the Weyerhaeuser Company. During my time as a volunteer, I enjoyed interviewing defendants about life problems and writing pre-sentence reports much more than I enjoyed talking with sawmill managers about log inventories, and writing competitor analysis reports. I found working in the criminal justice system, rather than in the timber industry, to be highly interesting… Read More
It’s not waste anymore at King County Transfer Stations
King County is reducing our impact on the environment by helping residents and businesses increase recycling at County owned transfer stations, keeping reusable and recyclable items out of the landfill. Transfer station recycling is up by 2,057 tons or 49 percent over the first half of this year, due largely to a 21 percent jump in yard waste recycling, a 60 percent spike in scrap metal recycling, and a more than 400 percent increase in wood waste recycling. These increases are the result of a number of changes, including the full restoration… Read More
Helping young adults with disabilities make school-to-work transition
The transition from high school to adulthood can be scary for anyone, but particularly for someone who has a developmental or intellectual disability. “You start to become an adult when you leave high school. Whether you’re an 18 or 21 year old like the people we serve, it’s just a pivotal time. Everyone wants to know, ‘Well what are you going to do?,’” Richard Wilson said. Wilson is the program manager who heads up the Developmental Disabilities Division’s School to Work Program. The program works with school districts in King County to… Read More
Transitional Duty Program a win-win for employees and King County
When an employee gets injured at work, returning to their job can sometimes be difficult. That’s where King County’s Transitional Duty Assignment Program comes in. The TDA program helps employees who aren’t medically ready to return to their regular jobs because of temporary medical restrictions. A TDA helps employees get back into a work routine through short-term, temporary work assignments. The TDA program, managed by Human Resources Division’s Safety and Claims, partners with work groups throughout King County to identify short-term work assignments that can be performed by employees with temporary medical… Read More
Disproportionality in the jury room
Three attorneys with King County’s Department of Public Defense are partnering with the Public Defender Association’s Racial Disparity Project to prove what they have seen over and over again in their work as felony public defenders: African-Americans are not only vastly under-represented on juries, they’re also under-represented in the jury pool. Ben Goldsmith and Twyla Carter, both felony attorneys in DPD’s The Defender Association Division (TDAD), and Daron Morris, deputy division director, hope to collect enough data to put forward a compelling case to court administrators and others in the criminal justice… Read More
Kudos! Wastewater Treatment Division employees
I am proud to announce that WTD employees have once again earned the Platinum Peak Performance Award for multiple years of consecutive 100 percent NPDES permit compliance for effluent limits for both West Point and South Plant. AND… Brightwater, Carnation, and Vashon treatment plants will all win Gold Awards this year! The Gold Awards honor treatment works that have achieved 100 percent compliance with their NPDES permit for an entire calendar year. West Point has achieved 100 percent compliance for 12 years, and South Plant has achieved this status for 16 years…. Read More
Project RAMPART saving lives with AEDs
The city of Duvall is now better equipped to respond to cardiac arrest calls thanks to Public Health’s Project RAMPART. Project RAMPART, an acronym for Regional Approach to Municipal Public Registry and Training, provides funding to cities within King County to purchase Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) and train employees on how to use them. The project falls under Public Health – Seattle & King County’s Emergency Medical Services Division (EMS) and is funded by the EMS Levy. Duvall Police Department recently received two AEDs under Project RAMPART—one AED for their office and… Read More
Poetry on Buses showcases local voices
Starting in November, some of the spaces that contain advertisements on King County Metro Rapid Ride buses will display poetry instead. “It’s about local voices and art in your everyday life,” Tamar Benzikry-Stern, Project Manager for 4Culture’s Public Art program and Poetry on Buses, said. 4Culture, King County’s cultural service agency, is a public development authority which works with County departments to bring art into King County buildings, infrastructure and public places – including buses. This year, 4Culture and King County Metro are rebooting “Poetry on Buses,” a program that originally started in 1992. King County residents were asked to submit poems online and invited to… Read More
Second Pet Adoption Center opens in Kirkland
On June 13, Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC) opened a second Pet Adoption Center. The new Eastside facility is located inside the Kirkland Petco. Since the grand opening, about 50 pets have been adopted from the Eastside center. “This translates to a quarter of our total adoptions during this time period,” said RASKC Operational Manager, Glynis Frederiksen. Seven years ago, only 45 percent of animals in King County shelters were being adopted or returned to their homes. Now the rate of adoption or return in King County is 85 percent…. Read More
Kudos! Patti Gravel, Customer Service Specialist, DCHS
Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) Education and Employment Resources employee, Patti Gravel is the first face that job seekers see when entering WorkSource Renton and she always greets them with a warm smile and a “how can I help you today?” Our unemployed job seekers appreciate Patti’s warmth and caring and she is a customer service champion for both job seekers and the staff at WorkSource Renton. She is always pleasant and helpful when staff needs anything from booking a room to directions within the Center. Job seekers find her… Read More
Kudos! King County earns national award for innovative program
King County has been recognized with an Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties (NACo). The awards honor top county government programs that are innovative and enhance services for their residents. NACo recognized King County’s eAppeals – Online Property Assessment Appeals Program for its 2014 Achievement Award in the category of Information Technology. eAppeals allows property owners to file an appeal of their property valuation on-line. eAppeals users can compare the valuations of comparable properties, forecast potential tax savings and submit evidence to support their appeal digitally as part of the… Read More
Five Questions with Lisa Hillman, IT Service Delivery Manager, KCIT
1. What was your first role at King County? Public Health MIS Desktop Manager. I came to King County in June 2003 as a contract employee to temporarily backfill a departing MIS IT desktop manager (PCSA Manager) plus kick-start the Windows 98 to XP migration. Never working in public service, I didn’t plan on staying with the County beyond the contracted 910 hours however; I was instantly attracted to the mission, the people and the potential to make a difference. 2. What do you do as an IT SDM? It’s fun, diverse and… Read More
Working to combat homelessness in King County
Making homelessness in King County a rare event, and when it does occur, a brief and one-time experience, is the mission of the Committee to End Homelessness (CEH) King County, and its latest annual report details how it will achieve these goals. King County now has the third largest stock of homeless housing in the country, behind only New York City and Los Angeles, and yet on a single night, January 14, 2014, more than 3,123 individuals were living outside and another 6,171 individuals were in shelters or transitional housing, per the… Read More
Native Plant Salvage Program promotes financial and environmental sustainability
A small team of King County employees and many volunteers are making sure that native plants that would be impacted by development projects are finding new homes in revegetation and habitat restoration projects across the county. This season alone, 11,260 native plants were salvaged for the Water and Land Resource Division’s Native Plant Salvage Program. “The cool thing about this is that plants get used all over King County and not just on County-sponsored projects,” said Cindy Young, the ecologist who heads up the program. Volunteers also get to salvage plants for… Read More
S.N.A.C. helps families and kids to eat fresh and healthy
According to Elizabeth Kimball from Public Health – Seattle & King County, the key to teaching nutrition is to teach about the origin of food. “When you’re teaching nutrition it’s very hard to talk about nutrition without talking about food – eating food, tasting food and preparing, storing and packing food — all the logistics and practical elements of eating,” Kimball said. Kimball heads up Public Health’s Seattle Nutrition Action Consortium, or S.N.A.C. program. “One of the hallmarks of S.N.A.C. is all of our various projects include cooking, which I think is… Read More
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