Featured Headlines
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
Taking action to protect your information
Recently there was a large security breach with Equifax customers. Security breaches like this can be scary. You can help protect yourself from identity theft. Our Making Life Easier program has some tips to guide you. Go to http://www.kcmakinglifeeasier.com/login and enter user name King County. Once you enter the website, you can see the tips by clicking the link on the rotating photo menu. For more individualized guidance, you can sign up to speak with a Money Coach at My Secure Advantage. My Secure Advantage is a financial wellbeing program that provides phone-based coaching and online tools to… Read More
Changes ahead for Metro and DOT
Crossposted from Inside Transportation by Harold S. Taniguchi Director, King County Dept. of Transportation Executive Constantine announced this week that he is working with the County Council to make a big change: In early 2019, Metro Transit will become a stand-alone County department, no longer part of the Department of Transportation. This change makes sense. Public transportation is a top priority for the Executive and our region. Population and job growth mean that Metro must provide more and better travel options for all who live and work here—and Metro has a long-range plan for doing just… Read More
New commuting options for employees: Sounder, Uber, Park-and-ride
Two new roundtrips have been added for the Sounder between Seattle-Lakewood, bringing the total number of roundtrips in South King and Pierce Counties up to 13 per weekday. During peak hours, Sounder trains will arrive as often as every 20 minutes. View the full Sounder Lakewood-Seattle schedule here. A new transit discount program offered by Uber aimed at people living in Rainier Valley and South King County will allow for employees to get a $3.50 discount on all UberX and UberPOOL trips to and from qualifying light rail stations. To see participating light rail stations and full instructions to set up the discount in the Uber app, please… Read More
Join us for our county-wide potluck, tomorrow September 28
Please join us on the Admin Plaza from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. for our End-of-Summer countywide potluck on Thursday, September 28. Can you help bring a favorite dish? Contact Nancy Kodani-Lee at 7-8012 or Julie Long at 7-0204 to let us know what you’ll bring. Beverages are not provided, please bring your own. There will also be a Table Tennis Tournament during the Potluck. Sign up with Jane Wu at 3-8523.
2017 Employee Survey is underway
The 2017 Employee Survey is now underway. Have your say and help us make King County work better for you and our customers. Online survey: September 18 – October 6 Paper survey: September 11 – October 6 You know your work better than anyone so let us know what’s on your mind! Speak Up. Be Heard. Make a Difference. Each employee participating in the survey will receive an email from ORC International. The email address will be 2017KCEmployeeSurvey@orcsurvey.com. The subject of the email will be “King County Employee Survey – 2017”. Please check your junk email folder and if you… Read More
Social Media Spotlight: King County on Twitter
The King County Twitter account @kcnews has officially become @KingCountyWA. This change helps make it more clear that tweets are official information from King County government, and reduce confusion with other, similarly-named jurisdictions. Follow @KingCountyWA on Instagram for information and news about services you can use, and tell us how we can serve you better. You should not need to re-follow @KingCountyWA if you already follow @kcnews. Click here to view all King County social media pages.
Kudos! Employees go above and beyond to lend coworkers a hand
The following kudos is from Kimberly Fleming to her coworkers for their help on a recent project: I want to say thank you to Rena Jackson, Sarah Rivas, Jim Shoemaker and Susan Krzyzanowski from Procurement and Payables for their willingness to work with the Retirement and Payroll Accounting teams on our needs concerning the King County substitute IRS form W9. They took the time to listen to our concerns, understand where we were coming from and jumped into action to address a process frustration we were having. They saw it as an opportunity to help and make things better, I just can’t… Read More
Featured Job: Archivist – Assistant
Closing Date/Time: Mon. 10/09/17 11:59 PM Pacific Time Salary: $27.08 – $34.33 Hourly Job Type: Career Service, Full Time, 35 hrs/week Location: Archives Building – 1215 E Fir, Seattle, WA 98122, Washington Department: Department of Executive Services – Records & Licensing Services Division Description: The Assistant Archivist will help foster the program’s development. Our ideal candidate will be familiar with archival workflow, including how traditional practices translate to the management of electronic archival records in a digital repository. The successful candidate will exhibit a positive, creative, and forward-looking approach to solving problems and will demonstrate commitment to public service and… Read More
Tech Tip: Skype for Business: How to Skype with external customers
The Skype for Business (Lync/UC) account on your computer is a simple and effective way to have meaningful (remote) meetings with clients, partners and customers even if your client, partner or customer doesn’t have a Skype for Business account. We’ll show you how it works in two minutes.
Five tips on how to prepare for a disaster on a budget
Crossposted from Public Health Insider Whenever I think about emergency preparedness, it sounds like a lot of work and a lot of money. When money is tight, it’s hard to make emergency preparedness a priority. Since it is National Preparedness Month, I decided to find ways to help save money while preparing for an emergency. Here are a few tips to make emergency preparedness kit less expensive. Tip #1: Start with Things at Home In my home, I have a lot of stuff. I started building my kit by taking things from my house that… Read More
PeopleSoft mobile features available now!
The Business Resource Center (BRC) continues to deliver new features, improvements and bug fixes every quarter to PeopleSoft! King County’s PeopleSoft team is at the forefront for adopting new Oracle PeopleSoft features and enhancements. The upcoming September release improves employee self service! It provides easy access to view your paycheck, leave balances and personal details on the go, from anywhere there is an internet connection. Self service improvements include: Mobile pay: Quickly view net pay, get a comprehensive look through the paycheck summary, and see paycheck analytics Leave balances: See vacation, sick and compensatory time balances… Read More
State retirement contributions increased Sept. 1 for PSERS
Employee and employer contribution rates for the Public Safety Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) plan increased Sept. 1, 2017, as approved by the State Legislature. The new contribution amounts will be deducted from your second paycheck in September: If you are paid on the 5th and 20th of the month, your new contribution will appear on your September 20 paycheck. If you are paid every other Thursday, your new contribution will appear on your September 21 paycheck. If you have any questions about the rate change, please contact the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems… Read More
Industries honored for dedication to clean water
Crossposted from Clean Water Stories Believe it or not, industry is still a major employer in King County, accounting for over 100,000 jobs in the city of Seattle alone. Another little known fact is how much emphasis our local industries put on environmental stewardship. One of our responsibilities as a clean-water utility is to regulate facilities that discharge industrial wastewater to our regional sewer system, and we issue permits to make sure this wastewater won’t harm the environment, our workers, or our treatment system. Permit conditions might call for facilities to regularly… Read More
KCDOT works with local consulates to reach Spanish-speaking customers
Crossposted from Inside Transportation As part of our commitment to delivering accessible service to all residents of King County, regardless of their place of origin, KCDOT leadership recently met with the local consuls of five Latin American nations to help us improve our communications with Spanish-speaking customers. Nearly one of every 10 King County residents is of Hispanic/Latinx origin, according to the last census, and of those who speak Spanish at home, nearly half say they speak English less than “very well.” Language can become a barrier to using public transit, and elements… Read More
Drug court judge helps people get back on the road to recovery
Crossposted from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Facebook For years, Judge James Cayce presided over mostly criminal trials: Child rapes. Murders. One family torture trial stretched out over four months, but despite the difficult nature of the crimes, Judge Cayce enjoyed the work. When the opportunity came along to preside over Drug Court, Judge Cayce hesitated. “I didn’t want to do drug court at first, but Judge Carey asked me to do Drug Court on Fridays in Kent, so I sat in a couple of times…and I loved it,” he recalls…. Read More
To improve innovation and accountability, Executive Constantine proposes to make Metro its own County department
King County Executive Dow Constantine directed work to begin on a plan to move Metro from a division within the King County Department of Transportation to a standalone County department. This would increase innovation and accountability in four areas: increasing mobility options, capital construction, investing in Metro’s workforce, and expanding the transit system through partnerships. “This region increasingly depends on fast, reliable transit. So it’s no surprise that Metro is one of our most vital, visible, and popular services,” said Executive Constantine. “By elevating Metro as a standalone department, we can better… Read More
King County TV and Office of Cable Communications manager recognized with national awards
KCTV’s video Digital Connection won first place in the “Use of Social Media” category at the Government Programming Awards, an annual national conference held by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA). The county-operated TV station took home three other programming awards including one in the public health category for a piece on King County’s Heroin Task Force. NATOA’s annual government programming awards honors excellence in broadcast, cable, multimedia and electronic programming produced by local government agencies. This year, NATOA received more than 900 entries submitted in 65 categories by local governments across the country. “We are… Read More
Support natural disaster victims through Annual Giving Drive
Dear fellow King County employee: In the last month we have witnessed hurricanes tear through Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean as wildfires burned through the Pacific Northwest. To make it easier for employees to give to non-profit organizations helping people to recover from these recent natural disasters, I have asked the Employee Giving Program to open the Annual Giving Drive early. During the Annual Giving Drive, you have more options available through workplace giving than any other time of year. You can support victims of these disasters by pledging before the deadline, November 17, 2017,… Read More
The Cat Condos have arrived!
Crossposted from Tails from RASKC Thanks to the Petco Foundation grant, our long awaited cat condos arrived last Friday and were immediately put to great use by our cat residents who have been excitedly purring and relaxing since being placed in their new homes. See pictures below or feel free to stop our pet adoption center in Kent! Read more at Tails from RASKC
Tech Tip: How to install Office 365 for free at home
We recognize that you do county work from your home devices. So King County provides up to 5 free downloads of Office 365 for those home devices. It’s very easy to access if you have a SharePoint account. Not everyone can access this option at this time. We hope we can get all employees a SharePoint login in the coming year.
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