Benefits, Payroll and Retirement Operations wants to ensure our employees are notified of some important changes regarding their pension plans. New DRS Employee Rates in 2015 Based on an actuarial review of the state pension plans, the Washington State Pension Funding Council approved a graduated approach to increasing member and employer contributions. This approach will spread out the impact of increased contributions over a number of years while still ensuring the impacted pension plans remain stable and robust. For employees participating in the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS), the rate will increase… Read More

Dear Fellow Employee/Union Member: Recently the Joint Labor and Management Insurance Committee (JLMIC) agreed to modest changes in 2015 benefits that will lower the County’s costs and protect the health of employees and their families. Last year the County and labor announced a new way of negotiating benefits that allows us to adjust benefits more regularly so we can be more responsive to market conditions. To keep you updated the JLMIC created a website with background on who we are, how we negotiate and what’s happening with health care costs.

Meet the two newest Superior Court Judges, Judge Chad Allred and Judge Samuel Chung Judge Chad Allred – On May 9, 2014, Governor Jay Inslee appointed Chad Allred to the King County Superior Court bench. Judge Allred assumed the position previously occupied by Judge Trickey, who was appointed to the Washington Court of Appeals. Judge Allred spent 15 years in private practice, where his litigation experience included trade secrets, tortious interference, securities fraud, racketeering, trust and probate disputes, serious injuries, and some criminal defense. He also developed expertise in the Hague Convention on… Read More

Like many County employees, you may be using PST (Outlook data) files to store email that has outgrown your mailbox. Although using PSTs have been the County’s preferred practice for some time, this fall we are beginning the process to move all data contained in PSTs to Exchange Archive Mailboxes with the PST Replacement Project. Please note that the ability to store a large volume of email records in the Exchange Archive Mailbox does not satisfy or remove your responsibility to manage your email.  Remember, your email records are County property which… Read More

In December of 2011 we implemented an Internet Gateway Filter to prevent users from accessing inappropriate (as defined by the county’s Acceptable Use Policy) or malicious web sites that can infect computers with viruses. Why do we need a filter? The King County network experiences an average of 100,000 malware attacks each week, 90% of which originate from the Internet. The Internet Gateway Filter helps to significantly reduce these incidents, resulting in less downtime and increased productivity.  In September we will be making some changes, and moving the function to a different… Read More

Seattle University’s CitySoil Farm collaborated with Ricardo Israel, a local artist and Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) South Treatment Plant employee, and the Renton Area Youth Services (RAYS) to design an aerosol art mural in Renton. Ricardo designed and created the center piece of the art installation and the youth group made several quarter-sized pieces to surround the centerpiece. The students created images of bugs, flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables.  The mural will be displayed on the treatment plant’s fence facing Grady Way, and visible to passersby from I-405. Views of the mural will… Read More

On average, Americans waste 25 percent of all the food they buy. While most people think they’re not wasting much food, studies show that Americans waste much more food than they think they do. “In collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency Region 10, King County’s Solid Waste Division (SWD) has developed the Food: Too Good To Waste program to bring awareness to the environmental and financial impacts of wasting food and to offer residents helpful tips on reducing food waste,” said Karen May, the program’s manager. Food waste makes up the largest… Read More

Like radio host Sandy Macdonald, King County employees do lots of interesting things in their “other lives” in addition to the work they do for King County. Do you have another life outside of your King County work that you’d like to share with your colleagues? Email us the details at kcemployees@kingcounty.gov or tweet us with the hashtag #kcotherlives (remember to follow us @kcemployees), and we will feature your stories in upcoming editions of Employee News.