Employee News - June 17, 2015

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Five Questions with Jameelah Cage, Training Coordinator, Department of Adult & Juvenile Detention

Jameelah

1. What was your first role at King County? I started my career with King County Department of Adult & Juvenile Detention close to 15 years ago as a Juvenile Detention Officer.

2. What does your work as DAJD Training Coordinator involve? As the Training Coordinator, I am responsible for scheduling, conducting, monitoring, evaluating and coordinating trainings for employees within the Department of Adult & Juvenile Detention, specifically the Juvenile Division. Within this position it is important that I research and fully understand national standards and best practices in the field of corrections to create training curriculums that will allow our employees to be properly trained in their areas of expertise.

3. What do you like most about your job? What I like most about my job is the opportunity to provide information to employees that will increase their knowledge base, and provide information to them that will allow for growth. I also love the atmosphere, and my coworkers!

Bus driver is also a professional French-hornist

You wouldn’t think that being a bus driver and orchestral musician necessarily go hand-in-hand, but a new Metro Transit recruitment campaign is highlighting what’s different about its jobs by highlighting what’s different about its drivers.

The new recruitment campaign highlights the pay and flexibility of driving part time for Metro, while unmasking the secret identities of its drivers. The videos focus on these drivers, allowing them to tell their story and why they are proud to be King County Metro bus drivers.

In this installment of the campaign, a video called Metro Secret Identity: the Musician spotlights Carey, a part-time driver. After work, Carey is a professional orchestral French-hornist.

“The city is a symphony and reading the road is like reading music. You need to be watching and listening and keeping a steady motion. It kind of makes driving a bus an art form.”

Watch the video here or learn more about driving for Metro here.

Carey MT

Tapping the strengths of Chinatown-International District to reach the most vulnerable

PH Temple

Here’s one thing experts in disasters know: the communities that recover the most quickly are the ones where people within neighborhoods help one another. The Chinatown-International District–with its strong social networks, breadth of community organizations, and existing communication channels–has the makings of a neighborhood resilient to disasters.

At the same time, some residents of the I.D. have greater vulnerability to everyday health disparities due to language barriers, immigration status, advanced age, and lack of income. During health emergencies (like boil water orders or heat waves), if we aren’t successful in reaching these community members with critical health and safety information, we can amplify the risk they face.

That’s why Robin Pfohman, Hannah Van Den Brandt and Meredith Li-Vollmer are trying to improve Public Health’s ability to reach the most vulnerable members of the Chinese communities.

Team struggling? Let their greatness guide them

Team

Have you ever been on a team that seemed to lose its way? You knew it was struggling because team members triangulated and created cliques within the team, found unity against a common foe like management, or went silent about issues that impacted their goals.

Toxic attitudes and poor results are telltale signs of a team in trouble.

Next time your team struggles through its storming phase, help the team reconnect with purpose and passion by discovering their inner greatness. 

Spring cleaning? Donate your gently used items to RASKC!

RASKC

If you have household goods you don't need anymore, donate them to Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC)! Drop off your gently used items at the Pet Adoption Center in Kent during regular business hours now through Friday, June 19. Have questions about what's needed? Email Lori Mason at lori.mason@kingcounty.gov.

RASKC will sell the donated items to help raise money for a new indoor/outdoor cat run. The RASKC Garage Sale takes place on Saturday, June 20, from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. at the Pet Adoption Center in Kent. Come see us!

Meet the Employees of King County on Tumblr

King County has launched a new website which showcases the work that employees do for residents and highlights the diversity of King County careers and services.

Employees of King County uses Tumblr to visually and succinctly tell some of the stories of employees, what they do for the County, and what drives them to serve the people of King County.

Check out the new website here or follow kcemployees on Tumblr.

Do you want to be featured on the Employees of King County? Send us an email with your name, role, department, agency or branch, and we’ll work to feature you in the coming weeks and month.

Tumblr2

Get fresh local produce at downtown farmers markets

Market

Pike Place Market's weekly Express farmers markets are back and ready to serve employees in the downtown corridor.

The City Hall market kicked off its 2015 season yesterday, June 16, and the Pioneer Square market starts today, Wednesday, June 17.

The Express markets bring the Market’s fresh, local produce to Seattle residents and workers via “pop-up” markets one-day a week from June to the first week of October.

City Hall Plaza 
June 16 - Sept. 29
Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
600 4th Ave

Pioneer Square/Chinatown, International District
June 17 - Sept. 30
Wednesdays, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
3rd Ave S and S Jackson St.
Please note! Due to construction adjacent to Occidental Park, the Express market will be held on the plaza in front of King Street Station. 

Kudos! Dan Krehbiel, Chad Wiesenfeld, Joe Chrisman, Ron Mielke, and Esbert Burton, Crew of MV Sally Fox, Department of Transportation - Marine Division

It’s never fun for our riders or crew when a boat has issues right before service, but as shown on Wednesday, when a crew jumps into action and gets in sync, they can make what could be a very long commute feel not so bad!  I was fortunate to hear many kind words down at the dock of the great job the crew did, but it’s always nice when someone takes the time to send along praise-

I want to say thank you to the crew last night for such a fast turnaround getting the spare boat up and running after the Sally Fox had some issues.  It was unfortunate that the Sally Fox had problems and some were turned away but it was great there was a spare boat that was able to be used to get us to our destination.  Everyone that works to keep the Water Taxi running for King County really deserves a congratulations for running such a wonderful, friendly service.  You all do a wonderful job! Kevin S.

Thanks to Dan, Chad, Joe C., Ron M., and Esbert for the great work that night and to all for you for your continual outstanding service!

- Greg Lerner, Shoreside Operations and Customer Service Manager, Department of Transportation - Marine Division.

Featured King County Job: ORCA Operations Manager

Application deadline:  Thu. 06/25/15 4:30 PM

Salary: $99,817.00 - $120,672.00 Annually

Department: Department of Transportation - Transit Division

Job Duties: This position provides day-to-day management of the ORCA system including managing the vendor relationship and resolving issues as they arise. The ORCA system has been operating in Puget Sound since 2009. A crowning achievement of the system is the ability for a customer to use a single transit fare media to travel on any or all of the seven regional transit systems. While this ability provides ease of use for the customer, it provides a challenge to ensure that the agencies work in concert on the need for system changes. Various components of the system are reaching the end of their useful life and managing the life cycle replacement is a key element of the future system operations. Learn more about this position or view all available jobs.

Contact

Click here to submit an item to Employee News. For questions or suggestions, please contact Jason Argo.

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