State Contract Negotiations Begin • City IT Members Meet ... - Local 17

News & FeaturesMemorial Foundation Honors Sacrifice of WSDOT EmployeesThose who work on an activeroadway know as well as anyonethat life can change in an instant.“Just a few months after I had cometo work for Local 17 (in 1993) a drunkdriver's reckless behavior caused the deathof a young Engineering Tech, Mike Malone,late one night on I-5 in Seattle,” recalls Local17 Legislative Director Vince Oliveri. “Iremember not only the anguish of his familyand his co-workers, but also the immediateaction of so many people, to not only bringattention to the problem of workzone safety,but to do something about it.”The Work Zone Safety Task Force wasimmediately established by WashingtonState Department of Transportation(WSDOT) and has since made great stridesto make the workplace as safe as it can be forthose who call the highway their workplace.Local 17 used the accident to spearheadlegislation that led to the doubling of trafficfines in the work zone, and then in 2010,the WSDOT Memorial Foundation wasofficially established.The Foundation's mission is to preservethe memory of workers who die in theMemorial Foundation Board members (including member Joan Oestreich) and Local 17'sVince Oliveri.line of duty and to provide assistance totheir families, as well as to provide aid toemployees who experience catastrophicillness or injury in their families. It isgoverned by a board of retired and activeWSDOT employees who devote much oftheir spare time away from work in supportof foundation activities.Local 17 deeply appreciates the workof those who have established and operatethe Foundation, including its presidentBill Ford, all of the board members, whichincludes Local 17 member and steward, JoanOestreich, and the WSDOT executive stafffor the institutional support necessary tolaunch such an endeavor.Local 17 is proud to be an annual financialcontributor and encourages members tocontribute through payroll deduction to assistin the growing work of the Foundation. Moreinformation can be found at wsdotmf.org. DDES Residential Permit Processing Gets LEANLEAN is a management philosophy and set of tools designed to improve services by building a simple and transparentsystem based on customer needs. At the Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES) forKing County, the Lean process focuses on achieving efficiencies and streamlining the permit process.DDES recently underwent a 4-day long LEAN event on the Single Family Residential Permit process. Their task was to examinethe current processes and identify activities that could be amended so that applications move more efficiently from intaketo approval. The goal was to shorten the timeframe between permit intake and permit approval and to improve customer satisfaction.A group of 11 DDES employees, both union-represented and management, were joined by a facilitation team of four people,including some from Labor Relations.Stacy Graves and Doug Dobkins (both Local 17 members) were very positive during this week-long LEAN event and guidedthe other members of the LEAN team to a revised permit review process.DDES is continuing to test, evaluate and modify the new permit process as necessary, and has had a trial testing of the LEANintake process. The new process will require some workspace modifications and dedication of staff for the process, but the initialtrial testing appears to be an improvement on the existing process."The LEAN process was difficult at times, but in the end, it helped us work together to create a better process for our customers.I think the most important thing to remember is to keep your mind open during LEAN. I was pleasantly surprised that we wereable to work together as a team to come up with a better process for our customers," said Stacy Graves.To learn more about the LEAN process, visit http://www.kingcounty.gov/employees/Lean.aspx Insight 12