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AN ORDINANCE relating to the county's personnel policies; amending Ordinance 12014, Section 5, as amended, and K.C.C. 3.12.010, Ordinance 12014, Section 32, and K.C.C. 3.12.350 and Ordinance 12014, Section 50, as amended, and K.C.C. 3.15.020 and adding new sections to K.C.C. chapter 3.15.
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PREAMBLE:
In the fall of 2000, the King County auditor submitted a management audit of the office of human resources management (OHRM) (now the human resources division). In it, the auditor identified several serious problems related, but not limited to, the decision by the executive to relax hiring criteria, do away with promotional salary limitations and terminate restrictions on special duty pay. These changes lead to significant weakening of the essential safeguards necessary to maintain a fair and equitable personnel and fiscal management system.
To prevent these problems from manifesting themselves in the future and to ensure strict adherence to county personnel policies and procedures, this ordinance modifies the personnel requirements in the code. The basic goals of the ordinance are to:
Ensure better accountability from all of county personnel administrators and staff;
Clarify personnel policies and procedural requirements in areas identified as weak in the audit;
Guarantee fairer treatment of employees by standardizing initial hiring salaries; and strengthen fiscal responsibility. Personnel administrators and department heads will no longer be able to raise salaries, promote staff, give special duty or give out-of-class pay without either proper authorization or documentation, or both.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Ordinance 12014, Section 5, as amended,and K.C.C. 3.12.010 are each hereby amended to read as follows:
Definitions. All words shall have their ordinary and usual meanings except those defined in this section which shall have, in addition, the following meanings. In the event of conflict, the specifi...

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