King County leader streamlines office, folding in climate, equity employees

King County Executive Girmay Zahilay is eliminating the four “offices” that fall within the executive office, in an effort to break down silos and enable better collaboration in county government.

Zahilay, who took office last month as the first new elected executive in 16 years, will eliminate the executive climate office; the office of equity and racial and social justice; the office of economic opportunity and creative economy; and the office of performance, strategy, and budget.

“Our commitment to climate and equity and social justice are not going away,” Zahilay said in an interview Friday ahead of the final meeting of his transition committee. “We’re not going to have the silos that you saw in the last administration where you had an office of this, an office of that. We’re going to have one executive office that all works together to advance our priorities.”

The reorganization will mean changes in roles for many within the executive’s offices. For instance, the office of performance, strategy, and budget had about 90 employees. There will now be a budget team of about 30, with other positions becoming policy leads or parts of other teams.

The executive’s office previously had one external relations person, Zahilay said, now it will have 14 or 15, as part of his effort to get more county government “boots on the ground” in communities.

There will also be new internal audit positions, he said.

There is, however, an appeal to individual “offices” devoted to specific priorities.

Just as Zahilay was announcing the elimination of several offices, his 100-member transition committee, at its last meeting, recommended the creation of two new offices.

Draft recommendations included the creation of an office of labor standards, devoted to labor rights and wage violations, and an office of immigrant and refugee affairs to focus on immigrant protections and resources.

Zahilay’s reorganization, as well as the first change in elected leadership in nearly two decades, is also bringing changes to executive staffing.

There are about 147 appointed positions in the executive office, Zahilay said. The people in about 70 of those positions have not been asked to stay on and will likely be out of their current jobs in January. Zahilay said they are trying to find spots for those people within other county departments.

“If you are in an appointed position, you serve at the pleasure of the executive,” Zahilay said. “And I have people who I want to bring on, and I have some positions that I want to be filled in a competitive way, and so that’s what we’re doing.”

All the changes, Zahilay said, are intended to further what he has called his “four Bs” — breaking the cycle of addiction, homelessness and incarceration; building for affordability; boots on the ground; and better government.

“This is a new administration, and, you know, I was not elected to have all the same priorities and all the same structures as past administrations,” he said. “I was elected to create change and to deliver services in the best way possible, and that’s what we’re doing here.”