Record Group 104
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

See also:

• RG 102 Engineer
• RG 103 Road Engineer

The Department of Public Works, Utilities and Transportation was formed in 1969 as one of the original executive departments outlined in the Home Rule Charter. The new department was developed largely out of the existing Road Engineering Department and retained its functional responsibilities for road construction and maintenance, flood control and drainage maintenance, and oversight of the county's five sewer districts. To these three functions were added waste disposal (through incorporation of the Department of Sanitary Operations), surface water management (through incorporation of the Hydraulics Department), management of the King County Airport (Boeing Field), and the county motor vehicle pool. These functions were organized into four core divisions: Airport (1969-1993); Hydraulics (1969-1980, subsequently Surface Water Management (1981-1994); Roads (1969-1994, known as the Roads and Engineering Division c.1988-1994); and Solid Waste (1969-1994). Two smaller program units that functioned quasi-divisionally under the department director were Fleet Administration (1982-1994), which absorbed and expanded upon the county's Equipment Rental and Revolving Fund program (1969-1981); and Sewer (1969-1980), subsequently Sewer Utility (1981-1986). By 1982, the Department of Public Works (having dropped the words "Utilities and Transportation" from its name) was the largest single department in King County government. A support division, Administrative Services, had been established in 1980. It was the organizational home of the department's personnel and facilities management functions, and provided clerical support to the operational divisions. In 1987 Administrative Services absorbed two other functions, Community Relations (established 1980) and the Public Information Officer (established 1985). The Commission managed another function, the promotion and development of recycling programs within King County, for Marketing Recyclable Materials (1989-1994). The Sewer Utility division terminated in 1986 when King County relinquished management of its rural sewer districts, and the Airport Division transferred to the Department of Construction and Facilities Management in 1993. In 1994-1996, the Department of Public Works was eliminated as part of King County's merger with the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (METRO). Of the department's remaining core functions, Fleet Administration and the Roads and Engineering Division joined the new Department of Transportation. The Solid Waste and Surface Water Management Divisions, and the Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials, became part of the new Department of Natural Resources.

104-426       Aerial photographs, 1965 - 1972
Aerial photographs, primarily from the 1970s, of streets, highways and surrounding neighborhoods, taken or acquired by the Department of Public Works and used as exhibits in administrative or judicial proceedings. Source of many photographs was the Washington State Department of Transportation. Areas depicted include the Burien area, Highline, Kenmore, Pacific Highway South, and Shoreline and Soos Creek areas.

Volume: 9.5 cu ft

104-412       Levee inspection reports, 1988 - 1990
Reports of field inspections of levees along Snoqualmie, Raging, Tolt, Cedar and Green rivers. Record information includes project information, levee location map and description, technical evaluation, conclusions and recommendations. Color field photographs, keyed to caption lists are present in most files.

Volume: 1 cu ft

104-415       Photograph files: Community Relations and Communications, 1956-1988
Over 600 black and white and color images used for various Department of Public Works publications (chiefly annual reports) and promotional projects. Mediums include 35mm and 4x5 negatives; 8x10, 5x7 and 3x5 photographs and contact sheets. The photograph collection was maintained by longtime department employee, Jan Klippert. The original organization of Klippert's subject files has been preserved for the most part. The collection includes numerous images of construction projects, equipment, and portraits of Department of Public Works employees (many identified by name). Also included is a small set of early photographs of the concrete bridge at Fall City; an album showing 1979 winter storm damage in King County; images taken from three scrapbooks documenting recreational activities at Si View Park from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Volume: 3 cu ft

104-414       Program files: Community Relations and Communications, 1972 - 1998
Selected records from the public relations arm of the Department of Public Works (and its successor division in the Department of Transportation). Included are community meeting and administrative files, correspondence, reports, promotional and other materials relating to a wide variety of projects overseen by the Department from 1972-1998. Extensive documentation exists for three special projects: Spring Clean, a volunteer community litter cleanup program; Sign-Up, a traffic sign vandalism reduction program, along with associated papers relating to the Department's participation in the International Symposium on Vandalism held in Seattle (1988); Waterways 2000, a countywide project to conserve salmon runs and other natural resources. Also includes national and local award submissions for numerous departmental projects.

Volume: 5.6 cu ft

Volume: 4 cu ft

104-264       Traffic accident reports, 1963 - 1972
Computer print-outs, coding sheets coding instructions and maps describing traffic accidents in unincorporated King County. Data for each accident includes date, time and location of accident; residence, age, sex and occupation of driver or pedestrian; and severity and circumstances of accident.

Volume: 0.7 cu ft

104-265       Traffic volume surveys, 1968 - 1978
Traffic volume summary sheets which tabulate readings from mechanical traffic counting devices as well as manual traffic counts. Each sheet contains location of counter, dates, and daily counts as well as manual tallies for selected time periods. Arranged by area and date.

Volume: 2.3 cu ft

Record Subgroup 104.02
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS: SOLID WASTE DIVISION

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

Solid Waste began in 1960 as the Department of Sanitary Operations and continued to operate under this title until 1969. Sanitary Operations was responsible for the safe disposal of waste created by King County residents. With the formation of the Department of Public Works in 1969, it was decided that Sanitary Operations would merge with Engineer and become the Solid Waste Division. Over the years, Solid Waste added other functions to its main responsibility of providing safe disposal of waste. Sections included planning and promoting re-use and recycling within King County, directing Special Waste removal and disposal, and operating and maintaining over five landfills and ten transfer stations. When King County and Metro Services merged in 1996, the Solid Waste Division was moved into the Department of Natural Resources with Surface Water Management and other sections dealing specifically with natural resources and the environment.

104.02-317       Issue files, 1969 - 1984
Correspondence, reports and other files of the division manager arranged by correspondent and subject. Included are files relating to the development of solid waste management plans, proposals for an energy resource recovery program, and interlocal agreements for solid waste disposal.

Volume: 9 cu ft

104.02-316       Landfill files, 1945 - 1984
Correspondence, reports, operating statistics, photographs, maps and other documents relating to county-operated dumps and landfills. Included are materials documenting property acquisition, landfill operation, and closure of facilities as well as correspondence with regulatory agencies. Related records may be found in the Division's transfer station files, since some transfer stations were built on the sites of former landfills.

Volume: 2 cu ft

Volume: 0.1 cu ft

104.02-404       Program files: solid waste; energy resources and recovery, 1986 - 1989
Correspondence, studies, contracts, working papers, news clippings, CCF's, varied reports (of particular interest is the Ash Study), and subject files.

Volume: 35 cu ft

104.02-315       Transfer station files, 1960 - 1988
Correspondence, reports, plans, grant applications, and photographs relating to site selection, construction and operation of solid waste transfer stations.

Volume: 2.7 cu ft

Record Subgroup 104.1
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS: DIRECTOR'S OFFICE

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

Operations of the seven major program units of the Department of Public Works (1969-1994) were overseen and administered by a director who, under state law, concurrently held the title of County Road Engineer. Administrative control of the department under director Jean DeSpain (1969-1978) was informal and decentralized. Each division functioned largely independently of the others, with the Roads Division playing a dominant departmental role. However, the growing problem of drainage and surface water runoff in King County --exacerbated by increased building development in the 1960s and 1970s-- required a more integrated and cooperative inter-divisional response to increasingly complex public works challenges. Under director James Guenther (1978-1982), the Surface Water Management Division was formed (1981). Guenther also began the effort to unify the department to better utilize human and fiscal resources. He established the Administrative Services Division (1980) to centralize support functions, including personnel, records management, word processing and information technology, community relations, and management of the department's own facilities. Donald LaBelle (1982-1988) continued the process of building the department into an integrated whole and of improving delivery of departmental services. He and his support staff formulated departmental operating policies and program objectives, tracking and managing their implementation within the operating divisions; coordinated overall fiscal management of the department; and represented the department before the County Executive and Council and at meetings of boards, commissions, and other jurisdictions. During this period the Public Works director also worked as part of a county team to help streamline the development permitting process, an effort which would lead to the formation of the Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES) in 1992. LaBelle was succeeded by his deputy director, Paul Tanaka (1988-1994), who prepared the department for its 1994-1996 merger with the public transportation and wastewater treatment functions of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (METRO).

104.1-405       Administrative files, 1972 - 1994 (PDF)
The administrative responsibilities of the director of the Department of Public Works included preparing and managing the department's budget; interacting with representatives of other county departments on issues and projects of joint interest; and engaging in a variety of communications with groups and individuals in the department and throughout county government. This series reflects these activities during the years 1982-1994, although some earlier records are present. The records have been divided into three subsidies. (1) Budget files (1983-1994; boxes 1-5) document the process of preparing and submitting each year's budget for County Council approval, and monitoring subsequent expenditures charged to the budget. Record types for each year may include budget preparation instructions; planning notes, including notes of planning retreats; issue papers; briefing materials, copies of Council budget ordinances (draft and final); reports on expenditures; and copies of County quarterly reports. Files are arranged in approximate chronological order. (2) Department files (1982-1994; boxes 5-13) show the director's interactions, on behalf of the Department of Public Works, with other departments and with the County Council. Between 1982 and 1987, separate folders were created under the names of individual councilmembers for issues arising from the members' districts; this filing practice was later discontinued. Inter-departmental issues during this period included affordable housing, county-wide planning, economic development, historic public works preservation, personnel management and affirmative action, and staff training. Also prominent were efforts to expedite processing of land development permits through the Building and Land Development Division (BALD) and its successor, the Department of Development and Environmental Services. Files are arranged by year, and alphabetically within each year by county entity. (3) Miscellaneous files (1972-1994; boxes 13-17) illustrate various activities and concerns of the directors. Earlier (1972-1981) records from the administrations of Jean DeSpain and James Guenther document conflict resolution training; intergovernmental relations; the department's relations with the county Architecture Division; department assessments, goals, and objectives; and a proposal to unify the large department through a matrix organizational structure. Later records are from the administrations of Donald LaBelle (1982-1987) and Paul Tanaka (1987-1994). Record types include correspondence (general, legal, personnel management), meeting files (departmental staff meetings, Executive Cabinet meetings), organizational analyses, departmental goals and expectations, and materials for the 1985 transition between county executives Randy Revelle and Tim Hill. Topical files from this period include the extension of state highway 18 into the town of Snoqualmie (1984), departmental fee rates (1984-1985), Metro (Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle)'s wastewater effluent transfer system (1985), affordable housing (1985-1986), energy resource and recovery (1986), and the Sammamish Bicycle Trail (1987). Files are arranged chronologically. Non-annotated reference copies of county reports and studies have been removed from all three subseries if they duplicate holdings of the King County Documents Collection.

Volume: 16.5 cu ft

104.1-402       Correspondence/complaint files [CCF's], 1978 - 1993
This reference file is a written record of concerns of citizens, King County councilmembers and administrators, and departmental employees that were brought to the attention of the director of the Department of Public Works. It represents an effort by department directors Donald LaBelle and Paul Tanaka (1982-1994) to systematize and improve the department's response to concerns relating to departmental program areas during this period: surface water and solid waste management, road and bridge construction and maintenance, airport operations, and department policy and procedures. Each file contains a record of the original concern or complaint, and of the department's response or referral to another county office. Record types include letters, memoranda, copies of other response documents, and a copy of the department's correspondence control form assigning the question for response. Photocopied records from the personnel files of individual county employees have been removed. Files are arranged within each calendar year by month, and by a case file number within each month. Log sheets summarizing individual complaints are present in the files for most months. Related series: Series 104-489, Subject and Complaint Files 1969-1983, which contains complaints prior to 1983. Related document: King County Document no. 7388, "Responding to Official Inquiries from Council, Citizens, the Ombudsman's Office, and the County Executive," c.1991.

Volume: 8.33 cu ft

104.1-486       Division files, 1982 - 1994 (447 KB, PDF)
The director of the Department of Public Works maintained oversight over the department's major sub-units (all commonly called "divisions"). The four major program divisions (Airport, Hydraulics [later Surface Water Management], Roads, and Solid Waste), all independent departments prior to their 1970 consolidation under King County's Home Rule charter, retained a substantial degree of day-to-day autonomy under their respective directors. For other units (the Administrative Services Division, the Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials, Community Relations/Public Affairs, Fleet Administration, Sewer Utility, and the department's facilities and personnel functions), the department director, principally through his deputy director, maintained more direct authority. The records in this series document issues from all divisions which warranted review, intervention, or action by department directors Donald LaBelle and Paul Tanaka (1982-1994; some earlier documents may be present). Certain file types are common to several divisions: advisory committee files, annual work plans, audits, budget and Capital Improvement Program (CIP) files, complaints, interlocal agreement files, and personnel (staffing and statistics) files. Secondary copies of individual personnel records have been removed where found. Record types include letters and memoranda; reports and studies (authored by King County and by outside consultants); committee records (agendas, minutes, reports, meeting packets); agreements and contracts; handbooks and manuals; brochures and other ephemera; reproductions of maps, and incidental photographs. Topical files unique to each division are also present. The records are arranged alphabetically by division name, and within each division by year. Within each year, one or more "General" files are followed by an alphabetical sequence of topical files.This series is a reference file composed principally of photocopies and carbon copies, of citizen and employee.

Volume: 38.33 cu ft

Volume: 0.33 cu ft

Volume: 4 cu ft

104.1-489       Subject and complaint files, 1969-1983 (157 KB, PDF)
This record series was established and maintained by department director James Guenther during his administration (1978-1982) and was continued during the first year (1982-1983) of his successor Donald LaBelle. Most records date from 1977-1983 but some earlier records are present. The series combines topical subject files (e.g., state and federal legislation, professional associations, King County's assisting the City of Yakima during the 1980 Mt. St. Helens ashfall, etc.); administrative files (e.g., department-union relations, media contact guidelines, space planning, etc.); and citizen complaints. Most complaints relate either to drainage, flooding and other surface water problems; or to problems by property developers in receiving necessary county permits or approvals. Record types include letters and memoranda, maps and drawings, photocopied newspaper clippings, reports and studies, and photographs. Most photographs supplement associated text files and document conditions on specific properties. The files are arranged in one alphabetical sequence by topic or complainant surname. After 1983, the director's records were organized to a greater degree by their function. This series, Subject and Complaint Files, was succeeded by Series 104.1-401, Subject Files 1967-1994; and Series 104.1-402, Correspondence and Complaint Files (CCFs) 1984-1993. Also related: Series 104.1-405, Administrative Files 1972-1994.

Volume: 5 cu ft

104.1-401       Subject files, 1967 - 1994 (325 KB, PDF)
This series of topical reference or background files was created, compiled or maintained by department directors Donald LaBelle (1982-1987) and Paul Tanaka (1988-1994). The files reflect the directors' interest and involvement in special programs and issues across the entire department (e.g., employee retreats, training and health programs; personnel management; annual work programs; departmental relations with unions, etc). They also show participation by the directors in groups and organizations in and out of county government, particularly inter-governmental bodies, professional associations, and local communities. Record types include letters and memoranda; meeting agendas, minutes, and attachments; brochures and other ephemera; a small number of incidental photographs; and reports and studies. Un-annotated copies of county reports and studies, duplicated by Document Collection holdings, have been removed. Major record topics include the Green River Basin Surface Water Program, energy resource and recovery, King County growth management and infrastructure financing, and departmental preparations for the county's merger (1994-1996) with the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (METRO). Records are arranged by year, although the records within each annual increment may not be limited to that year' s date. Within each year's records, folders are arranged alphabetically by topic. Boxes 21 and 22 contain a small addendum of files from 1982-1994, arranged alphabetically by topics similar to those in the main body of records.

Volume: 21.33 cu ft

Volume: 4 cu ft