HomeMy WebLinkAbout04_Mayors Newsletter_080416AUGUST 4, 2016
Inclusion and more
In June 2015 I formed the Mayor’s Inclusion Task Force to
support the city’s mission and goal to serve everybody
living and working in our very diverse community. Our
task force, which is made up of community leaders
representing African Americans, Chinese, East African,
East Indian, Filipino, Islamic, Japanese, Latino, LGBTQ,
Sikhs, Somali, Sudanese, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and
Renton’s senior population, have accomplished a great
deal in the past two years. Communications between
our residents and the city has been dramatically
improved, and the task force has been engaging all of
our community members to participate in local events
and projects.
The latest project the task force is working on will be
a multi-cultural festival that will be held downtown
on September 30 and October 1, with dances and
entertainment, food booths and other exciting activities
for the entire community. You’ll soon begin to see a lot
of promotion for this upcoming event.
Participants in the recent Renton River Days parade
represented a number of diverse cultures. This
photograph I took of a woman marching with performers from the Sikh community, carrying an
American flag, made me feel proud of where we have come as a community, where people from
all backgrounds and cultures come together to live, work and play together. We have made a lot of
progress in meeting our goal of building an inclusive city with opportunities for all.
WELCOME
This Week
from the Mayor
Denis Law, Mayor
Court goes paperless, increases efficiency,
saves taxpayers money
Renton Municipal Court has implemented OCourt, a new cloud-based
records system that is saving Renton taxpayers over $405,000 just
this past year. OCourt has created a near-paperless court, making
jobs easier and increasing the number of cases judges can hear while
utilizing fewer employees. Our court used to hear about 30,000 cases
a year and we’ve been able to increase that number by about 1,000.
We are the only court in the region that is using this system and were
recently showcased by Microsoft Corporation for our pioneering work.
First Financial Northwest opens branch at
The Landing
First Financial Northwest has opened a new branch at The Landing.
This is their fourth branch office in Washington. The bank is also
renewing their partnership with the Renton High School football
team where bank staff tutors the players on key financial topics.
Congratulations First Financial! We had a ribbon-cutting event last
week to celebrate their continued commitment to Renton. Thank you
for choosing Renton and for giving back to our community.
JAN HAWN
I’m pleased to announce
that Jan Hawn has
joined our city staff as
Administrative Services
Director. Jan is part of
our senior management
team and will lead the
Administrative Services
Department, which
consists of the Finance,
Information Technology,
City Clerk and Utility Billing
divisions. She comes to us
from Bellevue where she
was their Finance Director.
Jan replaces the retiring
Iwen Wang, who served
the city with distinction
for eight years. Iwen leaves
some pretty big shoes to
fill, but with her strong
background, we know
Jan will keep us moving
forward.
VOL. 1, NO. 4
If you have comments,
questions or suggestions,
or just want to share all
the great things that
are happening in the
city, please email me
at communications@
rentonwa.gov. Thanks for
reading.
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