King County Executive

The King County Executive is the highest elected official representing the government of King County, Washington, US, USA, ), UA. The post was established with the implementation of the Home Rule Charter for King County on November 5, 1968. Previously the powers of the County Executive were vested in a three-member County Commission, which with the implementation of the Home Rule Charter in 1969 ceased to exist. The County Executive is elected every four years and the post is nonpartisan.

The first county executive was John Spellman, from 1969 to 1981. The current Executive is Dow Constantine, elected to replace Ron Sims since he resigned to become Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration on May 8, 2009.

List of Executives

References

External links

County executive

A county executive is the head of the executive branch of government in a United States county.

The executive may be an elected or an appointed position. When elected, the executive typically functions either as a voting member of the elected county government, or may have veto power similar to other elected executives such as a governor, president or mayor. When appointed, the executive is usually hired for a specific period of time, but frequently can be dismissed prior to this. The position of an appointed county executive is analogous to that of a city manager, and is similar to a chief administrative officer, depending on the state. The executive is generally given full responsibility for the total operation of all departments based on general directives provided by the elected county government that hired the executive.

States with county executives

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References

King County, Washington

King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census its population was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, which is the state's largest city.

King County is included in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. About two-thirds of the county's population lives in the city's suburbs. As of 2011, King County was the 86th highest-income county in the United States.

Etymology

The county was originally named after William Rufus King who was Vice-President when the Washington Territory was created. In 1986, a motion was introduced to change the namesake to Martin Luther King, Jr. No public votes or hearings were taken on the change.

On February 24, 1986, the King County Council passed Council Motion 6461 five votes to four setting forth the historical basis for the renaming of King County in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Because only the state can charter counties, this change was not made official until April 19, 2005, when the Governor signed Senate Bill 5332 into law.

King County (disambiguation)

King County, Washington is a county in Washington State that includes the city of Seattle.

King County may also refer to:

Places

Ships

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King County (steam ferry)

King County was a steam ferry built in 1900 which served on Lake Washington until 1908.

Career

King County was the first true ferry to operate on Lake Washington. The ferry was built in 1900 at Madison Park The ferry was launched on March 8, 1900. A mishap occurred during the vessel's launching with a number of notable figures on board, the ferry slid down the ways but rather than floating in the water, became stuck in the mud. The steamer Cyrene had to pull the new ferry free.

King County was placed on the route from Madison Park to Kirkland. The county hired George Bartsch to act as the ferry's captain. When his services weren't necessary for the ferry, Bartsch ran a sideline with his own steamboat towing log rafts on the lake. It was said by some that he spent most of his time doing this, as business was too sparse to justify much operation of the ferry.

Poorly built, King County lasted only eight years, and 1908, the vessel was condemned as unfit for further service. The vessel is also reported to have sunk in May 1907.