King County Executive Dow Constantine answered concerns over transportation and animal control at a Burien Lions meeting on April 7.

King County, said Constantine, has a “future of boundless potential” but cities must partner together.

Lions members were greatly concerned about transportation, particularly Metro Access vans. They said the vans are late or bypass patrons, particularly blind users.

Constantine says this is a source of frustration for him, as well. The service is expensive for taxpayers and should not operate this way.

He promised to forward the complaint to Metro officials.

Another source of concern was animal control. Recently, due to the risk of flooding in the Green River Valley, the Kent Animal Shelter will no longer be accepting owner-surrendered pets and will also be relocating the animals at the shelter. Shelters are also facing funding cuts and elimination.

Constantine says he and others have been working on solution to this. By partnering with other cities and animal welfare groups he hopes to almost eliminate the need for shelters and control so the costs of such things will go down.

Two days after Constantine’s visit, King County officials announced that cities that contract with the county for animal control and sheltering must start paying the full cost of those services.

Burien, SeaTac and Tukwila are exploring forming a partnership to handle animal control and sheltering. Des Moines and Normandy Park share their own animal control officer.

Constantine said he is also concerned with addressing the needs of county workers. He spent one day doing the job of Patricia Doherty, a county worker.

“It was a great way to see how people interact with the county,” he said. “I will be doing this once a quarter.”

This, he hopes, will help him understand citizen and staff needs.

Constantine said he is also concerned about the cost of doing business in King County; both monetary costs and the time it takes to start a business. He wants to find ways to simplify paper work and other things to make it simpler for businesses to open in King County.

“The cost of doing business is going up while everything else is flat lining,” says Constantine. “I want to rein this in and bring it down to the rate of inflation.”