Washington Department of Ecology Deputy Director Polly Zehm is retiring from state service at the end of January, just a month after her boss, agency spokesman Randy Bradbury said Monday.
Zehm served more than 22 years with the agency, about eight of them as deputy director, according to an online biography. She sent an internal email within Ecology in early December, around the time Director Maia Bellon announced her own departure by the end of 2019.
Before coming to headquarters in Olympia in late 2003, Zehm worked at the agency’s regional office in Yakima. She was a regional director for Ecology from 1997 to 2003, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Prior to her state career, Zehm worked for the cities of Olympia and Ellensburg and is a former wastewater treatment plant manager.
The Ecology Department is the state’s regulator for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site near the city of Richland, along with commercial radioactive waste operations within its borders. Between 70 and 80 people work at Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program.
Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has yet to announce a replacement for Bellon, who plans to go into private legal practice.
