Former Washington state representative turned Economic Alliance of Lewis County Executive Director Richard DeBolt said farewell to friends and colleagues earlier this week as he enters into a partial retirement effective immediately.
The Economic Alliance of Lewis County hosted a retirement party for DeBolt Tuesday evening at the American Legion in Chehalis. Friends, family and members of the community were invited to eat, drink and chat with DeBolt before his fast approaching departure from Lewis County.
DeBolt has worked as the executive director of the Economic Alliance of Lewis County for the last five years and will now step down from the position. However, he will stay involved for at least a year in an advisory capacity to continue work on a contract he did not disclose.
Economic Alliance Initiatives Program Manager Todd Chaput will assume the position of executive director for the local organization in DeBolt’s absence.
“We are really happy — my board's really happy, my executive team is really happy — that we were able to take somebody from within the organization and move them to in charge,” DeBolt said. “It's been kind of my goal all along. Anybody’s replaceable, and so you should always train everybody else to replace you.”
The now former executive director on Tuesday evening said he was set to depart Lewis County and head for his new home north of Austin, Texas, on Thursday. DeBolt and his wife, who has already departed, are making the move to be closer to family living in the state.
DeBolt said that while he will be relocating across the country, he will stay involved in the local community somewhat as he plans to make “three or four trips a year” back to Lewis County and to visit family still living in the area.
Just ahead of the retirement party, DeBolt reflected on some of his work in the community, most recently with the Economic Alliance. Looking back, he said his happiest achievement in recent years was getting others to recognize Lewis County as a source of high-quality natural resources.
“We're starting to get people to understand that our natural resources are our greatest asset, helping to work on the (Biofuel Development Opportunity) zone by opportunity diversity zone to help our natural resource-based businesses use their wood waste differently and create secondary markets,” DeBolt said. “That's pretty exciting.”
He added he’s also very happy with recent efforts and partnerships that have helped expand infrastructure throughout the county, including everything from sewer systems to recent buildouts of broadband internet infrastructure.
DeBolt got his start in Lewis County in the mid 90s when he first moved to the community with his wife and became the chief operating officer of the Twin Cities Chamber of Commerce, now known as the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce.
“I'm grateful that this community gave me the chance to have the life I've had,” DeBolt said. “When Amy and I moved here, we were 25 years old, and we were pregnant with our daughter, and we took over the Chamber of Commerce here, and everything from there has blossomed because of this community.”
DeBolt had moved to the area from Wyoming where he earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Wyoming.
Not long after relocating, he was also elected to state office, winning the race to become one of two state representatives to represent Washington’s 20th Legislative District. His seat is now held by state Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Chehalis. DeBolt first took office in 1997 and remained a state representative through 2021.
During his time in the state Legislature, DeBolt served as the ranking minority leader on the House Capital Budget committee much like his successor. He also served as the House minority leader of the Washington state House Republicans from 2005 to 2006 and again took on the job from 2006 through 2013.
For most of his career in Lewis County, DeBolt worked for the Canadian-based power company TransAlta. DeBolt worked for the company, serving its Centralia location as part of its public relations team, for just over 15 years.
