Lewis County Manager Ryan Barrett will leave the post just before the holiday season after accepting a new job “in the private sector.”
Barrett submitted a letter of resignation to the Lewis County Board of Commissioners last month, notifying the board of his plans to take a new job, which he did not formally identify.
According to the Sept. 15 letter, Barrett’s resignation will go into effect on Monday, Nov. 16.
With the notice of his resignation, Barrett will wrap up a three-year stint serving as Lewis County manager. He started the job near the end of August 2023 as he took over the position from the county’s first county manager, former Lewis County Public Works Director Erik Martin.
Martin similarly departed the position for another job.
The short and bitter-sweet letter thanked the Lewis County Board of Commissioners for the opportunity to run the county, referring to his tenure as “one of the most rewarding opportunities of my career.”
“It has been a privilege to lead and support this organization, and I leave proud of our work, appreciative of the relationships I have built, and confident in the county’s future,” Barrett wrote in the last line of the letter.
When Barrett was hired for the position, he had more than 19 years of public service in Lewis and King counties. At the time of his hiring, he was employed as a captain for South Correctional Entity, a regional correctional facility in Des Moines.
Barrett, who spent more than seven years with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office working as a corrections deputy and lieutenant, has a master’s of business administration from Western Governors University in Millcreek, Utah, and a bachelor’s degree in business communication from Evergreen State College.
