Current Secretary of Natural Resources Mark Belton has announced he plans to return to his former role as Charles County Administrator.

The Baltimore Sun covered the pending transition:

Belton has been leading the agency — responsible for state parks, crab and oyster fisheries and hunting and boating regulation — since February 2015, early in the Republican governor’s first term.

He did not specify the timing of his departure, saying he would choose a date “that provides for a smooth transition for my successor.”

In Belton’s letter, he said his department’s accomplishments include preservation of 33,000 acres of ecologically sensitive land, attendance records at state parks, management of challenging winter ice conditions and improved customer service for various licensing processes. He managed an agency with a $278 million operating budget and more than 1,300 full-time employees.

Mr. Belton, a former rear admiral in the US Navy, served as the Charles County Administrator from 2012 to 2014. Prior to that service, he served as a County Commissioner in Queen Anne’s County from 1994-1996, and as the Queen Anne’s County Administrator from 1999-2002.