DNREC has a new director for the Division of Community Affairs.
Matt Ritter is the new director. He has spent 18 years with DNREC most recently as an environmental program administrator in the Division of Parks and Recreation.
Ritter takes over for Pat Emory, who was recently appointed DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife Director.
The Division of Community Affairs encompasses the Delaware Natural Resources Police Environmental Crimes Unit, DNREC’s Public Affairs team, and the Offices of the Community Ombudsman and the Small Business Ombudsman.
As Ritter steps into the role, he praises the teams he’s now leading.
"I'm fortunate in the fact that I can come into the situation and really just identify what we're doing, what our challenges are, what our strengths are, and look at ways to improve that,” said Ritter. “In general no matter what, communication is always critical and anything we can do to take steps to improve communication among all of our divisions and with the communities that we’re responsible for protecting is going to be a priority for everyone."
He will also be a liaison with the General Assembly, but Ritter says his predecessor will help with that for now.
"Pat Emory is the Director of Fish and Wildlife, and he'll stay engaged and help me along the way to make the connections with the General Assembly and guide those processes. But yeah it's day one so I'm just catching up on everything now," said Ritter.
Ritter adds he’s looking forward to becoming a resource for the community and General Assembly to ensure they get answers and solutions.
