BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG) — The Baldwin County Emergency Management Director, on the job since 2019, submitted his letter of resignation. In the County Commission meeting Tuesday morning, the commission voted to accept the resignation.

Zachary M. Hood joined the Baldwin County EMA in March of 2019. In addition to tropical and other severe weather, including Hurricanes Sally and Zeta, Hood lead the county’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tom Tyler, Baldwin County EMA’s deputy director, will serve as interim director effective immediately.

“We received a letter of resignation from Zach Hood late yesterday afternoon,” says Baldwin County Commission Chairman Skip Gruber. He called Hood’s resignation a “shocker”.

In that letter, Hood thanked the commission for the opportunity and said he wanted to pursue academia and focus on his family and career development.

The job now goes to Deputy Director Tom Tyler, at least for now. “Nothing changes,” said Tyler, “our vision remains the same. We are committed to serving the citizens and the visitors of Baldwin County and they can expect the best from us.”

Tyler is a military veteran with decades of experience in logistics and specialized operations. He joined the agency last year. He says moving forward will be a team effort. “The experience that we have and the processes that we have put into place I feel very confident in our ability to lead a response and I think the citizens of Baldwin County and our visitors should be confident we have things well under control.”

WKRG News 5 reached out to Zach Hood for a statement but those calls have gone unanswered. The search for his permanent replacement is underway.

This is a developing story. We will update this story as we learn more.