We did a double-take here at The Monitor when we read the opening line of a job ad in our inbox last week: “Jefferson County seeks a permanent full-time Sanitarian.”
That can’t be right, we thought. Megan Bullock’s been in charge of sanitation, sewage, waste management, and environmental health around here since…well, since anybody can remember.
“Thirty-three years is a long time,” she told The Monitor. “It has been a rewarding, yet challenging, career, which has afforded me considerable opportunities.”
When Bullock first started working as a Treasurer’s clerk in 1992, it was a different world and a different Jefferson County. George H.W. Bush was president, the internet was America Online, the iPhone was 15 years away, and clean-up had not yet begun at the Basin mine.
But Bullock plugged away, worked as a technician under the previous Sanitarian, and earned her degree at Carroll College. Named to her current post in 1998, she has since seen just about everything Jefferson County offers.
“I could write a book on the experiences I’ve had, and have always joked that I’m more of a firefighter, putting out fires daily,” said Bullock, recalling truck accidents, animal bites, shop inspections, septic systems, subdivision evaluations, floodplain permitting, and more. “It definitely was not a monotonous job.”
She plans to stay in her post through June and train her replacement. She also had a few thoughts on what to look for in the next Sanitarian.
“The ability to work with people is the most important trait,” said Bullock, adding that her successor will also need to be able to manage multiple projects simultaneously. “My advice to my successor is to be prepared to utilize many resources to do their job because oftentimes the answers may not be found in a book and will require thought and creativity.”
Bullock started a business, Gravel Bar Consulting, in 2023, and retiring from public service will enable her to focus on that work, helping other communities fill Sanitarian roles. Stepping away from this position, she expected to particularly miss one aspect of being Sanitarian.
“What stands out the most is the people I’ve met along the way and the lifelong relationships created,” said Bullock, adding that she always worked to help people understand regulations so they could work within them and succeed. “As a dedicated and hardworking public servant, I hope that is the legacy I leave behind. Jefferson County and its residents have been such a big part of my life, so my departure will be bittersweet.”
