Humboldt County’s interim human resources director, Darlene “Dar” Rhodes, has resigned after just three months and a week on the job.

Rhodes didn’t give the county a whole lot of notice. According to Deputy County Administrative Officer Sean Quincey she submitted her notice of resignation this past Tuesday with an effective date of Sunday, Feb. 27 — i.e. yesterday. Quincey said she left to take another position. 

Rhodes, a human resources consultant with the firm MRG, stepped into Humboldt County’s (interim) head HR gig back in November, after previous Human Resources Director Linda Le resigned for health reasons. Le had been in the position for less than a year and a half.

It was a tumultuous time for a new HR director come onboard: The Board of Supervisors had recently voted to move payroll processing from the HR department back under the Auditor-Controller’s Office, where the task had resided until the board moved it in 2018. The transition was poorly planned and not yet complete. During Rhodes’ brief tenure, the process has proved messy.

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will formalize Rhodes’ resignation and decide on next steps at its March 8 meeting. In the meantime, Assistant Human Resources Director Zachary O’Hanen will serve as director.