At a special meeting this morning, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will meet in closed session to consider disciplinary action and/or potential dismissal of a public employee, an unusual action typically reserved for high-ranking staff members.

The closed-session item doesn’t indicate what happened or who is involved, which is typical for personnel-related matters. The same item appeared on the board’s Aug. 27 agenda, but “no reportable action” came out of the discussion.

The proposed action happens to coincide with the sudden absence of Humboldt County Aviation Director Cody Roggatz, who has helmed the department since 2018. Roggatz, who is usually quick to respond to the Outpost’s inquiries, hasn’t replied to recent requests for comment. To our knowledge, he has not been seen at a county-related event since last month’s Rumble Over the Redwoods airshow.

Messages sent to Roggatz’s county email immediately bounce back with an automatic response that says he is “temporarily unavailable” and directs aviation-related inquiries to Airport Operations Manager Curt Eikerman and other administrative staff.

The Outpost contacted Humboldt County Public Information Specialist Cati Gallardo to see if Roggatz is on administrative leave. We received the following response:

Director Roggatz is unavailable at this time. The county will not comment at this time but will provide additional information if and when it becomes appropriate.

The county’s Aviation Advisory Committee, which meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month, hasn’t held a meeting since May. The committee’s Aug. 27 meeting was abruptly canceled with no explanation.

Reached for additional information, Aviation Advisory Committee Chair Alex Stillman told the Outpost that she received a cancellation notice from county staff about two hours before the meeting was set to begin.

“When we asked [about it] we weren’t told anything,” she said. “We’re sort of concerned because we have Aviation Day at Murray Field coming up in the spring, and we want the aviation club at Cal Poly Humboldt to be able to get on board with that right away. … We’re on schedule to have our regular meeting this month. If we don’t we’ll be five months without a meeting.”

Asked if she had been in direct contact with Roggatz in the last month or so, Stillman said no, adding that she received the same emailed auto-reply we did. “We are in the dark because everything is, of course, close-lipped when it comes to personnel,” she said.

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The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will meet for closed session in board chambers at the Humboldt County Courthouse today at 10 a.m. If any action is taken, it will be reported to the public at the end of the closed-session meeting.