Ryan Cooley. | Image via County of Humboldt.

Well, that didn’t last long.

Humboldt County’s latest director of aviation has resigned after just two months and five days on the job.

Ryan Cooley, who arrived here after working three years and eight months as the airport director up in Del Norte County, submitted a letter of resignation dated yesterday, according to Public Information Director Cati Gallardo.

Cooley held a couple other aviation-related jobs before that, though as recently as 2016 he was managing a GameStop in Klamath Falls, Ore., according to his LinkedIn profile.

“This was not the result of any disciplinary matter, and I’m proud of what we accomplished during my tenure,” Cooley told Times-Standard reporter Robert Schaullis, adding, “I’m grateful for the opportunity to have served the community and wish the county and especially the department of aviation continued success.”

Gallardo said via email, “As this is a personnel matter, the county has no further information to share with the media on this topic.”

Cooley was appointed aviation director at the June 3 Board of Supervisors meeting with the expectation that he would begin work the following Monday. The job, which has a pay scale ranging from $193,710 to $219,169 per year, entails management and development of the county’s six airports, including everything from overseeing day-to-day operations to leading capital improvement projects and guiding long-term planning.

Curiously, Cooley’s sudden and unexpected departure mirrors that of the previous aviation director, Cody Roggatz. Both men resigned — or, in Roggatz’s case, disappeared for a spell before resigning — almost immediately after the big Rumble Over the Redwoods airshow up at ACV, the California Redwood Coast - Humboldt County Airport.

A county insider tells us that Cooley’s resignation was unrelated to that event, however. 

The Outpost has requested a copy of Cooley’s resignation letter. We’ll update this post when we hear back from the county.

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UPDATE, 1:24 p.m.:

Well, there’s not much to this letter of resignation.  Marked “CONFIDENTIAL,” it reads, in its entirety, “I, Ryan Cooley, hereby resign my employment as the Humboldt County Director of Aviation, effective immediately.”