###

In the City of Blue Lake’s ongoing game of musical chairs, Acting City Manager Dani Burkhart appears likely to be replaced tonight, at a special city council meeting, by Jill Duffy, a former Fifth District Humboldt County supervisor who spent 10 years as executive director of the Humboldt Waste Management Authority, followed by a stint as interim general manager of the Humboldt County Fair Association. 

Duffy addresses the Board of Supervisors in 2023.

The agenda for tonight’s special meeting includes just one item, aside from public comment and ceremonial matters such as reciting the Pledge. That item: “Consider Appointment of Jill Duffy as Interim City Manager and Approve Employment Agreement.”

That agreement has already been drafted and is included in the council’s agenda packet. Last week’s regular meeting of the council included a closed session agenda item labeled “PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT” and another labeled “PUBLIC EMPLOYEE EVALUATION” for the acting city manager, Burkhart. However, there was no action reported out of that closed session hearing. When the Outpost followed up with Mayor John Sawatzky by phone he reiterated that no reportable action had been taken.

Burkhart, you may recall, was appointed to the acting city manager position just six weeks ago following the abrupt departure of longtime City Manager Amanda “Mandy” Mager. That decision was announced publicly as a mutual parting of ways, though much of the new council majority was elected this past November on a wave of anti-Mager sentiment. 

Former Blue Lake City Councilmember Chris Firor, a Mager supporter, missed several meetings in a row and then unexpectedly resigned in May. He was replaced at last week’s council meeting by retired public school educator Terri Bayles, whom the council selected instead of fellow applicant Adelene Jones, the city’s longtime mayor who lost re-election in November via a tiebreaker.

Burkhart declined to comment for this story. A phone call and text to Duffy was not immediately returned.