It sounds like he's going to hold a sanctioned event, however the CD would just not be present, as per the OP's question. His question is simple, the CD is the person that sanctioned the event, that person must be there, as far as the AMA side of the event.

If you are the CD and you are still going to run the event, you better call the AMA to let them know or you could wind up losing you CD status and causing a big problem if there is an accident for all parties involved.

http://www.modelaircraft.org/events/...708General.pdf