San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee often refers to his departments heads as being part of the “city family” — but sometimes the family ties can get a bit complicated.

Take the case of Nicole Elliott, the just-named, $149,459-a-year director of the newly created Office of Cannabis.

Elliot had been the mayor’s liaison to the Board of Supervisors. She is also married to Jason Elliott, who was named as the mayor’s chief of staff after the recent retirement of longtime top staffer Steve Kawa.

Jason Elliott’s elevation to chief of staff, however, meant that Nicole would be reporting directly to her husband if she remained as board liaison, which is against the rules.

To avoid the conflict, Nicole Elliott was transferred to City Administrator Naomi Kelly’s office to fill in for Kelly’s deputy Bill Barnes. He has taken a leave to assist in Supervisor Jeff Sheehy’s campaign to hang onto the District Eight seat next year.

Kelly is the one who picked Nicole Elliott to write the city’s recreational pot policies. It’s a bit of a risky move — Elliott, who is white, doesn’t have all the diversity credentials that some members of the Board of Supervisors were pushing for, and she has no history in the marijuana business.

“It’s an important job and a complex one — I hope she is up to the task,” said Sheehy, who authored the legislation to create the department.

Supervisor Sandra Fewer said: “Legalization is an opportunity to reinvest in communities that are disproportionately impacted by racist drug laws.” The Office of Cannabis, she said, will have a “tremendous responsibility” to come up with ways to “advance equity measures.”

Kelly, who is part of another City Hall tandem — her husband is Harlan Kelly, general manager of the Public Utilities Commission — said Elliott was the right person for the job. Someone who is not from the weed world will be a “neutral and objective” regulator, she said.

In dealing with the supervisors as Lee’s liaison to the board, Kelly said, Elliott has accumulated plenty of experience drafting legislation and become familiar with numerous city departments. She said that will come in handy at the Office of Cannabis, because Elliott “has to navigate all the bureaucracies to put together a program in an aggressive fashion” for the city to be ready for recreational sales Jan. 1.

Kelly has shown some bureaucratic smarts of her own — naming Elliott to the job while the supervisors were on their summer break and not around to complain.

Good fences: San Francisco spent roughly $10,000 for the fence that was hastily erected around Alamo Square Park the morning the conservative group Patriot Prayer said it would hold a news conference there.

Officials scrambled to enclose the 13-acre park after Patriot Prayer canceled its Crissy Field rally at the last minute in favor of the Aug. 26 press event. That raised the specter of right-wingers and counterprotesters duking it out in full view of tourists expecting only a view of the Painted Ladies Victorians.

Deirdre Hussey, Mayor Ed Lee’s spokeswoman, said the fence was worth every dime. Not only did it keep potential combatants out, but it also protected the city’s just-completed, $5.3 million resodding of the park’s grass and renovation of its restrooms.

No word, however, on the cost of the hundreds of police officers who ringed the park, most of whom were brought in on overtime.

Ahead of the weekend’s scheduled events, Hussey sent a talking point to city department heads: “We are more determined than ever to show the country and the world what San Francisco is, and will always be, a city of love, inclusiveness and compassion.”

And from the looks of things, it all went according to script.

Out of a job: Just months after being hired by District Attorney George Gascón to investigate officer-involved shootings, Roger Guzman has resigned amid accusations of off-duty misconduct.

The retired Los Angeles police detective was hired in November at a salary of $116,000 a year — part of a team Gascón assembled after a string of officer-involved shootings raised questions about police use of deadly force.

In April, Guzman was picked up on suspicion of public drunkenness after attending a training session for D.A. investigators near Sacramento. When word of his arrest reached his bosses in San Francisco, Guzman was removed from the specialized unit and handed other investigative assignments.

Alas, there was more trouble to follow.

According to court documents, a former girlfriend obtained a temporary restraining order against Guzman last week for alleged acts of domestic violence.

After San Francisco law enforcement was alerted, Gascón’s office referred the case to police agencies in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas for investigation, sources say.

We’re told Guzman submitted his resignation Tuesday, a day before he was to be called in to be fired.

D.A. spokesman Alex Bastian declined to comment, other than to say that Guzman “no longer works here.”

Guzman could not be reached for comment.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross