Yet another high-ranking bureaucrat – the fourth in two weeks – is quitting Sarnia city hall, an exodus that follows once-embattled Mayor Mike Bradley’s decisive re-election this fall.

Sarnia’s chief building official, Alan Shaw, said Tuesday he’s leaving Feb. 2 to work as Toronto’s deputy chief building official and director of building for North York.

City solicitor Scott McEachran and finance director Lisa Armstrong had already announced their resignations while the city said Monday it’s mutually parting ways with chief administrative officer Marg Misek-Evans.

Together, the four senior staff leaving make up half the department heads for the city of almost 72,000.

The almost-simultaneous departure of so many of the city’s top officials is likely the fallout of the Oct. 22 election, one city councillor said.

“The reality is (the exodus) appears to be the fallout from the election result, and we have to do better to make sure that we are working together and creating a positive atmosphere,” Coun. Brian White said.

Bradley, who stood accused of workplace harassment, and whose council largely prohibited his access to city staff, was re-elected to a 10th term as mayor by a two-to-one margin and is one of Ontario’s longest-serving mayors.

The last council was dogged by infighting between Bradley and most of the politicians after the mayor’s access to city hall – and his ability to communicate with city staff – was sharply pared back in the wake of a 2016 workplace investigation. That investigation found he bullied and harassed four senior city staff members in violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Three of those staff members left in the preceding months. Only Misek-Evans stayed – until now.

“It’s going to take a little extra effort with council to make sure we have laid to rest any of our past demons and that we signal out that we are prepared to change to be a welcoming community,” said White, noting the City of Sarnia’s reputation as a place to work has suffered.

Bradley, though, maintained some of the reasons behind these departures “have nothing to do with me.”

The recent election results, where most of his council opponents were ousted, showed the public favoured his mandate to make city hall more open and accountable, he said.

“If the administration can’t work with that, then they are in the wrong job.”

Zack Taylor, an urban policy and local governance professor at Western University, noted it’s common for civil servants to move around, and leaving a post in the wake of a political changeover can sometimes makes sense, “You’ve executed a bunch of projects with, maybe, long-term political leadership that you’ve worked together with, and then it’s time for a new challenge,” he said. “I understand that. I think that’s entirely normal. Ambitious public servants like new challenges.”

But rapid cycling without a political change at the top makes less sense, he said. And the mass exodus from Sarnia city hall “can’t be healthy for an organization,” he added, saying the loss of so many experienced people will have an impact.

“Sometimes it means that you lose time to relearning that institutional knowledge,” Taylor said.

Personal relationships in government matter more when that government is smaller, he said.

“While Sarnia is not a small place, the smaller institutions like this tend to operate more on a personal level than kind of an institutionalized level, where it’s about the roles rather than the individual people and their personalities.”

Shaw was brief in his remarks about his imminent departure, saying, as a public servant, it wasn’t appropriate for him to make political statements.

“This decision was made for me personally,” the 49-year-old said. “I think there are a lot of challenges in front of us and I wish everybody the best.”

Armstrong, meanwhile, said she’s leaving because of the political environment and to stay true to her principles. On Tuesday, Misek-Evans issued her own statement about her five-year job with the city coming to an end.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the citizens of Sarnia and work with tremendously capable people who work hard to progress the city,” she said. “I wish Sarnia well in the future, with continued progress on the issues of today and growth for tomorrow.”

McEachran has yet to comment.

Bradley, meanwhile, said he sees the exodus of these senior bureaucrats as an “exciting” opportunity.

“There’s a lot of young people coming into municipal government, and I’m hoping we can attract them to the area,” he said.

Bradley noted there’s generally been more turnover in municipal government management in recent years, and not just in Sarnia, citing recently announced CAO departures in North Bay, Burlington and Brampton, where former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown was recently elected mayor.

He added he respects the people who are leaving Sarnia and wishes them well.

Jim Crawford, Sarnia’s corporate manager of human resources, said “it’s tough to attract staff when you’re having trouble retaining the staff you have now,” noting Sarnia has also had trouble recruiting in recent years.

“I’d be naive to say the media attention on the issues between council and staff certainly don’t influence people’s decisions,” he said. “However I feel the City of Sarnia has a lot to offer” regarding staff compensation and quality of life.

Postings have already gone up for the finance and solicitor positions, and plans are to post soon, he said, for both Shaw’s replacement and the position of CAO.

Hopes are for good applicants, he said.

Shaw will actually fill in as acting CAO until he leaves in February, Crawford said, and after McEachran – currently acting CAO in Misek-Evans’ absence – leaves city hall on Jan. 4.

Misek-Evans’ contract with the city ends Dec. 31. She and the city agreed to part ways. Her last day in the office is Dec. 20.

tkula@postmedia.com