Colwood and chief administrative officer Ross McPhee have parted company after two years.
Mayor Carol Hamilton, citing personnel confidentiality, would not get into details but said that McPhee's departure was amicable.
"There was nothing untoward or anything like that," Hamilton said, adding that it was a mutual decision. "There's been discussions going on for a while. ... Sometimes you fit and sometimes you don't."
Colwood will now begin a search for a replacement.
"We will look at what it means at city hall and the structure of things," Hamilton said. "We've got lots and lots of stuff that is coming our way, and so I think there is a need for someone to be in that position who has the energy and commitment to get involved in what's happening in Colwood."
Hamilton listed development at Royal Bay and the Capital City Centre project as two major items facing the municipality.
"We're trying to strengthen our departments to handle all the work that's going to be coming through on those ones over the next while," she said. "There's a plan in place with how we're managing all of those things, and we need somebody at the helm that's going to have that energy to work with all those folks."
Michael Baxter, Colwood's director of engineering, has been appointed acting CAO.
McPhee, who has experience as a planner and a lawyer, received $142,273 in remuneration in 2011. He replaced Chris Pease, who retired, in October 2010. He came to Colwood from Revelstoke, where he had been CAO since 2006.
