Town chief administrative officer Dave Devana has parted ways with the town.

Devana announced his decision to leave after the Feb. 24 council meeting.

Town councillor Morgan Nagel says Devana indicated he wanted to get out of local politics and did not speculate any further on the reasons why.

Nagel says he has faith in Mayor Jeff Genung to steer the ship through the change.

"What I have told Mayor Genung is that when it comes to handling all this stuff, he's got my full support. I think the most important thing is we have a clear leader at the RancheHouse, and this doesn't become some sort of problem."

Saying Devana will be missed, he says he was surprised with the decision, but believes Cochrane will be fine.

"It presents an interesting opportunity for us to find some new people, and bring in some new energy and new enthusiasm."

He believes Devana brought to the town a sense of urgency to complete projects.

"I think Dave did a really good job of pushing people along, and getting projects on task."

"I do think he did positively contributed to increasing the efficiency and work ethic at the RancheHouse."

Devana replaced retiring CAO Julian Decocq in October 2017. He came to the town from the Municipality of North Cowichan, B.C., where he served for more than seven years before departing in March 2017.

Recently he made sweeping changes to the town structure. The revised organizational structure reduced the senior management team from six to four. It eliminated the deputy CAO and senior manager of Community Services positions.

Devana was a strong proponent of developing Cochrane's tech industry.

In a brief statement issued this afternoon, it was stated town council will meet later this week to determine next steps in filling the CAO position.