Markeshia Ricks Photo
CAO Mike Carter.
One of Mayor Toni Harp’s top aides suddenly resigned Friday, leaving the city’s front-line departments temporarily leaderless.
The aide, Chief Administrative Officer Michael Carter, submitted a letter of resignation, effective Sept. 7. His resignation letter did not include his reason for leaving, according to a mayoral press release
As CAO, Carter oversees the cops, the fire department, emergency management, and public works, among other city agencies.
He came to the city job soon after Mayor Harp took office in 2014. She found out about him through her friend and former aide Vanessa Burns, a New Havener who supervised Carter as public works chief of Washington, D.C.
Carter’s personal relationship with the mayor became strained in recent months, with Carter reportedly growing openly critical of her performance. A lunch between the two failed to ease tensions.
Carter could not be reached for comment for this article. He has been out this week on vacation.
Carter established himself as a low-profile, no-nonsense, nonpolitical, hands-on administrator. News of his resignation Friday stunned his colleagues, although Carter was known to have bristled at some of the political infighting in the adminsitration over the past couple of years.
Officials who worked with Carter expressed disappointment at the news.
Fire Chief John Alston Jr., whom Carter hired, called him “insightful. He’s a brilliant man, a brilliant strategist.”
“He’s spectacular,” said city economic development chief Matthew Nemerson. “He was calm. Every moment I was with him I learned how to help people and how to solve problems.”
Carter, who has a side gig refereeing college football games, earned plaudits for overseeing a revamping of how the city clears snow, buying new equipment and improving the way crews operate.
His resignation comes a time when City Hall has been buffeted by bad news, from a wave of over 100 K2 overdoses in several days on the Green, to controversy over city budget deficits, credit ratings agencies, education cuts, employee theft with a city credit card, and the purchase of $4,000 of uniofrms for mayoral staffers.