Officials aren't saying why Joya De Foor, who was recruited last year to become Atlanta's chief financial officer, is no longer employed by the city.
Her leaving marks one of the higher-profile departures of an official chosen by Mayor Kasim Reed to lead a major department.
Reed's staff would not say whether De Foor was fired or resigned. "We do not comment on personnel issues," said Sonji Jacobs Dade, a spokeswoman for Reed.
De Foor had worked as Atlanta's CFO since last summer, when she left the Los Angeles treasurer's job to join Reed's administration.
At the time, Reed said he was looking forward to working with a CFO "who is committed to shoring up the city's coffers and making smart decisions today that ensure Atlanta’s fiscal health tomorrow."
But at 6:10 p.m. Monday, Reed's chief of staff told City Council members De Foor was gone.
"We wish Ms. De Foor well in her future endeavors," Candace Byrd wrote in the email.
As CFO, De Foor oversaw a $14.7 million department that received a 10 percent increase in budget allocations in the most recent fiscal year.
De Foor's work was at the center of an embarrassing episode this summer. An internal audit found that when the City Council voted to spend parts of a $8.5 million fund to support the Atlanta Streetcar Project, they used faulty information from the finance department. The money council members thought was available had actually been spent two years earlier to close a budget gap.
De Foor will be replaced by J. Anthony "Jim" Beard. Last year, Beard was one of three finalists considered for the city’s CFO job. Although he lost out to De Foor, Reed hired Beard away from a job in Palm Beach County and named him CFO and deputy commissioner of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management.
Yolanda Adrean, who chairs the City Council's Finance/Executive Committee, said Monday's announcement of De Foor's departure caught her by surprise.
The most important thing, she said, is " to make sure we have strong stewardship of taxpayers' dollars."
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