Two more of Mayor de Blasio’s top aides headed for the exits Thursday — shortly after his counsel disclosed she was quitting and his social-media director fled after just eight weeks on the job.
Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd announced she planned to retire, while Nilda Mesa, who heads the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, said she wanted to “spend time with her family and explore new opportunities,” according to a statement from the mayor’s office.
The departures were the third and fourth made public in the past two days.
Scott Kleinberg, hired in May as City Hall’s social-media director, took to Facebook Tuesday to declare that he couldn’t work any more with “political hacks” and “a boss who just couldn’t get it.”
De Blasio’s counsel, Maya Wiley, said on Wednesday that she’s stepping down next month to become director of the police Civilian Complaint Review Board and to teach at The New School.
Wiley came under criticism in May for delivering legal advice that the mayor’s communications with five outside consultants were shielded from public disclosure because they were “agents of the city.”
She’ll be packing up as the mayor tries to navigate through multiple probes surrounding his fund-raising.
Press Secretary Karen Hinton, who resigned earlier this month, had previously said her ability to do her job was sometimes stymied by information-flow problems at City Hall.
Responding to the loss of key employees, Hinton’s replacement, Eric Phillips, said, “Every administration deals with staff turnover. This is par for the course, and it’s a natural time in any mayor’s term for these transitions to happen.”
George Arzt, a veteran political consultant who served as press secretary to ex-Mayor Ed Koch, agreed that those thinking of leaving were best off doing it this year.
“This is the most opportune moment to leave. It’s bad optics to leave in an election year,” said Arzt, referring to Hizzoner’s bid for another term in 2017.
“They’re announcing all these departures right before the July 4th holiday, when you want to dump news,” added Arzt.
Lloyd served as commissioner under Mayor Mike Bloomberg before de Blasio appointed her to her to a second stint in 2014.
Lloyd has been on medical leave the past month, and city officials said her decision to retire was health related.
One official added it had nothing to do with heat she took earlier this year when the mayor insisted poor communication within his administration caused The New York Times to incorrectly report he was withholding capital funds and delaying construction of a critical new water pipeline to Brooklyn and Queens.