Mike Reuwsaat became town manager in 2003.

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Mike Reuwsaat stepped into the council chambers at the Marana Municipal Complex on July 1 wearing the dark-suit-and-tie ensemble people had grown used to seeing him in over the past five years.

It wasn't the outfit he would have preferred to wear for his final council meeting as town manager.

"I was thinking Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops," Reuwsaat joked. "But this is probably the last day I'll be wearing a tie."

Today is the final day on the job for Reuwsaat, 52, Marana's town manager since August 2003.

Per his separation agreement with the town, Reuwsaat will go on paid administrative leave from Friday until Aug. 5, during which time, he said, he'll be available to help Gilbert Davidson in his transfer from deputy town manager to Marana's top non-elected position.

Davidson was officially appointed town manager on July 1.

"I'll be transferring a lot of the history and mental knowledge out of my head and into Gilbert's," Reuwsaat said last week. "Sort of like passing the baton. And after that I'll always be available by phone."

Reuwsaat's departure comes after four Marana Town Council members — Vice Mayor Herb Kai and first-term members Russell Clanagan, Jon Post and Roxanne Ziegler — requested on June 3 that a discussion of removing Reuwsaat from his position be put on a future agenda.

That discussion never occurred, as Reuwsaat instead negotiated a settlement with the town to resign.

"I don't hold any ill will" against the council members who called for his removal, said Reuwsaat, himself a former Marana council member.

"I'm a town manager, and that job is at the will of the council. Sometimes it's not always at the will of the entire council. It is non-productive for me to dwell on any of that."

Rather, Reuwsaat says, he'd prefer to help focus on helping his successor get settled.

"I've been mentoring Gilbert for three years," Reuwsaat said. "He's going to benefit from my successes, and he's going to benefit from my mistakes."

As far as employment plans, Reuwsaat said he's already spoken with people about a handful of "opportunities" he might consider, though he declined to go into specifics other than to say he doesn't expect to be out of work for long.

"I'm not one to sit around," Reuwsaat said. "I will try to find a job in this area, looking for the right match, whether it be in the public or private (sector), or even with a non-profit."