One Week Later, the CFO Quits

I know it's Halloween, but this is a weird bit of news to have received on All Hallow's Eve. The City of Guelph discretely sent around a press release this morning saying that after a week on the job, new Chief Financial Officer Dan Chapman was handing in his resignation. The following is the total amount of information offered in the release:

GUELPH, ON, October 31, 2011 – Dan Chapman, recently hired by the City of Guelph to fill the role of Chief Financial Officer, has resigned for personal reasons.
The City learned of Mr. Chapman's resignation Friday afternoon when he shared his decision with Chief Administrative Officer, Ann Pappert.
Mr. Chapman plans to return to the City of Kitchener where, until recently, he served as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer with the Finance & Corporate Services Department.

Chapman himself replaced Margaret Neubauer, the former CFO who left City Hall under a shroud of mystery back in May. As for the circumstances of Chapman's departure, Guelph Chief Administrative Officer Ann Pappert told the Guelph Mercury that his departure was a surprise and that, “He left for personal reasons.” Pappert added that the process to replace Chapman has begun, and that they expect to have someone in place by Christmas. 

Still, it is another unusual personnel move in a year that's seen a lot of top execs at City Hall depart. Some of the wags posting on the Mercury website are having a field day with the news, and while I'm not sure there's any conspiracy theory here, it is an interesting series of events just the same.