Government operates with a level of transparency at all levels, some more than others. I wouldn't say this is a matter of employment records, but is a matter of a public servant quickly and, against his contract, resigning for reasons that are shrouded.

While I don't advocate for people's private aspects of their lives becoming public if unrelated or unimportant (e.g. "due to health in the family I will be stepping away"), I do think that it is reasonable to give a simple answer in those cases that does not expose details. Otherwise, if the City Manager has some sort of skeleton that came out of the closet, it is important to the voters to know as a matter of hindsight. Specifically, how do we improve the quality of future individuals that we either put or vote into place of power.

> “It’s Steve’s story to tell. There’s nothing I can say about it.”

It would be trivial for Daly to release a statement indicating why there was a departure and to not share details he wasn't interested in sharing. Not doing this is really just bad optics for a person who is a public servant, and therefore should understand the need for transparency more than the average person.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk!