Seven months after being forced out as San Jose's city manager, Ed Shikada is set to accept a permanent role as assistant city manager in Palo Alto.

A new twist has transpired in the city of San Jose’s executive purge, as interim City Manager Norberto Dueñas signed off on an unprecedented buyout late last month.

Councilman Don Rocha is calling for a management review that could reveal more details about more information about recent dysfunction in the city manager's office.

San Jose Inside has learned that allegations of inappropriate relationships, threats of violence and overzealous internal investigations have split the city manager’s office into factions. On Friday, the office's third top-level executive will resign—but not before parting with a $100,000 severance package.

Definitely makes for a wild week when the dullest thing to go down at San Jose’s City Hall was a bomb threat.

San Jose Inside has confirmed with multiple sources that Ed Shikada will resign from his post as city manager, the top appointed position in the city. (UPDATE: The city manager announced his resignation in an email to staff Wednesday afternoon.)

Shortly after returning from a holiday lunch party Thursday, City Manager Ed Shikada removed Alex Gurza as head of the Office of Employee Relations. But on Monday, Gurza surprised many by returning to work—just at a far lower rung on the totem pole.

San Jose's public employee unions will have a fresh face to spar with behind closed doors in the coming weeks. City spokesperson Lenka Wright confirmed to San Jose Inside on Friday that Alex Gurza will no longer serve as the city's lead negotiator on labor contracts.

Breaking up is hard to do. Breaking up a fight between the San Jose police union and City Hall could be damn near impossible. In what appeared to be an effort to mend fences and remind people who’s the boss, Acting Police Chief Larry Esquivel recently sent an email this week to his command staff—roughly 50 deputy police chiefs, lieutenants and captains—scolding them for signing on to a letter critical of the city recent actions involving labor negotiations.

UPDATE: The city of San Jose came to an agreement on tier-2 retirement benefits with the POlice Officers Association on Thursday afternoon, avoiding Friday’s arbitration hearing.

San Jose faces a $2.9 billion unfunded liability in pension and retiree healthcare costs. The figure is mind-boggling. The city still has to figure out how to afford those unfunded obligations. But that’s another story for another time. On Friday morning, the public—for the first time—will have a chance to sit in on arbitration hearings that have been held previously behind closed doors, when the city negotiators sits across the table from San Jose’s police union.

Until a few days ago, the city of San Jose and its employee unions appeared to be a lot friendlier than they were at the beginning of the month—when City Manager Debra Figone and police union president George Beattie were squabbling about why the city punted on a federal grant. But this week, as the pension-reform plan inches forward, the unions are back to voicing outrage.

The Police Officers Association announced Friday that its members would accept a one-time 10 percent cut in pay and benefits for the coming year. Union leaders cast the move as a generous proposal that would save jobs. Mayor Chuck Reed immediately called the offer inadequate, and warned that it came dangerously late in the game.