The city manager will resign after barely a year-and-a-half on the job, marking the fourth time in two years that the position has been vacated.

In a 3-2 vote last week, Milpitas City Council ousted longtime City Attorney Mike Ogaz and his entire staff in a move to outsource his replacement.

Milpitas City Hall, for the life of it, can’t seem to hang on to its top-tier employees. Human Resources Director Carmen Valdez became the latest in a long line of department heads to abruptly leave.

A dozen current and former city of Milpitas employees say that City Manager Tom Williams has created a hostile work environment that's led to unprecedented turnover of department heads. The long-simmering tension could now lead to the removal of the city attorney.