City of Victoria parks director Kate Friars departed city hall five months ahead of her scheduled retirement last week for a new job in Nova Scotia.

Victoria Conference Centre general manager Jocelyn Jenkins, who recently served as interim city manager, will take over Friars’ responsibilities until a replacement can be found.

Friars headed the parks department for the past six years and was one of the city’s top earners, taking home $178,000 in 2012.

This marks the second high profile departure at city hall recently: former finance director Brenda Warner resigned last month after delivering the 2014 budget.