We’re not privy, of course, to the really inside political wrangling that occurs at the upper levels of City Hall, but we were reminded today in council chambers that there are dark dealings that seldom are exposed to the public light.

One of these intriguing back stories involves the departure of city coordinator John Moir, who Mayor R.T. Rybak declined to reappoint for a third two-year term this month. Mr. Moir, reportedly something of a financial whiz (he served for some years as the city’s finance director), was reportedly somewhat less effective as city coordinator. Indeed, we’ve been told by fairly reasonable sources that he had, on occasion, mysteriously disappeared for days at a time. We have no independent verification of this practice, but it has been made apparent by those in the know that Mr. Moir’s services were no longer required.

Well, today the council gave the city coordinator (who did show up) a very laudable send-off prior to the City Council meeting. Former council president Paul Ostrow read a lovely resolution, and called Moir a “mentor,” adding that it had been an “incredible privilege to work with you.”

Current council president Barbara Johnson said he was “one of the finest people I’ve every worked with” and thanked him for “serving our city with great integrity.”

Mr. Moir, for his part, seemed less than pleased with the going-away present. “You wait until the end to say nice things about people,” he said, which left the assembly no choice but to giggle apprehensively. We didn’t quite know whether he was joking or not, and looked to the mayor for some sign. He wasn’t smiling.

Continuing, Mr. Moir quipped, “I’ve enjoyed working you even when you were yelling at me.” We checked back with the mayor, who was now stone-faced.

The moment passed, though, and Mr. Moir accepted his nicely framed council resolution and Father of Waters statuette, and the chambers cleared out.