As the City of Calgary continues to phase out the LRT Green Line, the person who was in charge of the project is set to leave.

At a city council meeting Tuesday, CEO Darshpreet Bhatti announced he was leaving his post after three years on the job.

During the same meeting, the city council voted to dissolve the Green Line board of directors, which oversaw the project.

The Council voted in September to put an end to the public transit expansion project after the provincial government cut off funding.

The province has since agreed to retain some of the existing work on the LRT, but is still waiting for the engineering company AECOM to propose a new route.

City operations manager Stuart Dalgleish said the Green Line would now become a new city service.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek told reporters outside council chambers Tuesday that details were still to come on how the city would manage the Green Line in the future.

“It’s clear that it can’t be the Green Line board overseeing any type of administration, so it remains to be seen what that will look like,” Gondek said.

“The working group we have with the province also has members of the (City) administration, so we are in regular contact and communication with the provincial government to determine what we do going forward.”

Bhatti said outside council chambers Tuesday that it was his decision to leave and that he was not forced to leave.

“I just thought this was the most opportune time to ensure the right transition,” Bhatti said. “We were already in the process of liquidating…I just decided maybe it was time for me to leave it in better hands and move on to something different.”

He added that there are many other job opportunities elsewhere, but he has not yet decided where he will go next.

Asked how he feels about leaving the work with the Green Line unfinished, Bhatti said his emotions are mixed.

“It feels incomplete. I’ll be very honest in that, on every project I’ve been involved with, it’s been on its own, but ultimately they’re finished. This program will be finished as well. I might not be just not there for the whole trip,” Bhatti said.

Gondek said seeing Bhatti leave was difficult, but expected.

“The Green Line board has dedicated a lot of time, as has Mr. Bhatti. And let’s not forget all the other members of the Green Line team,” Gondek said.

“You know, when a project comes to an end, you have to understand that the CEO will eventually step down. So it was a question of timing, and it’s difficult to see him leave. He offered so much to the project. “