Ever since the November elections resulted in three new members on City Council, there has been a sense of inevitability to the eventual parting of ways between Suffolk and City Manager Selena Cuffee-Glenn.

Whether she merited the attention or not, Cuffee-Glenn has been a lightning rod for voter discontent ever since the former council sneaked in a 14-percent pay raise for her after tabling an even larger proposed raise in the face of a loud public outcry prior to the 2012 elections. The post-election raise sealed the fate of the three incumbent candidates who lost their jobs with the 2014 elections.

With the three newly seated council members having campaigned in large part on the discontent voters felt because of the city manager’s raise, Cuffee-Glenn’s future in Suffolk has seemed to be in question since January, when in their first full meeting as elected councilmen, the newcomers helped force a closed-door assessment of her job performance.

While many council-watchers had predicted the city manager’s job would not survive that meeting, a new dynamic quickly became apparent. Newcomers Leroy Bennett, Don Goldberg and Tim Johnson were joined by Roger Fawcett in voting for key measures before council, while Mayor Linda Johnson, Mike Duman, Curtis Milteer and Lue Ward joined forces on the other side of those same issues. The 4-4 voting split seemed to ensure that Cuffee-Glenn would survive any attempt at her ouster simply by virtue of there being too few votes for a majority. A tie vote results in the defeat of a motion on City Council, so any motion to fire the city manager would fail under the current dynamics.

But nobody wants to work in a place where half her bosses are dissatisfied with her performance, so it seemed only a matter of time before Cuffee-Glenn, whose strong résumé would make her an excellent candidate in many municipalities, found greener pastures.

That eventuality came to pass on Wednesday, as Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced Cuffee-Glenn would, pending approval by that City Council, take the job of chief administrative officer of the commonwealth’s capital city.

The move represents a homecoming of sorts for Cuffee-Glenn, who had worked in planning and community development for the city of Richmond before coming to Suffolk. She also led planning and community development for the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority and taught at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Urban Studies Department.

Richmond looks forward to benefiting from the leadership Cuffee-Glenn displayed in helping Suffolk attain its AAA bond rating, and Jones suggested she will be able to help the city manage resources efficiently and provide services effectively without increasing taxes. In exchange for her expertise, she will receive a substantial increase in her compensation package.

As would be expected of professionals saying goodbye to a top employee, even those elected officials who opposed Cuffee-Glenn’s policies and procedures in Suffolk struck a conciliatory note following Wednesday’s announcement. Her supporters took a more provocative tone, best evidenced by Mayor Johnson’s statement: “Sometimes, perhaps, we don’t know what we’ve lost until we lose it.”

The divisions that appear to be at the root of Cuffee-Glenn’s decision to leave Suffolk are not likely to be swept away by her departure, but council members on both sides of that divide must now put aside their differences for the best of the city. Suffolk needs solid administrative leadership to continue the positive work she has done, and the city needs a leader who can help heal the rifts that have developed in recent years. But the real leadership must begin with City Council.