This post was updated on Monday, November 28, 2016 to include comment from Vasyl Markus.

Vasyl Markus, Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s Special Assistant for Government Affairs, has tendered his resignation, effective January 2, 2017. In an email sent to commissioners Wednesday afternoon, Brian Hamer, Preckwinkle’s Chief of Staff, noted the “challenging position.” Markus, the president’s go-between with commissioners, has served in the position for less than half a year, saying his skill set is more suited for policymaking than legislative affairs. He will be stepping down just after passage of the President’s “grueling” $4.4 billion FY 2017 budget, which included the narrowest of votes on the penny per ounce soda tax, and after the abrupt exit of Ernest Brown, who headed the county's Department of Homeland Security.