Mayor Rick Proctor will resign his position, effective at 4:30 p.m. He filed his resignation letter with the City Clerk’s Office today but the single, 23-word sentence gave no explanation for his departure. Proctor did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

A former freeholder and municipal Democratic chairman, Proctor won election in November 2010 to a four-year term. The next municipal election in Rahway will be in November 2014 when the mayor’s seat is up, along with the three at-large seats on the nine-member City Council (currently held by James Baker, Sal Mione and Nancy Saliga).

In the meantime, a replacement likely will be appointed by the City Council within the next 30 days to serve the remaining 16 months of Proctor’s term. Proctor is a Democrat as are all nine members of the City Council. No word on who the interim mayor will be but the safe money would be City Council President Samson Steinman, who was unavailable for comment.

Within months of taking office in January 2011, Proctor ran into trouble getting City Council approval on requests for additional staff and other legislation, with the governing body eventually slashing the mayor’s salary. His relationship with City Administrator Peter Pelissier, who was appointed under previous Mayor James Kennedy, also deteriorated, ultimately leading to a settlement and $164,000 buyout of Pelissier, who remains as redevelopment director.