AUBURN – Planning Director Lee Jay Feldman, a 16-year veteran at the city of Auburn, will step down for a private sector job.

“It’s just time,” Feldman said Monday. “I need a break. I need something to get me revved up again.”

Feldman said he will continue working with the city on a consulting basis on Thursdays and Fridays through November.

He takes over as the director of planning at Sebago Technics Inc., a Westbrook-based planning and engineering firm. Feldman said he’ll be helping private groups get ready for city and state planning, permitting and processing.

Feldman is the third top city official to resign in less than a year. Finance Director Jill Eastman stepped down in February and Assistant City Manager Mark Adams resigned in July.

City Manager Pat Finnigan said she has no plans to replace any of them until after next Tuesday’s vote. It doesn’t make sense to hire anybody if voters approve a 1 percent property tax cap, she said.

“We’ve had people say they’re interested, but until we know for sure, we won’t do anything,” Finnigan said.

Feldman came to Auburn in 1988 from South Portland. He worked as a city planner until 2000, when Finnigan reorganized the Planning Department. Feldman was put in charge of planning and permitting, and former Director Roland Miller was named the city’s economic development director.

“Lee Jay has served the city well,” Finnigan said. “We came through that reorganization well, and that was done through Lee Jay’s efforts.”

Feldman said he plans to continue living in Auburn.