Garry Bliss is leaving his job at City Hall to take a position with The Clarendon Group.

The Providence Journal Frieda Squires

PROVIDENCE — Garry Bliss, the City of Providence’s top lobbyist and special projects guru, spent yesterday cleaning out his desk in preparation for his last day of work today. His walls were bare, save one poster, a framed rectangular fresco that Bliss picked up in Italy and hung over his chair.

It’s one half of a set. This frame shows an Italian city under the effects of stable government: peaceful streets, growing crops and playing residents. The other half, which Bliss decided not to purchase, shows a city with ineffective government — chaos, fallow fields, robbing and looting abound.

For Bliss, leaving the city is a bittersweet moment. He’ll become one of the directors of the Providence public affairs firm The Clarendon Group, but the longtime federal, state and city employee leaves behind his day-to-day opportunity to prove that good government changes people’s lives.

“It is, without a doubt, the most intense and the most demanding job I have ever had. It is also the most exciting. It is where you can see the results of your work all around you,” Bliss said of his role as Providence’s chief of policy and legislative affairs.

Bliss will become one-third of a tripartite management team at Clarendon, which was founded in 2001 by Stacy Paterno and Christine Heenan. Heenan is leaving to become Harvard University’s vice president of government, community and public affairs, and Paterno, Bliss and Arianne Corrente Lynch will now lead Clarendon. Bliss will be the firm’s managing partner.

Bliss, 44, joined Mayor David N. Cicilline’s team in 2004, after five years with Rhode Island General Treasurer Paul Tavares. The 1985 Connecticut College graduate also worked at Moses Brown, his alma mater, at Textron and for Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy before joining Cicilline.

There will be some adjustment reentering the private sector, he acknowledged. City government can be all-encompassing, especially in Providence, where residents feel very close to their government, and have no problem coming to him with questions, concerns and editorial comments.

“This is a challenging and exciting job. It is also, needless to say, a very demanding place to work,” Bliss said.

Among his proudest moments in Providence, he said, were helping to craft plans for the future of mass transit and job creation in Providence, which are just now starting to see results.

“We brought together a diverse group and changed the way that many people look at transit in Rhode Island,” he said of the Transit 2020 report, which among other things envisioned linking Providence’s neighborhoods with streetcars and adding bus hubs around the city. He also looked back fondly on coordinating the successful opposition to a liquefied natural gas terminal in the city.

The other half of Bliss’ job, the lobbying end, was showing results this year after several disappointing sessions for Providence at the General Assembly. Much of Providence’s legislative package passed both houses this year, though some were later vetoed by Governor Carcieri. But Bliss said that it shows that the perception of Providence at the State House is changing, from a drain on state resources to an asset.

“I’m certainly very pleased with how Providence did at the Assembly this session,” he said. “That’s something else I wanted to go further with.”

He’ll also miss that feeling of working for the public good, and making a difference in his home city, he said. Except for college and two years in Washington with Kennedy, Bliss is a lifelong Providence resident, and he sees Cicilline as having made a real difference in changing the culture in the capital city.

“In my lifetime, the mayor is the best thing that ever happened to my hometown,” Bliss said.

Cicilline returned the praise, lauding Bliss’ professionalism, dedication and expertise and noting that he had won the respect of his co-workers and state and federal legislative leaders.

“Garry Bliss was an incredibly valuable member of my team who took the lead on developing and implementing key policy initiatives that will help shape the future of our city. I am profoundly grateful for his service to our city and for the high quality of his work,” Cicilline said.

Bliss will start work at Clarendon in September. His $93,000 position in Providence will be reevaluated, and Cicilline may make some changes to the role before filling it, said the mayor’s spokeswoman Karen Southern.

Bliss is not the only high-profile Cicilline departure in recent weeks. Former chief of staff Christopher Bizzacco left in mid-July to attend Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government after spending the past year as a roving troubleshooter and working on long-term projects.

dbarbari@projo.com