With barely more than a week left before taking office, Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu sent letters Thursday notifying top officials in the administration of Mayor Ray Nagin that their services would no longer be needed come May 3.

Transition team spokesman Todd Ragusa would not say who received the pink slips, saying only that the notified employees “serve at the pleasure of the mayor.”

“As with any mayoral transition, Mayor-elect Landrieu will bring a new leadership team to City Hall on May 3,”he said.

About 250 unclassified city employees serve at the discretion of the mayor and are not protected by Civil Service provisions. The number includes all mayoral staffers, including the city’s communication department, and all department heads.

Among these are familiar names from the past eight years, including Sanitation Director Veronica White, City Attorney Cynthia Sylvain-Lear, Technology Director Harrison Boyd, City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields, Office of Community Development Director Kenya Smith and mayoral spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett.

Not all unclassified employees will be replaced. A story published late Thursday, citing unnamed sources, counted Emergency Services Director Dr. Julette Saussy, Public Works Director Robert Mendoza and Emergency Preparedness Director Col. Jerry Sneed among those kept on.

Ragusa said that we could expect to hear who will be serving in the incoming administration “sometime very soon.”