San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who has not been present for board or committee meetings since mid-March, just submitted a request to the Board of Supervisors to extend her leave of absence for mental health reasons.

As the Chronicle reports, Supervisor Jackie Fielder submitted a letter to the clerk of the board and Board President Rafael Mandelman Tuesday requested to extend her leave of absence until June 30.

Mandelman suggested that this wouldn't be a problem, telling the paper, "It’s good and appropriate for her to take the time she needs to get better."

He added that "Her team has suggested that she may not need all three months, but she wants to at least give herself that maximum time."

As the Chronicle notes today and as others noted when this leave began, the extended absence of a supervisor for health reasons isn't entirely unprecedented. Former Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier was absent for over three months in early 2010 after being hospitalized for an injury.

But a further wrinkle was added to this story last week when we learned that Fielder's office was at the center of an investigation by the city attorney over a confidential legal memo that was leaked to Mission Local in February. The memo pertained to the mayor's now-approved RESET Center, the sobering center in SoMa that was pitched as an alternative to incarceration — but which the city attorney's office warned could put the city at serious legal risk due to its vaguely carceral nature.

Fielder was one of two votes in opposition to approving the sobering center, and the leaked memo, which was sent to the board and mayor alone, appeared to have been leaked shortly after that vote took place.

In a stern letter to the Board of Supervisors last month, obtained by the Chronicle last week, City Attorney David Chiu said that disclosing confidential advice, like that memo contained, can "potentially lead to costly litigation" for the city if lawsuits arise over the sobering center. The letter further warned that whoever was responsible for the leak "may face significant penalties including termination of employment or removal from office."

The Chronicle had sources to suggest that Fielder's office was the likely source of the leak, however Fielder's aides have all denied that their office had any role in it.

One of Fielder's four aides, Feng Han, departed the office in recent weeks for reported "personal reasons," but this is been cited as a curious development in the ongoing intrigue as well.

From a hospital bed, Fielder told a Mission Local reporter on March 27 that she intended to resign from the board, due to an ongoing mental health crisis. Two days later, she walked this back, saying she did not intend to resign, but would instead be taking a leave of absence before deciding on her next steps.

The absence has spurred a fair amount of palace intrigue at City Hall, given that the very progressive Fielder would likely be replaced by a mayoral appointee who was far more centrist, and allied with the mayor.

As Mission Local reports today, Fielder asked that, following her leave, she remain chair of the two committees she leads, the Government Oversight committee, and the Local Agency Formation Commission. And Mission Local notes that the city charter makes the removal of a supervisor for cause fairly difficult, with a required finding of "official misconduct," and a three-fourths vote of the board.

As the Chronicle notes, the extended leave means that Fielder is likely to miss much of the city budget negotiations with the mayor that are set to take place in the coming two months.

Related: Supervisor Jackie Fielder's Absence From Board of Supervisors Follows Investigation Into Leaked Memo