Ending two days of silence, Bend City Manager David Hales submitted his resignation to the City Council at its regular meeting Wednesday night.

Hales, 49, who has served in the city’s top administrative post less than two years, cited differences in management style as the impetus for his resignation.

”In conversations with members of the governing body, it is apparent that we have irreconcilable differences in management and leadership philosophy that is hindering our ability to act as a team,” Hales told the council as he read from a prepared statement at the outset of the meeting.

The announcement followed a quick and unanimous vote from councilors to approve a ”release and settlement agreement” with Hales that will pay him $105,000. Mayor Oran Teater said the council and Hales parted ways because of differences over the ”direction in which we were heading.”

The agreement also provides that a recently compiled review of Hales’ work performance that included input from councilors, staff members and residents will not be made public.

The settlement provides that ”any evaluation of the job performance of Hales currently being done will be returned to the representative of the company performing such evaluation.”

The agreement also states that any input in the review that came from community members will be kept on file with Robert Franz, a Springfield attorney who represented the city in settlement negotiations with Hales.

When asked why the review was being sealed from the public, Hales declined to comment Wednesday night.

A letter that accompanies the evaluation offers a clue.

The document submitted to the city by Hales’ attorney Ron Bryant is a ”letter of reference” agreed upon by the city and Hales. The letter states Hales was employed as city manager in Bend and that his January 2003 performance evaluation scored him 3.9 out of 5. The letter makes no mention of the more recent review, the results of which were compiled by a consultant and provided to city councilors last week.

When asked after the meeting if he was given the choice of resigning or being fired, Hales declined to comment.

Councilor John Hummel said that the city manager’s departure was Hale’s decision.

”He came to us,” Hummel said during a meeting break. ”David felt there was a disagreement about the direction of the city and he decided to resign. I respect him for his decision.”

Hummel said Hales did nothing wrong during his tenure that would have made him unhappy with the former city manager.

Finance Director Jim Krueger will serve as interim city manager.

If there were hostilities between the council and Hales in their final days, those feelings weren’t readily apparent at Wednesday’s packed meeting that spilled out into a city hallway.

Dressed in a gray suit and accompanied by his wife and daughter, Hales began his remarks lightly. He referred to a story that appeared in Tuesday’s Bulletin, stating that Hales was seen clearing out his office Monday night accompanied by two women.

Hales joked that the reason he was cleaning out his office Monday after dark was that it was just too cluttered. He said also that, as a married man, he wanted to clear the air regarding the identity of the two women. He then introduced his wife, Kathy, and daughter, Maren.

Turning his remarks to the matter at hand, Hales said it was with ”deep regret” that he tendered his resignation. He also praised city employees, calling them ”the most dedicated professional co-workers I have had the privilege to work with.”

It’s not uncommon for city managers to come and go from cities like Bend as they climb the career ladder. A 2002 survey by the International City/County Management Association in Washington, D.C., put the average stay of a city manager in the United States at a little more than seven years. But Hales said in October 2001 that after a pair of moves, he and his family hoped to settle here.

”My wife said she’s not moving again,” he told The Bulletin at the time. ”I also want to be here. Bend has professional opportunities that appeal to me.”

Hales is married and has six children.

Councilor Bruce Abernethy said after an executive session before the regular council meeting that it would be important to make a site visit to where the candidate last worked as the council searches for Hales’ replacement.

”In retrospect, that would’ve been helpful to visit (Kannapolis) and get some on-the-ground feedback,” he said.

Eric Flowers can be reached at 541-504-2336 or at eflowers@bendbulletin.com.

Mike Cronin contributed to this report.