ORANGE

Acknowledging that he lacked support from the City Council, City Manager David L. Rudat withdrew his request for the city to pay legal fees he had racked up while being investigated by the Orange County district attorney. Rudat told council members of his decision in a closed session Tuesday as they were preparing to take a vote on the matter.

Rudat had agreed in March to pay a $2,000 fine to settle a civil, conflict-of-interest charge with the district attorney’s office but had asked the city to pick up nearly $10,000 of his legal bills related to the case. He said Wednesday that he “apologized to the public for the unintentional conflict of interest.”

The district attorney’s office had said Rudat broke state law by indirectly earning money from former recycling executive Jeffery Hambarian and then intervening in a dispute between Hambarian and the city over a real estate deal involving Rudat’s wife. Hambarian later was indicted on 65 felony counts that he bilked the city out of $4 million through his recycling company. Rudat agreed to pay the fine but did not admit guilt, saying he was unaware at the time of the complexities of the laws.