HAYWARD — A city manager placed on leave by the Hayward City Council has resigned from her position.

Ana Alvarez’s resignation on June 24 capped a brief tenure at Hayward City Hall. Less than six months after she was hired, the City Council put Alvarez on paid administrative leave without any public explanation after a closed-session meeting on May 20.

The decision followed a series of performance evaluations of Alvarez. As part of her mysterious exit, the city will give her five months of severance pay, or $171,148. Had Alvarez been fired it would have been cheaper for the city, as she would have only been entitled to 90 days of severance pay and benefits.

“This parting of ways was amicable and without cause,” Acting City Attorney Mike Viglia said at the council’s June 24 meeting. “Dr. Alvarez is wished well.”

Alvarez’s total compensation was $505,391, including a $385,000 salary, according to the city.

The City Council named Library Services Director Jayanti Addleman as the new interim city manager.

The shakeup comes as Hayward faces a $12 million budget deficit and as Dustin Claussen, the assistant city manager, left for a job at the city of San Leandro. Other open positions include a permanent human resources director and director of finance.

Officials still haven’t explained why they were investigating Alvarez’s performance so early on. City spokesman Chuck Finnie on Monday said he could not provide any additional information because “it’s a personnel matter.”

“She ended up submitting a resignation and I’m just going to leave it at that,” Finnie said in an interview. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s behind us. Even in the public sector, we have to respect matters that are personnel in nature. It’s an executive decision, it’s not an elected position.”

Addleman, Alvarez’s replacement, is “someone who is widely respected, a terrific communicator and who has done terrific work at Hayward Public Library,” Finnie said.

Addleman has served as library services director since January 2019, and previously held similar jobs in Monterey County. Finnie said that her appointment was “not competitive,” and did not involve a pool of candidates.

“The City Council was looking to restore some stability at the top of the executive leadership of the city,” Finnie said. “They made a decision that they wanted to find an interim city manager from within the organization.”

The council is expected to begin a search for a permanent city manager “soon,” Finnie added.