The chairman of the city's Internal Audit Board announced his resignation Tuesday hours after a failed bid to remove him by an Urban County Council member.

DeWitt Hisle said he was stepping down because "the credibility of the Internal Audit Board may be at stake." He made the decision after hearing comments made earlier in the day by council members at their weekly work session.

Council member George Myers made a motion to put on the council's Thursday night agenda a proposal to remove Hisle. The motion failed in a 7-6 vote.

Myers, a member of the Internal Audit Board, said he had grown more concerned about the handling of fraud accusations against the city.

Myers said he was frustrated when Hisle canceled the June meeting of the Internal Audit Board. Hisle had said he did not think it made sense to meet until State Auditor Crit Luallen's office completes its investigation of how Mayor Jim Newberry's administration handled fraud allegations made by an employee in recent years.

Also, Myers questioned Hisle's role as treasurer of Newberry's re-election campaign, saying it posed a conflict of interest.

The Internal Audit Board was set up to be an independent board of professional auditors selected from the community, but Hisle's involvement in the mayor's campaign "significantly jeopardizes that independence," Myers said.

Myers distributed to council members a letter he sent to Hisle on June 17 asking for his resignation. Hisle, in a letter to Myers on Monday, refused to resign.

In his resignation letter to Newberry Tuesday night, Hisle denied any inappropriate actions during his tenure as chairman of the audit board. Hisle has served as chairman of the Internal Audit Board since it was set up in 2003.

"DeWitt Hisle essentially invented the concept of an independent internal audit board at the Urban County Government," Newberry said in a statement, noting the hundreds of hours Hisle has volunteered to the city.