MADERA — At a special closed session meeting of the Madera County Board of Supervisors held on Friday the Thirteenth, the Board accepted the immediate resignation of County Administrative Officer, Eric Fleming. 

Fleming had offered the Board his resignation last Friday when an illegally recorded audio-taped phone call came to light following a brief sexual affair with an ex-wife of a Madera County Correctional Officer. Fleming had asked the Board to not only keep him in their employ well into the 2020 year but to also consider keeping the former CAO with the county under part-time status in a position related to economic development.

After Tuesday’s “On-The-Road” meeting in Madera, members of the public spoke out in the Public Comment portion of the meeting calling for the Board to fire Fleming immediately and not allow him to stay on into the New Year. The first three speakers were the usual suspects of clueless citizens who have been attacking the city of Madera and City Council for the last three years. But the fourth speaker was Madera County Clerk/Recorder Rebecca Martinez.

Martinez spoke of her personal interactions with Fleming and the harassment she and fellow elected official Tracy Kennedy (Tax Collector) faced at the hands of the now-former CAO. Martinez reminded the Board that they were not only aware of Fleming’s behavior with county staff but had condoned it in the past. She told the Board that due to their past condonement, they were every bit as much to blame for the current situation as Fleming. For her efforts, the next day her office was filled with flowers from current and former female employees that were happy the long-time elected official spoke out on their behalf.

Fleming leaves the County with a one-time payment of $113,168.34 minus state and federal income taxes and six months of COBRA health insurance (paid for by Fleming).  This payment represents six months of Fleming’s yearly salary. Fleming and the Board came to this agreement in today’s closed-session meeting and the Board voted to approve the payment, also in that closed-session meeting. No decision was made today in open (public) session as required by the California Government Code.

While Fleming has signed this agreement, he also has seven days to revoke the agreement. However, if he chooses to revoke this agreement, his severance drops from $113K to $19K (one month of his annual income).

Fleming has surrendered his keys and all other county property that was in his possession. He has agreed to make arrangements to pick up any personal property he may have left in his office. Fleming was not in the closed-session meeting, nor the Madera County Government Center, today but was available in the parking garage to sign his resignation agreement and turn over county property.

According to a County insider that asked to remain anonymous, there was no contract between Fleming and the County of Madera as he was an “at-will” employee on a month to month basis. We also learned that an outside Risk-Management Firm hired by the county had advised the Board to not enter into any long-term contract with Fleming based on previous incidents with other county employees.

Deputy CAO Darin McCandless will immediately assume the role of Acting CAO, and the Board will consider the appointment of an Interim CAO at its regular meeting on December 17, 2019.  The Board will also begin the process of searching for and selecting a new CAO.  

Chairman of the Board of Supervisors’ Brett Frazier said in a written statement, “The Board would like to thank Eric for his ten years of service as Madera County’s CAO, and wishes him well in his future endeavors.”