The Tulare Public Cemetery District is currently without a manager after Clara Bernardo was dismissed from her employment by the Tulare County Board of Supervisors on October 30. The supervisors currently act as the Tulare Public Cemetery District’s board.
After a closed-session special meeting on October 30 to consider the “Discipline, Dismissal or Release of a Public Employee,” the supervisors announced they voted to dismiss Bernardo.
The vote was 4-0 with Dennis Townsend absent.
Bernardo was present during the special meeting, but left when the TCBOS went into closed session.
According to multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity, a man in plainclothes and a Tulare County Sheriff’s Deputy arrived at the Tulare Public Cemetery District’s office on either October 28 or 29 to escort Bernardo out to her car. They claim the man in plainclothes stayed behind to gather evidence.
What was the straw that broke the camel’s back? “It was a collection of things”
Not long after Bernardo was hired in June 2021, some trustees, community members, and family members of loved ones buried in the cemetery complained about excessive spending, constant litigation, and the poor condition of the grounds.
They alleged that Bernardo was mismanaging the cemetery, and that her management along with other headwinds the district faced caused turmoil among the employees and at cemetery district board meetings.
At board meetings, members of the public would voice their concerns about the district’s perceived mismanagement even though the majority of the board supported Bernardo. At one point, then-board member Charlie Ramos was heard on a recording calling some of Bernardo’s critics “a cult.”
That push-and-pull erupted in a spectacular fashion at the district’s May 22, 2025 board meeting – the last meeting held with an independent board before the Tulare County Board of Supervisors took control – when the board’s former chair called a meeting to order and adjourned it within 12 seconds.
After that meeting, the district’s insurance company, Golden State Risk Management Authority, threatened to terminate the cemetery’s insurance policy unless drastic measures were taken, leading the supervisors to place themselves on the cemetery district’s board – a move that was welcomed by all sides.
Members of the most recent board, trustees Steve Presant, Charlie Ramos, Michelle Lima, Xavier Avila and Patricia Hitlin, all resigned.
Avila, first appointed to the board in 2018, said he did not know what ultimately led to Bernardo’s termination.
“I can’t say that there was a straw that broke the camel’s back. There was a collection of things. Some were more important than others,” Avila said. “Her lies, possibly losing the insurance, spending money the district didn’t have. I think they investigated her and looked at the financials, but I don’t know.”
“The bottom line is the cemetery was mismanaged,” he added.
Avila said that since Bernardo was hired, the district has spent their $400,000 cushion.
“The cemetery is broke,” he said.
He pointed the finger at other former board members.
“I blame Charlie, Michelle and Steve. They did not hold Bernardo accountable for her mismanagement. They provided her cover and allowed it to happen,” he said.
After voting to take over the cemetery board on July 1, 2025, Tulare County Supervisor Amy Shuklian implied that Avila was the “common denominator” to all the district’s problems. Supervisor Larry Micari said the trustees were acting like children.
Avila said the supervisors “didn’t do their homework.”
“Charlie, Michelle, Steve, and Clara told Micari a different story than what was actually happening,” he alleged. “Clara lied right to the supervisors’ faces.”
Though closed session discussion is not public information, the issue of insurance as the reason for Bernardo’s termination came up with each person the Valley Voice reached out to.
Presant returned a phone call from the Voice saying, “I presume you are calling about the cemetery district losing their insurance?”
When this reporter informed him that the call concerned Bernardo, Presant said, “It’s not about the insurance?”
Presant said our call was the first he heard of Bernardo’s termination.
He said he had no opinion why she was fired because he was no longer involved
“I’m not on the board. I’m out of it!”
“The only thing I saw her do […] was eat and watch TV,” a former employee says
The issue of lost insurance was the most likely reason for why Bernardo got fired according to former grounds manager, Josh McMullen.
“I was going to sue Clara and the cemetery district unless they do it right concerning Clara,” said McMullen. “I had heard the cemetery would lose their insurance if there was one more suit.”
McMullen said that Bernardo did not treat the cemetery employees professionally or with respect and that if TCBOS did not rectify the situation he was going to proceed with his suit.
McMullen was hired as the Grounds Manager in May and quit in August after Bernardo demoted him.
She said she was going to replace him with James Corral, a grounds keeper, and reduce his pay $5 an hour starting the following week to reflect his new position.
McMullen, who was the highly recommended grounds manager for the Porterville Unified School District for 12 years, alleged that Corral is not fit to be a groundskeeper – let alone a manager – and said that while he has never seen Corral drinking on the job, his replacement allegedly comes to work hung over.
There were other reasons he said that might have caused Bernardo’s termination: McMullen said she was vindictive.
“Clara got mad at the grounds keepers and in retaliation she flooded part of the grounds on purpose,” he alleged. “We had to go do edging all day in 12 inches of water.”
Bernardo would, according to McMullen, DoorDash and get groceries delivered to the office.
“The only thing I saw her do when I went into the office was eat and watch TV,” he claimed. “Then Clara would get up every once in a while to look out the window to see if a Director was coming.”
McMullen said he could confirm Bernardo committed fraud in at least one instance: he claims she had him falsify his employment documents.
He said he never signed any documents concerning his employment until a few days before she demoted him. In August of this year, he says Bernardo called him into her office to sign his employment contract and sign that he had received his employee hand book.
She instructed him to back date the documents to May – instead of the day he signed them in August.
“When I got to work some mornings she would be wearing the same clothes as she did when I left and I knew she spent the night there. That’s when I realized something fraudulent was going on,” he said
“Why else would she spend all night in the office?”