For the first time since she tried to fire her earlier this year, Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier met last week with Inspector General Kelly Madigan.

WYPR has learned that the meeting took place last Wednesday.

County Council Chairman Mike Ertel was also in the meeting and said it was “productive.”

“The county executive was very open to what the inspector general was talking about,” Ertel said. “I felt that we kind of cleared the air on the stuff that was going on during the summer.”

In a statement Klausmeier said, “I appreciated the opportunity to meet with the inspector general and Council Chair Mike Ertel to discuss the office and look forward to a continued dialogue.”

Madigan declined to comment about the meeting.

Klasumeier came under withering fire for trying to replace Madigan. The county council in August rejected Klausmeier’s nominee, saying Madigan had done a good job and should continue as inspector general.

After the vote, Klausmeier said she would not try to replace Madigan again before her term as county executive ends in December of 2026.

While Klausmeier expressed interest in continued dialogue, last week’s meeting took place after WYPR filed a Maryland Public Information Act request for her calendar. It showed no meetings between the two since Klausmeier met with Madigan May 12, and told her she would not be reappointed, and September 30.

Ertel said at the meeting they discussed ways forward, like giving Madigan direct access to county files.

Last Monday, two days before her meeting with Klausmeier, Madigan released a report of an investigation she did regarding the county’s traffic calming unit.

In that report, Madigan wrote, “The initial records provided were incomplete and did not include certain projects that were within the requested time period.”

In an interview about that report, Madigan elaborated.

“When you are relying on someone to provide the records you are assuming that you are getting all of the records,” Madigan said. “So it's kind of this ‘trust but verify’ if you will.”

The county code gives the inspector general “the right to obtain full and unrestricted access to all records,” but not direct access.

Madigan said direct access would allow her office to confirm it has received all of the documents it requested.

Ertel agreed there needs to be a process in place for Madigan and future IGs to freely get documents.

“And that they’re not getting any pushback on trying to get the information they need to either substantiate a claim or rule it out,” Ertel said.

He said they are trying to figure out whether legislation is needed, or if direct access could be accomplished internally.