By PAIGE FLANNERY

The city commissioner of Madeira Beach, Fla., resigned this week after receiving criticism from complaints that she had allegedly groped her male co-workers and licked their faces during work events and meetings. Nancy Oakley had been the city commissioner of Madeira Beach from 2007 to 2013 and also from 2017 to 2019.

Oakley submitted her resignation letter on Tuesday, in which she denied the claims. She wrote that she was resigning to “still the controversy” and also wrote: “I maintain my innocence and am pursuing the paths of appeals available.”The complaint was filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics in February 2017 by former Madeira Beach City manager Shane Crawford. He said that Oakley had made “unwanted sexual advances” toward him and director of the city’s public works department and the city marina, Dave Marsicano, at a fishing tournament in 2012.

According to the report by the ethics commission in response to the complaint, Crawford said that Oakley had “grabbed his crotch, and slowly licked him from his Adam’s apple all the way up his face.”

The report also include details of an incident between Oakley and Dave Marsicano. Marsicano said that during a meeting in 2012, Oakley “hung on his neck, grabbed his crotch, and licked his face.” He also said that Oakley had hugged him and tried to kiss him on numerous other occasions.

According to a press release, the Florida Commission on Ethics found at a meeting on Jan. 25 that Oakley violated the state’s ethics code by “misusing her position by exhibiting inappropriate behavior toward city staff.” The press release also states that it was recommended that Oakley be fined $5,000 and publicly censured by the governor. A Madeira Beach spokesperson confirmed that Oakley’s resignation was accepted on Wednesday night.