COLLEGE CORNER, Ohio — The fiscal officer for the Village of College Corner — whose contract showed she made $72,467 a year with over 150 paid days off — has resigned.
The village's new mayor, Molly Cason, told WCPO an attorney for Jennifer Woods sent her a brief email announcing the resignation, which went into effect June 30.
Cason was just elected mayor of the tiny village in November. Situated right up against the Indiana-Ohio border, the 2020 census listed 387 residents in this sleepy town just a few miles west of Oxford.
We went to College Corner to meet with Cason, who said despite being elected by the residents of the village, she was never given keys to the village office. Cason said she was "literally locked out" of the small office building. She said Mike Sims, the village administrator, and his daughter Jennifer Woods, the village fiscal officer, were the only ones with keys.
At an April council meeting that we attended, Cason asked if she would ever have access to the building. Sims said he didn't have a problem with it but noted "I just need to secure some of the records. Those records can not be accessed."
Our story ran on May 2. One week later, we headed to College Corner again to watch as Cason was finally handed the keys to that office — four months after she was elected mayor.
However, the keys she received were just to the village office — not to the space where the records were kept.
We tried to speak to Sims, Woods and the village's council members after the council meeting. None were willing to speak. We did reach out to the Butler County prosecutor who said at the time he had spoken with Cason and was aware of her concerns.
On May 22, we were again in the room as council rejected Woods' attempt to quit her position for the first time.
"Absolutely, yeah," Mayor Molly Cason said when asked whether she'd be willing to welcome Woods back.
Cason said that even as she works to shed light on the town's finances, something she wanted to do when she ran for her position, she'd like to see everyone work in collaboration.
She did say she'd like to see clauses in the agreement paying Woods through June 2025 taken out. One section said Woods would get a lump sum of her salary if she gets a full-time job before June 2025. Another covers her payment in the event she dies before then.
"I don't want to see that because we have things we need to address like EMS services," Cason said.
Now, Woods has fully resigned and is no longer working as College Corner's fiscal officer. The email her attorney sent did not provide much information on why she chose to resign.
Woods has never spoken to WCPO about her position, contract or Cason's difficulty in getting her keys, despite numerous requests for an interview.
You can read our full coverage of the College Corner story below:
- Months before swearing in a new mayor, this village fiscal officer was approved for 120 sick days
- Months after swearing in, this small town mayor finally received keys to the village office
- This small village council voted to reject a separation agreement with the fiscal officer who makes $72K
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