VILLAGE OF COLLEGE CORNER, Ohio — More than four months after she was first sworn in as mayor, Molly Cason finally has the keys to the Village of College Corner's office.
We first introduced you to Cason and her small village with big transparency issues one week ago.
With just under 400 residents, it seemed like there shouldn't be too many unknowns in this sleepy town just a few miles west of Oxford. But Cason and a few other residents ran for office in 2023, concerned with how much money the village had, how the money was being spent and why a beloved officer was let go.
RELATED | Months before swearing in a new mayor, this village fiscal officer was approved for 120 sick days
Cason won her mayoral race, hopeful that she would finally have access to financial records and information that concerned her. Instead, she said she was "literally locked out" of the village office. 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."
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.
During this month's meeting Wednesday morning, a packed house watched as Sims finally handed Cason the keys to the building.
"I think we've made a lot of steps forward today," Cason said after the meeting. "It seems like this journey has been two steps forward, three steps back this whole time, but I think today we finally took two giant steps forward and we're not moving back at this point."
We did confirm that the key is just to the village office, not to the space where the records are kept.
Among those in attendance at the meeting were state Rep. Rodney Creech and Preble County Auditor Lavon Wright.
"The community is watching. We're watching. Everybody's watching," Creech said. "You guys have been doing a good job — been watching the media coverage. We need to uncover this. I don't know what it is, but it needs to be uncovered."
Not in attendance was Woods, who makes close to $73,000 and gets 120 paid sick days. Questions remain about her contract, possible nepotism and transparency issues with village administration.
A special meeting will take place later this month to address at least one of those issues. WCPO will be in attendance.
