James Schroeder has taken over as the new Sardinia Mayor. Photo provided

James Schroeder has taken over as the new Sardinia Mayor. Photo provided

James “Jim” Schroeder has taken over the seat of Sardinia mayor following the recent resignation of former Sardinia Mayor Tina Coday-Townes.

Schroeder moved to Sardinia, OH a few years ago to be closer to family. He is a licensed attorney and also pastor of the Sardinia United Methodist Church. He served as president (vice mayor) of Sardinia Village Council before taking over as mayor in August in the wake of Coday-Townes’ resignation.

Schroeder took over the mayor’s seat with the term that ends at the end of 2023.

“My hope is, in the next 15 months, I want to develop a strategic plan for the next five, six, 10 years for the town as far as funding, budgeting, work on roads (paving), and we have some buildings downtown that are decrepit,” said Schroeder.

Schroeder said he also wants to work on some other village beautification projects as mayor.

Schroeder said he was a prosecutor for years while living in New Jersey and working as a licensed attorney before moving to Sardinia, and he currently does work for the Adams County Prosecutor’s Office.

“My goal in life is to help people get from where they are to where God wants them to be,” Schroeder said of his roles as a pastor, attorney, and mayor.

“It’s funny how things kind of flow together. There are things I am learning about the town from meeting people at church that help me understand how to lead the town,” said Schroeder.

“If you can do a good job as an elected official, you can really be a blessing to people,” he added.

Schroeder’s move to mayor left one seat open on Sardinia Village Council, and that seat was filled this month by newly appointed council member Ashlie Webster, who works for the GRIT project at local schools that aims to help build a high-demand workforce and stimulate economic growth.

Amy Mason has also joined on as the new Sardinia Village Administrator, a graduate of Ohio Christian University who previously served as administrator at Adams County Christian School.

A reason was not given for Townes’ resignation, but it could very well relate to federal charges she faced after being accused of stealing more than $700,000 from a former employer.

According to previous news reports by The News Democrat, Townes was arrested by federal agents on April 29 of 2021 at her home. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cincinnati released the following statement regarding the arrest of Townes.

According to court documents, Coday-Townes previously served as the office manager for Custom Built Crates in Clermont County. In that role, the defendant was responsible for accounts payable and bookkeeping, including inputting and sending data to a third-party payroll company, according to court documents.

The indictment alleged that from 2013 until 2019, Coday-Townes wrote checks using an employers’ signature stamp from Custom Built Crates’ operating accounts to pay off her personal credit cards, The News Democrat reported in 2021. She also allegedly made false entries into the accounting database, indicating the checks were to vendors rather than to her personal credit cards.

Coday-Townes also allegedly entered overtime hours for herself, even though she was ineligible for overtime as a salaried employee.

The indictment alleged that Townes stole $700,666.21 from her employee over the course of six years.

Coday-Townes was then charged with wire fraud, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and aggravated identity theft, which carries an additional mandatory sentence of two years in prison, according to previous reports by The News Democrat.