New Straitsville Fiscal Officer Leverages Strategic Partnership to Strengthen Local Initiatives
February 19, 2026
By Emily Stokes
Packed with history, New Straitsville reflects a long history of coal mining, moonshine production, and charm. Incorporated back in 1872, the village began as a coal mining town with rich and large veins of available coal.
Home to Robinsons cave and the origin of the United Mine Workers, the area has had a thriving community with a survival mindset since its establishment and the mine fire which caused the village to become the moonshine capital of the world.
A Legacy of Service
New Straitsville Fiscal Officer Susan Miller serves the community in more ways than one, and says she loves to help the community, whether it’s the Masons or the fire department.
Born and raised in the village, Miller is the third generation to live in the area. She has worked for the village since 2016, when the clerk position opened. With a strong background in bookkeeping and handling numbers, Miller said she likes a variety.
“Being a small-town clerk, you handle a whole lot more than just the water and sewer bills,” Miller said.
Keeping track of the quarterly and monthly payroll reports, closing books at the end of the year, helping council create ordinances, reporting financial status to lenders, police department training requirements, personnel files and official records keeper are all jobs Miller juggles.
She also handles mayors court, preparing cases after officers hand out tickets and preparing cases for when the magistrate comes to town.
“I have a wide variety of jobs that I do under the title of fiscal officer, and I tell people - I have worked here every day and no two days have ever been alike,” Miller said.
For the common cause of serving the people of New Straitsville, Miller said she is there to help, aiming to serve people in the village.
“The people in our village, I’ve known most of my life, so they’re like family. So you want to do things to help the family out,” Miller said. “By building a stronger community, you build a better economic situation for your village too, you try to help encourage businesses to come in.”
Also, the local history group’s president, Miller said she has lived through some of the history and now shares the history with others.
“I like volunteering. Sometimes I wish I could clone myself because there’s always a lot of volunteer jobs and not enough volunteers. But I figure whatever I can do to help,” Miller said.
A Strategic Collaboration Taking Vision to Progress
Reflecting on recent projects between the Mayors’ Partnership for Progress and the Village of New Straitsville, Miller said everyone has been good to help and guide the village.
“They’ve helped us be aware when grants are available, and as a small town, and being a one-stop-shop, technically the clerk ends up trying to do it all, and sometimes a clerk doesn’t have the access to resources,” Miller said.
More specifically, the Delyn Center, an old walk-in theater was previously used as the official regulation basketball court in town, for the Lions club, festivals and other gatherings, is now getting a makeover.
“It was the building that was for the community. We are trying to right now to get the thing back in to use so that the community can use it again,” Miller said.
With the help of Mayors’ Partnership staff Tracy Galway, Miller said the village was connected to engineers who drew up plans, later allowing the village to submit for the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization, AMLER program.
Miller said there are also talks to get a new manufacturing business in town, which she hopes will boost the community economically also.
New Straitsville has also used the Mayors’ Partnership’s Technical Assistance program to survey an old jail and municipal building. With water damage potentially impacting the space, the village used the funding to have a complete assessment.
“We couldn’t have done it without the Mayor’s Partnership and that grant money, because we just don’t have the money to hire those kind of people to come in and write those reports,” Miller said.
Miller said although she tries to learn as much as possible to serve the community, she enjoys the partnership for its support.
“Sometimes you got to call upon the people that are best suited for it, and I love working with the Mayors’ Partnership for that,” Miller.
Packed with history, New Straitsville reflects a long history of coal mining, moonshine production, and charm. Incorporated back in 1872, the village began as a coal mining town with rich and large veins of available coal.
Home to Robinsons cave and the origin of the United Mine Workers, the area has had a thriving community with a survival mindset since its establishment and the mine fire which caused the village to become the moonshine capital of the world.
A Legacy of Service
New Straitsville Fiscal Officer Susan Miller serves the community in more ways than one, and says she loves to help the community, whether it’s the Masons or the fire department.
Born and raised in the village, Miller is the third generation to live in the area. She has worked for the village since 2016, when the clerk position opened. With a strong background in bookkeeping and handling numbers, Miller said she likes a variety.
“Being a small-town clerk, you handle a whole lot more than just the water and sewer bills,” Miller said.
Keeping track of the quarterly and monthly payroll reports, closing books at the end of the year, helping council create ordinances, reporting financial status to lenders, police department training requirements, personnel files and official records keeper are all jobs Miller juggles.
She also handles mayors court, preparing cases after officers hand out tickets and preparing cases for when the magistrate comes to town.
“I have a wide variety of jobs that I do under the title of fiscal officer, and I tell people - I have worked here every day and no two days have ever been alike,” Miller said.
For the common cause of serving the people of New Straitsville, Miller said she is there to help, aiming to serve people in the village.
“The people in our village, I’ve known most of my life, so they’re like family. So you want to do things to help the family out,” Miller said. “By building a stronger community, you build a better economic situation for your village too, you try to help encourage businesses to come in.”
Also, the local history group’s president, Miller said she has lived through some of the history and now shares the history with others.
“I like volunteering. Sometimes I wish I could clone myself because there’s always a lot of volunteer jobs and not enough volunteers. But I figure whatever I can do to help,” Miller said.
A Strategic Collaboration Taking Vision to Progress
Reflecting on recent projects between the Mayors’ Partnership for Progress and the Village of New Straitsville, Miller said everyone has been good to help and guide the village.
“They’ve helped us be aware when grants are available, and as a small town, and being a one-stop-shop, technically the clerk ends up trying to do it all, and sometimes a clerk doesn’t have the access to resources,” Miller said.
More specifically, the Delyn Center, an old walk-in theater was previously used as the official regulation basketball court in town, for the Lions club, festivals and other gatherings, is now getting a makeover.
“It was the building that was for the community. We are trying to right now to get the thing back in to use so that the community can use it again,” Miller said.
With the help of Mayors’ Partnership staff Tracy Galway, Miller said the village was connected to engineers who drew up plans, later allowing the village to submit for the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization, AMLER program.
Miller said there are also talks to get a new manufacturing business in town, which she hopes will boost the community economically also.
New Straitsville has also used the Mayors’ Partnership’s Technical Assistance program to survey an old jail and municipal building. With water damage potentially impacting the space, the village used the funding to have a complete assessment.
“We couldn’t have done it without the Mayor’s Partnership and that grant money, because we just don’t have the money to hire those kind of people to come in and write those reports,” Miller said.
Miller said although she tries to learn as much as possible to serve the community, she enjoys the partnership for its support.
“Sometimes you got to call upon the people that are best suited for it, and I love working with the Mayors’ Partnership for that,” Miller.