COAL GROVE — After nine years of serving the Dawson-Bryant Local School District as treasurer, Jim Tordiff has chosen to pass the torch on to his assistant.

With the blessing of the school board, beginning July 1, Brad Miller has taken over as treasurer of the district and Tordiff has assumed the role of assistant treasurer.

Tordiff, 58, said the reason for the switch is a simple one.

“I’m winding down my career,” he said. “And I didn’t want to see Brad go somewhere else.”

Tordiff has worked in the public sector for the past 38 years, serving as an Ironton City Councilman as well as the mayor, the city’s finance director, director of human resources for the Lawrence County Medical Center and treasurer for the Rock Hill School District before moving to the Dawson-Bryant district.

Miller, a 1999 DBHS graduate, has worked alongside Tordiff for the past nine years, first starting as an intern while he attended Shawnee State University and then moving up to the assistant treasurer position.

“I can’t picture a more perfect situation than what I’m inheriting,” Miller said. “I’ve sat under Jim for a decade and I’ve still got him here.”

Tordiff said his successor is more than qualified to take over the position.

“Even at his age and just staring his treasurer’s career, he is as knowledgeable as any treasurer I know. We’ve shared these duties 50/50. There is nothing he hasn’t done.”

Miller, 31, is certified to be a treasurer in Ohio and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from SSU and a master’s degree in education administration from Ohio University.

“We are not just putting anyone into these positions,” Tordiff said, noting the payroll clerk, Sherri Gillette, is another vital person on staff who helps the district manage its money.

Miller said, with the start of the fiscal year coinciding with his new position, he has been working on the district’s budget and how to handle finances when grant money isn’t as plentiful as it has been in years past.

“My No. 1 job is to make sure we are going to be fiscally solvent for years to come,” said Miller.