During his interview for the Niles city administrator position Wednesday night, Ric Huff wanted the city council to see him beyond his role as police chief for the city.

“My background is pretty diverse in other areas,” Huff told the council.

Huff went as far back as his childhood in describing his experience, explaining how his work on a family farm and doing maintenance for his parents’ apartment complex helped him learn the value of hard work at an early age.

Huff also mentioned he has furthered his education during his 25 years on the Niles police force by going back to school for a degree in business management and taking flying lessons.

During the one-hour interview at the Niles City Council Chambers, city council members took turns asking questions of Huff, the only internal candidate to apply for the job that will be open when Terry Eull retires in September.

Council member Dan VandenHeede said he trusts Huff’s ability to budget and handle personnel based on his observations of Huff as police chief, but asked Huff to explain his vision for the city.

Huff said expanding services the city offers, like offering cable or Internet, could generate revenue for the city and “provide competition and control costs” for residents.

While Niles’ economy used to rely on industry, Huff said, “I’m not sure heavy industry is coming back to small communities.

“We need to work with the Economic Growth Alliance to draw employers here — small businesses,” he said.

Huff also said Niles could find its niche as a “bedroom community” or tourist town.

When asked what his top three projects would be to improve Niles, Huff said improving water infrastructure, maintaining street conditions and helping to improve school buildings would be priorities.

“A city that looks clean and has good resources for shopping and good schools draws good people,” he said.

No matter who takes over as administrator, he or she will have to deal with declining revenues and a tight budget — something Huff says he is prepared to do with his background in preparing the police department budgets.

“It’s a scary prospect,” Huff said of the decline in state revenue sharing. “We’ve already went through significant cuts. We don’t want to change the amount of services or negatively impact employees.”

Huff said offering early retirement incentives could slash the payroll and help balance future budgets.

When describing his leadership style, Huff said he likes “facing issues head on.”

Other topics Huff addressed were sharing resources with other “good, stable” communities and capitalizing on the city’s history through supporting Western Michigan University’s involvement with the Fort St. Joseph archaeological project.

Huff said if he is offered the position, he would want to finish his working career for the city, which he said could be 12 to 15 years.

Many of the council members complimented Huff throughout the interview.

“You resume is very thorough,” council member Bruce Williams said. “If I didn’t know you and you didn’t have loyalty and roots in Niles, I would still be interested in you. I feel pretty confident you can handle this job and take it to the next level.”

If Huff is hired as the administrator, he would appoint a new police chief with guidance from the council. Huff said while Capt. Jim Millin has been “preparing himself for that position,” he would not be a “shoo-in.”

The council did not take any action Wednesday evening and did not announce when a decision will be made about the city administrator position.