The Niles City Council made quick work of finding a new city administrator when this week it unanimously voted to hire Police Chief Ric Huff, pending contract negotiations. He will replace Terry Eull, who retires at the end of September.

The search process was made easier when council members found out Huff, who has been working for the city police department for 25 years, was interested in the position.

But Huff is not alone in making the transition from police department to city hall. Bill Marx is currently serving as both police chief and city manager in the City of Buchanan, after taking over for Meg Mullendore-Cluckey last year. Managers in the City of Three Rivers and the Village of Constantine were former police chiefs for their municipalities also.

Marx said communities look to their police chiefs for manager positions, because the transition is so natural.

“I think some of the communities that hired police chiefs realize their connection to the community and understanding of the community,” he said. “When they hire an outside professional manager, they’re getting somebody not necessarily connected to happenings in the city.”

The lengthy and expensive search process is made easier and cheaper when you can promote someone within, Marx added.

“The longevity of a manager is three to five years. When you’re paying that kind of money to search for managers, sometimes the money isn’t there,” Marx said.

Eull said police chiefs often can handle the promotion to manager because they typically handle large budgets, have to deal with contracts and personnel issues and have administrative skills. They just have to adjust to all of it on a larger scale.

“I told Ric … it’s like being a police chief times five,” Marx said with a laugh.

Marx, who spent five years as Buchanan police chief before adding the additional responsibility of city manager, said Huff should expect a bit of a learning curve. Marx has had to spend a lot of time studying issues to get up to speed.

“Changing from the police world to the city hall, government world took a little bit of getting used to,” he said. “I am educating myself on street repairs, understanding wastewater plants and water treatment and distribution.”

The City of Niles hopes to ease the transition for Huff by having him split his time between City Hall and the police department until he takes over as administrator full-time in October.

“He’s already up on union stuff,” Eull said. “The budget will be the biggest thing for him to focus on. There are always the day-to-day issues, but the critical thing will be the budget.”

Eull said the city had been eying Huff and other internal candidates for a while, knowing Eull was getting close to retirement age.

“It’s good to look at good, qualified candidates on the inside. It’s good for the community to know what they are getting. And the community knows what they are getting with Ric,” Eull said.