By JESSICA SIEFF
Niles Daily Star

News that a familiar face will be back serving the community came Monday night during a Niles Charter Township meeting.
According to supervisor Jim Kidwell, former Niles City Police Department captain

Jim Merriman was approved by the board for the position of Code Enforcement Officer for the township.

“I was really happy when Jim said he’d come on,” Kidwell said. The two have plenty of experience working together in the past.

Merriman stepped down from his position with the Niles City Police Department in September of 2008 and spoke with the Star about his long standing career with the force.

“Every day you come here,” he said. “You don’t know what that big challenge is going to be. It’s dictated by nature.”

His new challenge, explained Kidwell will include serving ordinance violation notices, conducting follow-up inspections and ordinance enforcement.

The job is something Kidwell said the township needed managed and he praised Merriman for having the ability to work well with people, saying it would come in handy when dealing with ensuring that rules are being followed.