NILES — Local firefighters will soon have new furniture to relax on in between fighting fires, thanks to a resolution passed Monday by the Niles Township Board.

During Monday evening’s regular meeting, township board members voted to approve the purchase of new furniture for the north and south fire stations. The total cost of the furniture will be $6,099 and will cover the cost of two new couches and four new recliners from Ashley Furniture in Mishawaka. The funds will come out of the capital improvement and fire department budgets.

“This will replace what really needs to be replaced out there,” said trustee Richard Cooper. “It’s been needing to be replaced for quite some time.”

In 2018, the board voted to allow the fire department to purchase new furniture, but it was never bought, according to treasurer Jim Ringler. Now, he said, the need for new items is past due.

“The furniture over there is pitiful. They are sitting on basically plywood,” he said. “It’s about time they got new [furniture].”

The resolution passed unanimously.

Also Monday, Kristopher Martin, an associate planner with the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission, presented to the Niles Township Board about progress made on a proposed extension of the Indiana Michigan River Valley Trail.

Currently, the trail connects Mishawaka, South Bend and Niles through 17 miles of trail. Now, SWMPC is looking to continue the Indiana-Michigan River Valley Trail from Niles to Berrien Springs. The path would pick up near Plym Park and stretch 9 miles to Rangeline Park in Berrien Township. The organization recently received renewed funding through the Berrien County Department of Health and Human Services to continue its study.

“Our goal is community engagement and participant engagement and municipal engagement, so in this case, it is informing the municipality on the great work of the trail,” Martin said of presenting at Monday evening’s meeting. “We just wanted to engage them with them about the work being done.”

In his presentation, Martin shared with township trustees the plans for the proposed extension as well as some of the information collected last year at community input sessions.

While it will be years before the proposed extension could be completed, Martin said there would be several opportunities coming up for southwest Michigan residents to engage with the process, follow its progress and offer their input. 

“We are looking at where we can go forward,” Martin said. “This year, we are looking to do some more community engagement and some of the preliminary engineering and stuff like that.”