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NILES — After 12 years of dedicated service to Niles, Jeff Dunlap is retiring from his role as the city’s Utilities Manager. Stepping in to guide the department is Madison Mosher, Niles’ Assistant Utilities Manager who has been working for the city for almost two years. 

The Niles City Council unanimously moved to appoint Mosher to interim utilities manager effective May 5.

Dunlap submitted his notice of retirement effective July 13. Jeff Dunlap will move to a support/mentor role and will continue to serve the City as the Building Official until his retirement.

“It was time,” Dunlap said. “We’re fortunate to have Madison. She’s a fresh face and has fresh ideas. I think it’s going to really be exciting for the rate payers in the city. I think she’s going to do a good job.”

Born and raised in St. Joseph, Mosher worked in South Bend doing environmental consulting after graduating from college. Before working for the City of Niles, she worked in compliance with Indeck Energy Center.

Dunlap has spent more than 45 years in local government. Prior to his work with the city, Dunlap was employed with Niles Charter Township from 1983 to 2013. He worked as a police officer for the township from ’83 to 2005, when he became the township’s building official.

While he is proud of what he has been able to accomplish for the city, the Pucker Street Dam project is one he is especially proud of.

“It was difficult to visualize what that could become and it  turned out better than we expected,” Dunlap said. “Our fish and wildlife service representative said that we’re the model for other places that have aging games. To this day, I get calls from places asking ‘how did you do it, what did you do,’ because we stepped up and did what’s right and not necessarily was the cheapest or what corporate America would have done traditionally. Environmentally, it’s gonna be there forever and that’s beautiful.”

Mosher is looking forward to building on the foundation Dunlap has laid for the city.

“With Jeff’s time here, he’s done a really great job and he’s built this foundation that I’m happy to be able to build off of,” she said. “I think he was really good at construction and projects and got the system to where it needed to be health and age-wise. I’m really looking to see what we can do with that going forward. It’s just about looking inward at business processes and procedures and building on what he’s already started. He laid a good foundation, so I’m excited to see what we do next.”