A former Niles educator has been tabbed to fill the 1st Ward seat on the Niles City Council left vacant when former council member Pat Gallagher died in October.

Gretchen Bertschy will serve the remainder of Gallagher’s term.

Bertschy said she recently started a job at United Federal Credit Union in Benton Harbor, but most people in Niles would know her through her work in education.

Bertschy was principal at St. Mary’s Elementary School from 2005-‘08 and teacher at Ring Lardner, Oak Manor and Cedar Lane before that.

She has three daughters and is married to Maj. Leon Bertschy, who commanded a Marine Corps Reserve Unity, Company B, in Iraq in 2003.

Council member Georgia Boggs, of the 1st Ward, recommended Bertschy for the seat during Monday’s Niles City Council regular meeting. The council approved her recommendation unanimously.

In other business, the council:

• approved using a grant for up to $3,600 to build a permanent storage shed near the southern portion of Riverfront Park in order to support the ongoing investigation of Fort St. Joseph.

• approved the purchase of 100 new magnetic induction street lamps at $253 each from American Green Technology, of South Bend, Ind. The lamps will replace the city’s old less-efficient, high-pressure sodium lamps.

• approved the waiver of applicable construction fees associated with the construction of the new Niles Fraternal Order of Police Lodge, which is replacing the one destroyed by arson last year. The council also decided to cover the cost ($20,000) of installing a sewage lift station at the Niles FOP.