HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – Huntsville’s City Council will confirm Mayor Tommy Battle’s appointments of three new department heads on Nov. 17.
The three new department heads that will be added to Mayor Battle’s administrative team will be for the City’s police, traffic engineering and cemetery departments.
The appointments include Kirk Giles as Chief of the Huntsville Police Department, Nicholas Nene as Director of the Traffic Engineering Department and Tara Sloan as Director of the Cemetary Department.
The appointees will officially become directors of their departments upon the Council’s approval on Thursday night.
Interim Chief Giles will replace former Chief of Police Mark McMurray who returned in March after more than 30 years with HPD.
Giles has been promoted seven times in the force from when he started as an officer to now the Chief after 45 years with the Huntsville Police Department. Giles holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s in justice and public safety, he also graduated from the FBI National Academy in 2003.
“I am honored to continue to serve and protect our city in this role,” Giles said. “I am grateful to Mayor Battle, the Administation and our City Council for allowing me to lead and work with the exemplary men and women of the Huntsville Police Department.”
Nene joined the City’s Traffic Engineering Division after working with the Alabama Department of Transportation for a decade. While with the City’s Traffic Engineering Division he oversaw the planning, programming, development and construction management for traffic and safety-related projects.
Nene was promoted to Deputy Director of Traffic Engineering in 2021 to continue to provide management and guidance of City systems. Nene holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Alabama A&M University aND a master’s degree in urban regional planning with a concentration in transportation.
“I enjoy what I do because we are making streets safer,” Nene said. “We could be saving a life through our work and I treat every improvement as if my own family was using that roadway.
Sloan served as a dispatcher for Huntsville Fire & Rescue for 10 years before transitioning to the role of Constituent Services Program Officer.
Sloan’s data analysis experience and program evaluation landed her the title of Interim Director of Cemeteries, where she has managed the City’s nine municipal cemeteries since 2020. She earned her degree in business administration from Calhoun Community College.
“It’s an honor to know that we are the caretakers of the final resting places of people’s loves ones,” Sloan said. “It’s a huge responsibility that I don’t take lightly, and it is a privilege to provide places of peace and contemplation for those who come to remember lives well-lived,”
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