Merkle Cherry currently serves as the operations director at Henry J. Austin Health Center in Trenton.
TRENTON -- Merkle Cherry, a city cabinet member fired by former Mayor Doug Palmer in 2000, was named the city's acting public works director Monday by Mayor Eric Jackson.
City spokesman Michael Walker confirmed Cherry started work Monday and would be in front of City Council in the coming weeks for an advice and consent approval.
Jackson, late Monday, said Cherry was the "overwhelming" winning candidate for the job after his administration examined about eight to 10 candidates.
The mayor said Cherry knows the city well and has experience in city government from his time in the Palmer administration of the late 1990s.
"I believe he has a lot of assets that will serve us well - serve the administration well and the community as well," Jackson said.
Merkle Cherry Cherry served as the director of the city's Recreation, Natural Resources and Culture Department from 1996 until May 2000 - when Palmer fired him and Blanca Ohler, the department's community development director.
Later in 2000, city officials said Cherry was let go because the city was dropped from the federal Weed and Seed crime-prevention program for submitting an incomplete application for recertification.
The city was one of the original cities involved in the federal anti-crime, youth recreation program.
Jackson, in regards to Cherry's firing, said he worked with Cherry in that same Palmer administration and said Cherry did an "admirable" job.
"That was a long time ago, and we've come a long way," Jackson said. "I think he's the right guy."
Cherry, in 2000, was succeeded in his director's job by Francis Blanco - Jackson's current chief of staff. The city re-submitted the Weed and Seed application and the federal aid was restored.
The opening in the public works department was created earlier this year when Jacqueline Foushee resigned as director in February, serving since shortly after Jackson took office in 2014. She's currently the Director of Community Development for the city of Rahway.
Cherry also ran for an at-large city council seat in 2002, unsuccessfully. He currently serves as the operations director at Henry J. Austin Health Center in Trenton.
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