Lenoir City Police Chief Don White is taking over the recently created position of Public Safety Director to oversee the city's Police Department, Fire Department and Codes Enforcement Department.

White has been a part of the Lenoir City Police Department for 15 years and was named chief in 2005.

"He does an outstanding job as chief of police and has brought the department up to the standard that we feel it should be, so we felt like he would be a perfect fit," said Mayor Tony R. Aikens in making the announcement

Aikens and the City Council hope the consolidation of the three public safety departments will result in a more productive and effective delivery of their services to the city in addition to easing the load on City Administrator Dale Hurst, who has previously been in charge of those departments.

"We have a lot of projects going on, so (Hurst) can concentrate more on those projects rather than personnel matters, and that's about 22 employees that he won't be dealing with on an as-needed or day-to-day basis," Aikens said.

White was to assume his new duties immediately.