KIPTON — The village has a new top cop.

Former Geneva Police Chief Jim McManus, who now heads up the criminal justice program at Lorain County Community College, took over the job — which has been vacant for nearly a year — last month.

Kipton Mayor Bob Meilander said he plans to hire two officers to work for the department and replace those officers who resigned last year as the department disintegrated in scandal.

Then-police Chief Pablo Cruz was suspended in February 2007 after he was reimbursed twice for $98 worth of film he bought for the village’s 2006 Christmas party. Cruz was about to be reinstated when he was suspended again for allegedly keeping officers on the payroll who had never been hired by the village.

Cruz resigned in September as part of an agreement with the village that criminal charges wouldn’t be pursued against him. Cruz’s temporary replacement, Lt. Robert Wolfkill, pleaded guilty earlier this year to theft from an elderly woman while he was working as a police officer in Huron County. He resigned after his conviction but had been suspended since last summer while the case against him worked its way through the courts.

The rest of the department’s officers resigned as the scandals unfolded, and the village has been receiving police protection from sheriff’s deputies.

Meilander said he and McManus will keep a tight rein on officers to ensure they are friendly and helpful, and to erase the reputation of the village as a speed trap along state Route 511.

“They’ll be on probation, and if we have problems or complaints, they’ll be done,” Meilander said. “The main thing is to be friendly with everybody.”

Salaries for McManus and the officers the village plans to hire have not yet been determined. Meilander said that until that is figured out McManus, who was originally brought in as a consultant, will continue to volunteer his time.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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