MAYWOOD — The City Council has hired a new manager to get the city back on track following a demand from voters for higher public employee standards and from the state attorney general’s office for more oversight of the police department.

“Measure M, approved by voters last December, gives us more leeway in selecting employees and allows background checks so we will know we are hiring state-of-the-art people,” said Paul Philips, who was hired as interim city manager in February.

The ordinance, titled Maywood Ethics in Government Hiring and Contracting, outlawed nepotism. It passed 1,080-735.

Police Chief Frank Hauptman, who was made interim chief in January 2008 and permanent chief last October, said he is following policies and reforms among his 40-member police department which had been proposed in a state audit made public in March.

“I have been working with the Department of Justice and attorney general’s staff the past two years helping them with their audit,” said Hauptman, who was hired as a police department consultant in September 2007.

“I informed them of what I had done and in fact had already implemented some of the proposed reforms.” he said. “The state investigation is over. We are in the process of signing a covenant under a court decree containing policies they believe will solve problems in the department.”

A police officer for some 32 years, Hauptman was a member of the Glendale and then the Garden Grove police departments before coming to Maywood in 2007.

Philips, previously the city manager in Covina, said the big challenge facing he city, as with most municipalities, is the budget, which he estimates at a total of $16 million for the approximately 30,000 people who live in the 1.14 square mile community.

“The budget will be tight but we want to maintain the kind of services desired by our residents,” said Philips, who said he did not foresee any layoffs among the approximately 100 city employees, including the 40 sworn police officers.

Officials are waiting to see how much money the state will siphon away from cities municipalities to balance its budget.

Meanwhile, a consultant has been hired to establish criteria and implement standards and policies and reforms demanded in Measure M.

“This will be a major reform in Maywood. We want to hire the best people possible,” Phillips said.

Officials also expect help from residents.

“We are upgrading our home page on the Internet so residents can have access to it and give us their input,” Philips said.

He noted that Maywood is in a “hot spot zone” in which residents and businesses with a computer can access the Internet free of charge.

Philips explained that the city pays for the Internet connections from Net Logics, a private company which has installed transmitters and receivers on lamp poles throughout the community.

“Maywood residents have a strong interest and involvement in their community,” said Philips, who pledges to work with them and with local school officials.

Although his post is interim, the City Council has no timetable for hiring a new manager, although there is a search for one.

While he is here, Philips said he would like to offer more recreation programs and senior citizen events with participants contributing toward the cost.

Meanwhile, the city is planning to use federal stimulus funds to resurface Atlantic Boulevard and do some sewer upgrades.

Also on his agenda is completion of Riverfront Park, located off Slauson Avenue and the Los Angeles River.

Philips has been an administrator for 26 years, previously serving in Artesia, Lawndale, Hawaiian Gardens and South El Monte. A Cerritos resident, he has a bachelor’s degree in government from Chapman University in Orange and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of La Verne.