Baldwin City ? Mike McKenna, who has been Baldwin City police chief since January 2003, resigned Thursday, effective immediately.

McKenna resigned during a meeting with Mayor Ken Wagner and City Administrator Jeff Dingman, and Wagner appointed Sgt. Greg Neis to serve as interim chief.

McKenna had just returned from vacation Thursday and said that it was time to move on.

“My wife and I had been vacationing and decided during that period of time, because of things going on in the family, it was time for me to return to Wichita and take care of family,” said McKenna.

McKenna took over as chief during a tumultuous time in the department. He replaced Steve Butell, who had resigned in the summer 2002 amid various investigations, suspension and other public relations problems. McKenna was credited with creating a more professional department by then-City Administrator Larry Paine and then-Mayor Ken Hayes.

McKenna came to Baldwin City from Wichita, where he had retired after 29 years of law enforcement, most of them with the Wichita police department. He had various positions there, including in the detective unit that investigated more serious crimes. That included the case of BTK — Bind, Torture and Kill — that involved the murders of 10 people in and around Wichita. Dennis Rader pleaded guilty to those crimes in 2005.