Interim Rescue Chief eyes retirement but won't leave till replacement found

Raymond Parent (Courtesy photo)

LEBANON - Interim Rescue Department Chief Raymond Parent, whose role putting the town’s Rescue Department back on sound financial footing was always seen as temporary, says he’s looking forward to getting back into retirement but has vowed not to leave until a satisfactory replacement is found.

Selectmen, meanwhile, have begun advertising for a replacement.

Parent, a longtime Sanford Fire and Rescue chief and a former interim Sanford town manager, was hired to retool the administrative end of the complicated process associated with ambulance billing, a process that was lacking according to recent audits of the rescue department under former chief Samantha Cole and her husband, assistant chief Jason Cole.

Both Coles resigned their positions with Rescue effective Jan. 1 when Parent came on board. Jason Cole also resigned his Lebanon selectman’s position effective the same day.

Parent has spent the majority of his time healing the fiscal and emotional wounds from the previous administration and streamlining the revenue collection on ambulance runs and dispatch.

Parent has left much of the operational end to other personnel, but it appears selectmen are trying to find a candidate who has considerable experience in both billing and rescue operations.

The ad recently placed asks for someone with experience in billing and preparing budgets as well as advanced EMT or ALS credentials.

Parent retired in 2011 after 14 years as Sanford’s fire chief.

“I’m looking forward to getting back to retirement,” he told The Lebanon Voice on Monday.