GORHAM – The New Year got under way in Gorham with the police department facing a manpower shortage due to a pair of key retirements.

“We’re incurring some overtime,” Police Chief Ron Shepard said Tuesday (Jan. 18).

Sgt. Robert Mailman retired Jan. 6 after 29 years with the department. Mailman, who was the department’s senior sergeant, had served with Gorham police since June 1981.

Shepard said he expected a replacement to be named by mid February. Shepard said a new sergeant would be selected from four applicants now on duty with his department.

And a newly hired patrol officer, Paul Dubay, replacing Wayne Coffin, who retired on Oct. 5, is undergoing field training under supervision of Gorham’s Sgt. Dan Young, who is now the department’s senior sergeant.

Shepard expected Dubay, a Gorham native who graduated the Maine Criminal Justice Academy last month, to be on patrol alone also about the middle of next month.

In a hiring process, the department likely will be interviewing applicants by the end of this week to fill the vacancy left in the ranks when Mailman’s replacement is named.

At full strength, Gorham has five sergeants. Young said recently that one four-hour slot, 3-7 a.m., would not have a sergeant on duty until Mailman’s replacement is named. Under a revamped schedule, sergeants Mike Nault, Dana Thompson, Ben Moreland and Young handle the sergeants’ duties.

Not counting Dubay, Gorham has 10 current patrol officers. Gorham Police Department normally has a total complement of 23 individuals.

Retiring after 35 years, Coffin, a former lieutenant who had stepped down a few years ago for health reasons, had served on traffic enforcement besides animal control officer. Young said those positions now fall onto the patrol officers during their shifts.

Police in Gorham patrol 142 miles of local roads and state highways in the largely rural town of more than 50 square miles.