SKOWHEGAN — The new police chief is looking for a new deputy police chief.

Ted Blais, who became police chief in Skowhegan in June, now will have to find a new second in command with the announcement that Deputy Chief Dan Summers is leaving at the end of the month.

Summers, 45, who grew up in Skowhegan and has been on the police force for 24 years, takes over Aug. 27 as police chief and director of public safety for the town of Lincoln.

“Having such an individual who’s been here, who’s done every job in the department, is a huge asset,” Blais said. “To have him go is really a loss, for sure.”

Summers said he leaves his hometown for a new job with mixed emotions. He said he and his wife, Sandy, are “empty nesters” with the children at college, and now is the time to make a career move.

“This is an opportunity for us to start a new adventure in life. It’s exciting,” he said. “It’s scary at the same time, because you’re leaving something that you know. Skowhegan has been very good to me.”

Summers said Lincoln, in Penobscot County, is a town of about 5,200 people, and like Skowhegan, has a paper mill and a hospital. Skowhegan has a population of about 9,000.

As director of public safety there, Summers said he also will oversee the town’s Fire Department.

Blais said he wants to establish a written policy for promotions within the Police Department before the town and the Board of Selectmen begin the process of hiring a new deputy police chief. He said he also wants a defined job description for the job.

“It may be posted internally; it may be posted internally and externally,” Blais said. “I want to make sure we have a clear policy, steps we want to cover first.”

He said he wants to have someone on board quickly.

A public reception for Summers is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 26 at the Town Office building on Water Street.

Summers graduated from Skowhegan High School in 1985 and was hired full time by the Skowhegan Police Department in October 1989. He completed training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in 1990.

Summers was a patrol officer in Skowhegan until 1994, when he was promoted to detective and later patrol sergeant.

He was promoted to detective sergeant in 2007 and was named interim police chief in September 2012 during Chief Michael Emmons’ deployment to Southwest Asia with the Maine Air National Guard.

Summers also worked as a resident agent for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency from 2005 to 2011 and studied criminal justice at the University of Maine at Augusta. He served four years in the Air Force, recruited by Skowhegan’s current town manager, John Doucette Jr., who was the local recruiter at the time.

In February, Emmons left the post to become police chief at VA Maine Healthcare Systems-Togus campus in Augusta. Summers took over in the interim.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com