RUMFORD – Mary Ann Richard said she is happy to be back on the job patrolling the downtown area, monitoring parking infractions.

“I’d been slaving away at Andover Wood Products, using rip saws and glue machines, making panels. That’s hard work,” said Richard, about the job she has done for the past six and a half years.

“So I’m very happy to be back on the island.”

Richard, 41, began her new parking officer detail last Monday for Rumford’s Police Department. It’s the same job she did from 1989 until she quit in 1993.

The position then fell by the wayside until it was revived this summer.

Enforcement of parking limits was supported by people attending the annual June town meeting.

“Most of the people I see are happy I’m back. Store owners are happy I’m back – they’re the ones that asked for it. No one’s threatened me this week,” she said.

Since Monday, Richard said she had written 25 parking tickets for people who parked in the downtown area for more than the designated two hours, or for other parking infractions. She works from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

She also had to rescind a few tickets over legitimate reasons for people who parked in handicapped spaces.

Richard was even pressed into service Thursday for a traffic detail, joining Police Chief Tim Bourassa in diverting drivers from a film shoot on Congress Street.