On the surface it might appear that Mark Bosse has no qualifications for the job he has held since November.

Bosse, the retired Poland Chief of Fire and Rescue, is general manager of the Poland Spring Resort, a position created for him. Firefighting and resort work do not mix — or do they?

Bill Kennedy

Having been a member of the first full-time employee of the Poland Fire and Rescue Department for 20 years, Bosse was on duty for many calls at the Poland Spring Resort, where there was an occasional fire and guests developing medical problems. This is not to mention the numerous building inspections he conducted at the complex.

Plus, there was a time when the resort was the only place in Poland with fire hydrants, which is where the firefighters in his department often trained.

Over the years, Cyndi Robbins, Poland Spring Resort owner, got to know all of the Poland chiefs and took a liking to Bosse and respected his work immensely as she watched him in so many professional capacities on her property. In addition, she liked what she saw when Bosse served eight- and six-week interim stints as Poland Town Manager.

Bosse, in turn, observed the qualities that Robbins offered, to the extent that she was invited to participate on the town committee which interviewed new firefighter candidates and she helped to raise funds to build a new Poland Firehouse.

In reciprocity, two years ago Bosse was invited to be part of the interview process of hiring a new Poland Spring pro and course manager, who became current pro John King. This represents just one of the many subtle and hidden factors contained within Bosse’s resume that enable him to be qualified for the position he holds as general manager.

After many conversations between Robbins and Bosse about him becoming involved as a resort employee, Cyndi told him, “You can run the hill.” And since November of last year, he has been making observations and collecting data to enable him to do just that.

Bosse oversees many of the resort offices, including promotions, sales, maintenance, restaurants grounds, buildings, all of which are encompassed in the Poland Spring Resort, which ranges from seemingly fundamental hotel work to functioning as a massive and often intricate financial operation.

With a new career in front of him, Bosse does possess fresh ideas to offer the resort.

One is directly from his fire and rescue past. He wants more Poland Spring employees trained in CPR, and more AEDs available for use in the pro shop and at Cyndi’s Dockside.

“From the firehouse, we got lots of medical calls here,” he said. “We do have people on staff here trained in CPR, but we would like to have more.”

This year, Bosse has accompanied the resort golf staff to the Boston and Portland Expo golf shows, which has been a learning experience for him. That and the fact that as a retired fire chief (he continues to work weekends as a Poland assistant fire chief), one would think that being employed at a place that has a golf course would be an ideal retirement job.

Robbins likes it when Bosse is on the course, because “Mark is very sociable,” she said. “He can talk to anyone. He’s a golfer — not a great one.”

“Cyndi says I will play a lot more golf,” he said.

He does play in some of the Poland Spring Golf Course charity events. He does not, however, have a handicap, and he tends to stick to events that are scrambles.

Bosse does have one characteristic that stands out in his golf game.

“I’ve got a helluva slice,” he admitted.

Welcome to the club!

*****

Poland Spring, the nation’s oldest resort golf course, is attempting to expand its player horizons. This weekend it will have a booth for the first time at the Connecticut Golf Expo, where the golf course and resort will be promoted, along with the Maine Golf Trifecta, which is a bargain of a three-course pass to Spring Meadows, Fox Ridge and Poland Spring.