Still no decision on town manager

WINSTED — The Winchester Board of Selectmen met in executive session for more than an hour during its regular meeting on Monday, March 7, and emerged without a decision on selecting a permanent town manager.After the meeting, Mayor Candy Perez said she had no comment on the status of the search.The town has now officially been without a full-time town manager for more than five months.The last official full-time town manager was Wayne Dove, who announced his resignation in August and served his last day on Oct. 29.From that time until the beginning of this January, Purchasing Director Mark Douglass served as the acting interim town manager.In November, it was widely reported that two finalists were under consideration by the town — Gary Champy, town manager of Randolph, Vt., and Mark Turcotte, purchasing director in Monroe, Conn.However, in a meeting in December, the board decided not to hire Champy or Turcotte and instead voted to restart the search from scratch.At a meeting in the beginning of January, Douglass stepped aside, and the selectmen voted to hire Paul Vayer, who served as town manager during the 1990s, as the interim town manager.The decision to hire Vayer was not unanimous, as both Selectmen Michael Renzullo and George Closson voted against his hiring.Later on in the meeting, the board voted to approve Vayer’s annual salary of $84,580, which is being paid on a per-diem basis.Perez said at the meeting that Vayer is expected to serve through the end of April at the latest.

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