Vayer officially sworn in for temporary term

WINSTED — Paul Vayer, who served as town manager during the 1990s, was officially sworn in as the interim town manager right before the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, Jan. 3.

The selectmen voted to hire Vayer at a special meeting on Dec. 20 after they rejected candidates Gary Champy, town manager of Randolph, Vt., and Mark Turcotte, purchasing director in Monroe, Conn., for the Winsted town manager position.

The decision to hire Vayer was not unanimous, as both Selectmen Michael Renzullo and George Closson voted against his hiring.

At the beginning of Monday’s meeting, Vayer thanked the board and said he wanted to create a meaningful and positive change to the town’s government and the community as a whole.

“Obviously, I’ve been in Winchester before, and I have always been impressed with the quality of the elected officials and the community involvement,� Vayer said. “I promise to do the very best in this capacity.�

Later on in the meeting, the board voted to approve Vayer’s salary of $84,580 on a per diem basis.

According to Mayor Candy Perez, Vayer will serve to the end of April at the latest.

She added that the town has received four new applications so far for the town manager position.

The board will meet toward the end of this month to discuss and review the applications.