THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995 TAG: 9512190125
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
A retired Air Force colonel has been hired to take over as town manager.
Col. J.M. DeGrand, 53, will start on a part-time basis Jan. 1. DeGrand, of Yorktown, will live there and will work for three months until the Town Council decides if the position should be full time.
The town has not had a town manager for several years, but the move by council at the meeting last week was prompted by Mayor Bobby Claud's election to the Isle of Wight Board of Supervisors, a position he will assume in January.
Claud, a retired telephone company executive, has been assuming the responsibilities of a mayor/manager.
At the same meeting at which DeGrand was hired as manager, the council also unanimously approved the choice of Vice Mayor Wesley F. Garris to replace Claud as mayor. Garris will take over at the council's meeting in January.
DeGrand is a 27-year Air Force veteran and a veteran of Vietnam. A St. Louis native, he has a bachelor's degree in architecture from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's in administration from Central Michigan University.
He retired from the Air Force in 1994 after having commanded maintenance squadrons, most recently at Bitburg Air Base in Germany, where he was base commander over 450 men.
DeGrand said he has been looking for an administrative position for about a year and decided to apply in Windsor because the small town reminded him of the St. Louis County area where he grew up, about 20 miles outside the city.
The Town Council will select Garris' replacement on the council at its January meeting. by CNB