By Grace Zokovitch
Boston Herald
WEST BOYLSTON, Mass. — The West Boylston Select Board voted to terminate the new town administrator’s contract Monday, after he reportedly demanded the removal of a Trump flag hanging in the police station gym.
The Select Board voted 4-1 to terminate Town Administrator James Ryan ’s contract over his handling of the flag incident, with member Vanessa Kuzmanovski the only vote against, the Worcester Telegram and Gazette reported. The hearing was originally scheduled to be closed to the public, but opened over Zoom on Monday.
Ryan and the small Worcester County town have been embroiled in controversy since mid-February, when West Boylston Police Chief Dennis Minnich publicly put himself on leave over the flag dispute and said he would not return to work until the town administrator was gone.
Ryan has served in the position for just over a month since Jan. 21 . The incident began shortly after he started the position and took a walk through of the station. The administrator reportedly told Minnich to remove the flag, kicking off an escalating dispute.
“James is disappointed with the Select Board’s decision to terminate him tonight,” said attorney John Clifford on behalf of Ryan on Monday night. “James acknowledges that he could have handled the situation differently, but his insistence that there be no political signs in a public building was completely justified. In tonight’s meeting, James expressed his sincere regret that he had any role in what became an embarrassment and distraction for the entire town.”
However, Clifford said the result of the meeting was a “foregone conclusion” and blamed Minnich for creating controversy in the “press and on social media.”
“The Select Board simply acquiesced to Chief Minnich’s demand that James be fired, and made it clear that the Chief will be able to enforce the law as he sees fit going forward,” said Clifford. “Remarkably, a majority of the Board didn’t seem to think that putting political signs in a public building is a problem.”
Minnich, who has served in the town’s 13-officer police department for 32 years, told the Herald he would not back down in an interview in mid-February.
“I have taken all of my vacation time, personal days, and I told the town board that I will not be back until either he’s gone or you get rid of me,” Minnich said. “And if you get rid of me, I’m not going quiet, and you’re paying.”
Minnich said he reluctantly took the flag down in response to Ryan’s initial demand but told him he “did not see any harm or lawful violation to hang a flag of the sitting President of the United States.” Ryan reportedly said he had concerns that the flag’s presence was a civil rights violation.
Later, Ryan obtained photos of flags back up in the station and confronted Minnich again, according to the police chief.
The police union took a vote of no confidence in the town administrator later in February.
The police chief did not respond to a request for comment immediately Monday night. The Select Board also did not respond to a request immediately Monday.
Clifford said his client will be “reviewing his options with respect to litigating his termination, but he would like to make it clear that he has no ill feelings toward town employees, volunteer officials, or the citizens of West Boylston.”
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