Massachusetts town admin voted out after he protested presence of Trump flag in police station

‘I’m no enemy of President Trump’ the administrator protested. A Massachusetts town administrator has been voted out of office after he called for a Donald Trump flag that was hanging in the local police station to be removed. Town administrator James Ryan was only two months into the job when the West Boylston Select Board voted 4–1 to terminate his employment contract Monday during a Zoom call being watched by 120 people. The town is located around 50 miles west of Boston.

The local politician became caught in the crossfire on January 28 when he noticed a Trump campaign flag hanging in a gym area – not normally accessible to the public – while he had been touring the police station, the Telegram & Gazette reports. Police chief Dennis W. Minnich Sr. revealed that Ryan had asked him to remove the flag.

A day later, Ryan ordered the town’s facility director, a civilian employee, to access the private area of the police station to check if the flag was still hanging, according to town counsel Darren R. Klein. The director texted Ryan a photo showing that a flag was still up, Klein said. Ryan texted the facility director back saying: “Are you bold enough to grab it for me and sneak out with it?” Klein said.

“You unnecessarily chose a path and direction so soon in your tenure that it virtually guaranteed a broken relationship and complete loss of trust with the Police Department and the police chief,” Klein chastised. “Unfortunately, your alleged actions, if true, are responsible for a toxic, chaotic and distrustful environment being created that permanently damages your ability to work productively with the police chief, the Police Department and other town officials and department heads moving forward.”.

But Ryan, who insisted he was simply trying to enforce the town's bylaws, which forbid signage on public buildings, declared “I’m no enemy of President Trump”. Adding: “I will work with local, state, and federal partners whenever needed so I can assure that West Boylston receives its share of support and federal funds for the things our residents need.”.

The former town administrator said his actions carried no political significance and rather he acted in a way he believed would mitigate the problem from spiraling into an external political problem. “Although my reaction may have caused an unfortunate rift between myself and Chief Minnich, one that I believe can be repaired, I had no role in having this dispute play out in public.,” Ryan said.

"I can admit that I would have handled things differently if I could go back. For example, I would have considered the situation closed after Chief Minnich told me the flag was down and I wouldn’t have involved another member of the staff. The true fact is I was brand-new to the position and it threw me off my game to have my authority challenged early and so directly. And I was probably a little sensitive to that fact.”.

But the board was furious and unanimously, decided that it was the appropriate decision to terminate his employment. Selectman Barur R. Rajeshkumar initiated the motion to terminate his contract, a move that was then seconded by Selectman James Morrissey. Notably, Vanessa Kuzmanovski was the only board member to vote against terminating Ryan's contract.

Ryan's lawyer John J. Clifford defended his client’s actions in seeking the flag be taken down, stating: “James has no problem with President Trump or anybody who supports the president. “One of the most important takeaways from the last election is citizens demand that those in government do their jobs impartially, without political bias. James certainly understands that and agrees with those principles.”.

The lawyer weighed in that it was almost inevitable that Ryan would lose his job as the police chief holds much power within the small town with a population size of approximately 8,000 people. Clifford added that Ryan would be responding to his termination with a lawsuit.

Ryan will reportedly only be paid for the time he held the position plus accrued but unused vacation pay, according to board chair Kristina Pedone. In the U.S. Election 2024, West Boylston voted in support of the Democratic nominees Kamala Harris and Tim Walz outweighing the vote for Trump by almost 1000 votes.