WEST BOYLSTON — Officials are dismissing claims by the town administrator's lawyer that the decision to fire James Ryan has been made before a scheduled hearing about the handling of a Trump flag being displayed inside the police station. Ryan has been criticized by the police chief and others for apparently ordering that the flag be removed.

A lawyer representing the West Boylston Town Administrator says he faces imminent termination following a Trump flag controversy.

A lawyer for the West Boylston town administrator claims it's a "foregone conclusion" his client will be fired by the select board Monday, which the board's chair denies.

At issue is a dispute between long-standing Police Chief Dennis W. Minnich Sr. and newly hired Town Administrator James J. Ryan. After a recent tour of the police station, the administrator asked the chief to remove a Trump flag he saw in a nonpublic area of the station.

A Mass. police chief is accusing the town administrator of targeting him over a Trump flag that was hanging in the police department's gym.

On Feb. 4, Police Chief Dennis W. Minnich Sr., who has been police chief since 1997, sent a three-page memo to the Board of Selectmen requesting “an immediate and thorough review” of the recent actions of Town Administrator James Ryan, who started last month.

A lawyer representing the West Boylston town administrator says his client is in the process of losing his job over a dispute regarding a Trump flag with the police chief.

A showdown over a Trump flag has erupted in a small Worcester County town as a police chief says he won’t report back to work under a town administrator who demanded the banner be removed.