West Boylston residents will have the opportunity to “be heard” Wednesday evening when the Select Board meets in public after the police chief and new town administrator clashed over a Trump flag inside the police department.

West Boylston Police Chief Dennis Minnich Sr., who has headed the 13-member department in the small Worcester County town since 1997, put himself on leave after Town Administrator James Ryan demanded the Trump flag be removed from the station’s gym late last month.

Ryan, who previously held roles for the town of Salisbury, is less than a month into leading West Boylston, a town of roughly 7,800 people on the border of Worcester.

His actions, including allegedly ordering the town facilities director to enter the police station unbeknownst to the chief amid the controversy, have led to a vote of no confidence from the police union.

The Select Board is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. at the senior center, with residents being allowed to voice their concerns during a public comment session that Board Chairwoman Kristina Pedone said she has extended to an hour.

“I know many of you want to be heard,” Pedone said in a Facebook post late Tuesday night, “and public comment can sometimes be challenging in a limited format. Tomorrow, we have a regularly scheduled meeting at the Senior Center to accommodate a larger group. Public comment is typically scheduled for the first 15 minutes, but I will extend it to 1 hour before proceeding with our normal meeting.”

Pedone made her post after the Select Board met in an executive session to discuss the “formal complaint” Minnich filed against Ryan in a Feb. 4 letter that detailed the town administrator’s “highly unprofessional and deeply alarming” actions.

The Select Board held its executive session virtually.

Minnich told the Herald Wednesday the board asked him a “bunch of questions” and told him they would hold another hearing in the days ahead. He added that he was out of the country on vacation.

In a phone interview with the Herald last week, Minnich said: “I told the town board that I will not be back until either he’s gone or you get rid of me. And if you get rid of me, I’m not going quiet, and you’re paying.”

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette has reported that Minnich sent a memo to the board Tuesday morning, saying he plans to come back to work next Wednesday and that he will report “directly to the Select Board rather than the town administrator due to the “hostile work environment.”

“It is my firm belief that the Town Administrator’s actions have been detrimental to the well-being of the town,” Minnich wrote in the memo, “and I strongly urge the Select Board to take appropriate action, including consideration of their removal. However, regardless of the outcome of this situation, my commitment remains steadfast.”

Ryan started as town administrator, a position that carries a salary of $208,000, on Jan. 21 and began meeting with department heads and visiting municipal buildings.

A day after Minnich gave Ryan a walkthrough of the police station, the police chief said he received a call from the town administrator requiring that a President Trump flag be taken down from a wall inside the department’s gym.

Minnich said he “reluctantly complied” after telling Ryan that he “did not see any harm or lawful violation to hang a flag of the sitting President of the United States.” Ryan had reportedly argued that hanging the Trump flag inside the station was a “civil rights violation.”

Tension escalated when Ryan called Minnich on Feb. 3 saying he received photos of inside the station and that he had confirmation that the flag had never been taken down, the police chief wrote in his letter to the Select Board.

The town administrator said he had photos of both the gym and men’s locker room showing Trump flags being displayed, accusing Minnich of being a liar and “questioning” the chief’s “integrity.”

Minnich said all of this came as a surprise and mounted to “serious concerns,” not knowing who had taken the photographs and that two Trump flags had gone up after the initial incident.

Shortly after, Minnich said he received a phone call from the town facilities director who “apologized” for entering the police station to take photos of areas restricted to the public without the police chief knowing, at Ryan’s order.

“The director admitted he felt it was inappropriate but also felt pressured to do this because (Ryan) was his boss,” Minnich wrote in his Feb. 4 letter to the Select Board.