Saranac Lake Trustee Sean Ryan disputes Mayor Kelly Brunette's claim that a new media policy exists in the village handbook, calling it a gag on officials.
Village Trustee Sean Ryan is calling Mayor Kelly Brunette's new media policy what he says it is: micromanagement — and he's disputing her claim that it was ever in the employee handbook to begin with.
"While the village does have an existing social media policy, it does not have an established media policy in its employee handbook — despite claims to the contrary," Ryan wrote in a statement posted to Facebook.
That directly contradicts Brunette's explanation to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, where she described the policy as preexisting and already in writing. The Enterprise reported it could not find such a policy. Ryan, a sitting trustee with access to village operations, says it isn't there.
But Ryan didn't stop at the handbook. He framed the media policy as part of a larger pattern. "First, Mayor Brunette bottlenecked our workers' abilities to seek grants and spend necessary funds, and now she is restricting their ability to speak to the press," he said. "Every department head should have the autonomy and ability to speak freely to the press."
Brunette has said the policy is meant to prevent "confusion" and "misinformation" among department heads. Ryan turned that justification back on her. "If there is confusion among department heads about what is happening in our village, that points to a lack of communication and disorganization from the top down, not a problem with the press."
The sharpest line in Ryan's statement goes to the heart of what the policy actually does: "Ironically, under the guise of 'transparency,' our department heads are being gagged. Silencing the people who actually run our day-to-day operations is possibly the least transparent thing a government can do."
Ryan is one of four village trustees. His public break with the mayor on this policy signals that the dissent over Brunette's approach to village management isn't coming only from outside — it's coming from within the board itself.
Ryan posted the statement to Facebook. We've reached out to Mayor Brunette for comment and will update this story when we receive a response.
Mayor Brunette did not respond to a request for comment.