The Chronicle, via a confidential source, has received a copy of a whistleblower letter filed with the village of Croton-on-Hudson on September 8 by Code Enforcement Officer Thor Snilsberg. The letter was sent the same day that Snilsberg and other village staff received alleged death threats via email.
Given the numerous statements that have been made by village officials claiming that the legal action against Lenny Amicola for refusing to take down his Trump display was just part of routine code enforcement and had nothing to do with free speech, we are publishing this letter in the public interest and pursuant to the public’s right to know what its government is actually doing.
We want to stress that Thor Snilsberg was not the source who gave us this letter. It appears that after Snilsberg sent his complaint, it was circulated more widely than he intended and thus eventually made its way to the Chronicle. The fact that the letter was already circulating in the village, even if only in a limited and yet uncontrolled fashion, also weighed heavily in our decision to publish it now.
In the letter, Snilsberg rejected the contention that the action against Amicola was just a routine code enforcement matter, and listed four ways in which it differed from the 17 other business signs that he was dealing with.
Asked to comment, Snilsberg provided us the following statement:
“I am disappointed that my confidential whistleblower letter was leaked without my permission. At the advice of my attorney, I am not commenting on my letter at this time. I love my job serving Croton. Since this all unfolded, I have been suffering from stress related migraines. I hope to be able to return to work soon. However, on Tuesday morning at 9:30am I will have exhausted all of my paid time off. I have requested unpaid leave to continue my recovery. Per the Teamsters contract, the discretion to grant unpaid leave is that of our Village Manager.”
To protect the source for the letter, the Chronicle has cut and pasted the text from the original document we were given, with no changes except for a redaction of personal information at the end. The addressees include Village Clerk Paula DiSanto and two union representatives.
September 8, 2025
Dear Paula, Carrie, and Jason:
I’m confidentially writing Village human resources and my union representatives to understand supports available to me as the Village’s case against Mr. Amicola advances and I share the details of the enforcement actions that I was ordered to execute.
Clearly, the media coverage of this case has escalated quickly and far beyond Croton. In light of today’s death threats, I am especially concerned as the officer who originally issued the violation.
Specifically, I’m seeking your guidance on: (1) what legal resources are available to me as a Village employee and Teamster? (2) what are the laws protecting whistleblowers in NYS? (3) What protective resources are provided to employees who receive death threats?
Regarding my actions as Code Enforcement Officer, I am writing you to document my concerns that I was asked to enforce the code unjustly by Village Manager Bryan Healy.
To be clear, issuing Mr. Amicola’s violation was not my decision and was not part of my initial commercial signage enforcement efforts. After I began enforcing sign violations in April, the Village Manager instructed my direct supervisor, Dan O’Connor, that I should issue a violation for the Trump banner. Knowing this history of the banner, my gut said this was a bad idea. From May 21 – July 22nd, I was asked repeatedly by the Village Manager to issue Mr. Amicola’s violation. For fear of losing my job, I complied and issued the notice of violation on July 22nd. When Mr. Amicola failed to remedy the violation, I followed up with the Village Manager to confirm that I should issue an appearance ticket.
When I asked, if I should enforce other flags hung as banners, I was told “no” by the Village Manager. When I asked the Village Manager why issue this violation, I was told, “counsel had researched the matter further and felt the Village had a case.”
I took the code enforcement job to utilize my urban planning background and to help make Croton a better place. Now, I feel like I have been used as a pawn in a political game. This is evidenced, in part, by the Mayor’s recent quotes in the media to the effect that “this is a normal code enforcement issue and 17 other businesses have been cited.”
While it is true that I have been working with 17 other businesses on their signage violations, Mr. Amicola’s banner differs from those enforcement actions in at least 4 significant ways: (1) the banner is not commercial, (2) I was asked repeatedly to enforce it, (3) the Village had engaged legal counsel to research how the banner could be enforced, (4) the banner had a long history of Village enforcement efforts prior to my tenure.
For the time being, I request that you keep this letter confidential. I’m concerned that by writing this letter it may jeopardize my employment. Furthermore, because this letter involves the Village Manager’s supervision of my activities – I may essentially be a whistleblower. Finally, it is increasingly evident that these matters also present significant liabilities for the Village that I call home and care about.
Please contact me at your earliest. Cell phone is best, [——————-]. I look forward to your guidance.
Respectfully,
Thor Snilsberg
The Chronicle will report on any comments we receive from Bryan Healy and other involved parties in a subsequent report.
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I’m saddened to hear this latest information concerning the conduct of our village government, our board of trustees and legal council. The conduct is not tolerable and requires immediate action. A independent review by a non-politically biased externally, retained legal council, needs to take place, unfortunately while this is a occurring our village manager needs to be suspended from his position, pending termination of employment, subject to the outcome of the investigation. Our village engineer needs to be interviewed by a law firm independent of currently retained legal council to verify the veracity of the allegations levied by our code enforcement officer. A few weeks ago I commented that our village with a population of 8000 with an operating budget of $20 million annually could not afford the bizarre actions our local government has choose to embark upon, involving national political issues The reality of how truly warped, our village manager and our board of trustees led by an inappropriate mayor will cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars that we cannot afford to spend will unfold before us
If anybody in the village administration attempts retribution on Thor Snilsberg or in any other way causes him professional or personal grief for this "whistleblower" letter he pretty clearly didn't leak, please let me know.
Thor, in my experience, has been a conscientious, prudent, and smart contribution to the village staff and he actually lives here (unlike Brian Healy, who sounds to be the one who forced this ridiculous situation), and I will absolutely pursue a public campaign to protect Thor's job.