AMHERST — After several years of providing information on town affairs, Brianna Sunryd will be leaving her position as Amherst’s director of communications and civic innovation.

Sunryd said Tuesday her last day as a municipal employee will be Sept. 8. She hasn’t yet announced her future plans.

In the years Sunryd has worked for Amherst, she has been one of the town’s three community participation officers, positions created when the town moved to a Town Council and town manager form of government in December 2018. Sunryd transitioned to the role from a previous position as an information technology analyst.

Sunryd first worked for Amherst as a University of Massachusetts work study student in 2007 with the former Leisure Services and Supplemental Education department, now known as Amherst Recreation.

Sunryd said her last day will also be coinciding with an anticipated Cuppa Joe in which the community will be able to chat with Town Manager Paul Bockelman about various topics.

An Amherst resident since 2004, during the pandemic Sunryd took the communications online, regularly interacting and hosting virtual discussions and posing questions from the public to town leaders.

Sunryd has also overseen the Engage Amherst website, with members of the Town Council this week lamenting her pending departure and that it wouldn’t be used thoroughly for publicizing the vacancies on the School Committee.

Earning a master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration at UMass, Sunryd has also served on the International City/County Management Association Digital Strategies Advisory Board.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.]]>