FAIRFIELD — Councilor Matt Tulley resigned April 22, citing issues with how Town Council meetings are governed and a new social media resolution.

Tulley, who took office in January, is vocal in community social media groups and announced he was resigning multiple times on Facebook. He officially resigned after receiving criticism from town officials about the way he used social media and interacted with town employees.

“They were saying that me going on social media was against the rules and everything like that,” Tulley said. “And I can’t separate my resident hat from my councilor hat, and I can’t talk to employees.”

Councilors discussed a new social media resolution at the April 23 council meeting, pushing residents to contact councilors via approved communication methods — in person, over email or on the phone — and noting that nonmunicipal town social media groups are not monitored by officials.

At the meeting, Councilor Peter Lawrence said the resolution constitutes a “gag order,” while councilors Stephanie Thibodeau and Matt Townsend saw it as a reaffirmation of the council’s code of ethics, in which councilors can provide information but not conduct business or discuss employee performance on social media. Further discussion was tabled until the next council meeting.

Tulley sat in the audience.

While the resolution was his last straw, he said conflict with town officials began in January, when he went into the office to ask a department head about a town vehicle. Afterward, Town Manager Michelle Flewelling sent an email to councilors reminding them not to ask employees about town business.

Flewelling said unlike residents, councilors must keep town business to public meetings.

“It’s not a hat that you get to take on and off,” Flewelling said. “Once you’re an elected official, you are presumed to have to follow this chain of command, and it follows you every day. And it has been explained on multiple occasions that that is how this works. This is how the law works, this is how your policies work, this is how the rules work, this is how our union contracts work. This is how it works.”

Tulley, who served as council secretary, said his last few weeks as councilor were also plagued by confusion over Robert’s Rules of Order, a set of parliamentary procedures that guide meetings through motions, amendments, open debate, ways to address the chair and more.

According to the state’s website, Robert’s Rules “provides for constructive and democratic meetings, to help, not hinder, the business of the assembly” and that “under no circumstances should ‘undue strictness’ be allowed to intimidate members or limit full participation.”

Flewelling said a strict use of the rules is not realistic at the local level.

“Robert’s Rules of Order are meant for larger bodies such as the legislature and that sort of stuff,” Flewelling said. “And it really isn’t conducive to the kinds of conversations that you do need to have at the local level, be it a council meeting or selectmen meeting. Because if you did that, then there would never be any open flow of communication whatsoever in a council meeting.”

Councilor Tim Martin had stated at his first meeting as chairman that the council would strictly follow Robert’s Rules, but said he later learned the town uses a hybrid version as laid out in the council’s administrative policy.

“It’s in our policy,” Martin said over email. “It hasn’t changed for at least my lifetime that I know of.”

Tulley argued the town should adhere fully to Robert’s Rules — in which the secretary compiles the agenda — or not use them at all.

“Under the Robert’s Rules, the secretary is supposed to collect all of the agenda items and submit them to the chair,” Tulley said. “He approves them, then he sends them off to the clerk to have them draft up the actual agenda. Well, Michelle puts certain things in the agenda without notifying anybody, which creates a problem, because we can’t, as councilors — we don’t know she’s putting things in, because nobody notifies us. They just end up on the agenda.”

Flewelling said any additions are emailed to councilors ahead of time.

“If we make additions to the agenda, it gets emailed to the council,” Flewelling said. “So say something came up on Monday, it’s like, ‘This came up on Monday, we’ve added this item to your agenda. Here’s the supporting documentation, here’s the amended agenda,’ that kind of stuff. It happens ahead of time.”

The council declared a vacancy for Tulley’s position. Individuals interested in appointment must apply by 4 p.m. May 14 .

In the meantime, Flewelling said the council can change its administrative policies at any time.

“If they wanted to do an amendment to their policy, they certainly can,” Flewelling said. “It is annually reviewed and readopted by the sitting council after their organizational meeting in January, but it can be amended at any time.”