MATTAPOISETT — Mattapoisett Select Board member Tyler Macallister received criticism on social media after posting a video on his Facebook page which supposedly showed the use of a fire department ladder truck for his personal bee-keeping project.

Concerned residents posted about the situation on Facebook, calling it a “gross abuse of public resources for private benefit.” Macallister posted the video on Thursday, June 12 and has since deleted it from his Facebook page.

Macallister, the Mattapoisett Fire Department and officials from Town Hall have not responded to inquiries for further information on the situation.

A resident who saw the video before it was deleted stated that it depicted Macallister receiving assistance from the Mattapoisett Fire Department to retrieve a swarm of bees from a tree on his personal property using a ladder truck.

“The citizen tax payers of Mattapoisett have a right to know how much this stunt cost in the way of all safety personnel who responded and why Mr. Macallister didn’t just call a bee keeper and pay for the service himself since this event was clearly not an emergency,” the Mattapoisett Democratic Town Committee wrote on their Facebook Page.

The committee furthered that Macallister’s actions resulted in “misuse and abuse of public funds and resources by a sitting select board member.”

According to Massachusetts Government Standards of Conduct, public employees are prohibited from “using or attempting to use their official positions to secure for themselves or others unwarranted privileges of substantial value that are not properly available to similarly situated individuals.”

The Standards of Conduct further states that, “Using public equipment and resources for personal business is using an official position to obtain an unwarranted privilege.”