Tiverton officials have rescinded a revised Social Media policy after receiving notice that the firefighters’ union is suing the town on grounds that it violates union members’ First Amendment rights.

“We were never intending to stifle their [employees’] First Amendment rights,” town administrator Chris Cotta said Tuesday. “The town has rescinded the policy and we will deal with the court issues as we need to.”

Fire chief William Bailey recently amended the department’s existing fire department policy and issued an updated document on Thursday, Oct. 12. Three days later, the union filed suit in Rhode Island Superior Court, naming the Town of Tiverton and the Tiverton Fire Department as defendants.

The court filing references a section of the updated policy that prohibits department personnel from “sharing, posting, transmitting, or otherwise disseminating any information to which they have access as a result of their official status of the Tiverton Fire Department without the expressed written permission from the Fire Chief or designee. This includes both on-duty and off duty.”

Such a provision is “overly broad” and is an “impermissible prior restraint on permissible free speech,” members of the Local 1703 wrote in their complaint.

On Tuesday, Cotta took the blame for the issue, saying he didn’t properly vet the proposed changes, which also didn’t go through the proper legal review, he said.

“Unfortunately, it got out without review by legal counsel,” he said. “It was my fault for not overseeing it. I should have taken a better look at it ... We would never tell them [employees] they have to run everything by the chief. That’s not what this is about.”

In their legal filing, union members assert that they have the legal right to make public statements, including Facebook posts, concerning matters of public concern. Previous posts on the Tiverton Firefighters’ Union Facebook webpage, according to the filing, “bring to the public’s attention issues of staffing, manpower and the overall readiness of the Tiverton Fire Department to respond to calls for service.”

Also referenced in the filing is an Oct. 12 announcement by the fire department that it intended to investigate members of the union’s executive board for posts made by union members on Facebook.

“The Town of Tiverton and Tiverton Fire Department have chilled the exercise of the union’s first amendment rights to free expression and of its rights of association with like-minded persons, such as other members of Local 1703, in order to work toward common goals,” the suit states.

Remedies sought by the union include a declaration that the new social media policy is unconstitutional; that the court issue a permanent injunction that would disallow the town or fire department to implement or enforce the updated social media policy; and that the court award the union “other and further relief as may be deemed appropriate,” including attorneys’ fees and other costs, fees and damages.

There was no word from the union on the status of the suit following Cotta’s decision to rescind the policy.