Stephen Ulibarri resigned Monday as Santa Fe County's public information officer but will continue to draw his $72,000 annual salary through mid-January.

County Commissioner Mike Anaya said County Manager Roman Abeyta "let (Ulibarri) go" because he was "doing some things that the manager wasn't approving of."

But the commissioner said he didn't know the exact reasons Abeyta asked Ulibarri to leave.

Abeyta did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Ulibarri also wasn't available for comment. His county cell phone has been disconnected.

Kristine Mihelcic of the county's Administrative Services Division said Ulibarri was not in his office Monday and wasn't expected to return messages.

"He did officially give his resignation today," she said. "He is still going to be in and out of the office in transition and helping the county transition until the first of the year."

Mihelcic said she will take over Ulibarri's duties "until the county decides what direction we're going to move in." She said she didn't know if the county would refill the position of public information officer.

Ulibarri, who had no professional media experience, joined the county in early 2007.

In mid-2008, he sent out a memo warning county employees about speaking to reporters who were "digging for stuff." Although county employees "are free to speak to the press, if they choose to," he wrote, "no staff member is under any obligation to speak to the media regardless of what they may tell you."

Ulibarri said he wrote the memo after talking to a reporter for KOB-TV who said he was leaving his job because he had been urged to "turn up the crime and negativity."

In an interview at the time, Ulibarri denied he had an anti-media bias, but said county government no longer has to rely on the news media to get information to the public because of the Internet.

He said he had launched a "transparency campaign" called "Let the Sun Shine In" that would involve a television show and podcasts. But neither of those proposals ever saw the light of day.

Ulibarri was the county's designated spokesman during such controversies as the fight over proposed oil drilling in the Galisteo Basin and the debate over design of a new courthouse downtown, a multimillion-dollar project that has been stalled by the discovery of groundwater contamination at the construction site.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.