As voivode he took numerous actions aimed at reducing unemployment, which severely affected working-class families living in the voivodeship and in Białystok itself.
He was in the midst of a public outcry when Catholic residents filed a protest to the Ministry of Internal Affairs against the "sinister" activities of voivode Popielawski regarding giving permission to reconstruct an Orthodox church.
[4] His popularity decreased and in June 1923, Dziennik Białostocki published an article saying that Stefan Popielawski as a voivode is a man without energy, and in fact the voivodeship is governed by the vice-voivode Jan Kołek, an energetic man, but at the same time very tactless in contacts with officials, introducing constant friction, which in turn was supposed to create an inflammatory atmosphere in the entire Branicki Palace.
The newspaper's interventions caused Popielawski to send his deputy on leave and begin reforming the office, which won him the sympathy of the public.
[5] On January 23, 1924, Voivode Popielawski suspended the publication of Dziennik Białostocki due to numerous lawsuits brought against its editor-in-chief Antoni Lubkiewicz for defamation.