ROCK SPRINGS — Rock Springs City Councilor Rick Milonas has taken a second loss when it comes to ethics complaints.

The councilor’s allegations against Mayor Max Mickelson were dismissed by fellow members of the Rock Springs City Council in three 5-1 votes, finding Milonas failed to bring any evidence to the ethics hearing supporting his allegations. Councilor Larry Hickerson voted against the dismissal because he believed the situation called for Mickelson to defend himself despite the lack of evidence. Councilor Eric Bingham did not attend the hearing.

This comes a week after the Council found Milonas had violated several sections of the city’s ethics code and opted to send him a written warning and have him undergo mandatory training following a complaint filed by Main Street/URA Manager Chad Banks regarding a video Milonas posted.

Milonas alleged Mickelson of violating whistleblower protections, claiming Mickelson worked to have Banks’ ethics complaint delivered to Milonas a day after he provided a report about corruption in the city to the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office. Milonas also alleged Mickelson misused his position and the ethics process through the “unusually rapid preparation and filing” of the complaint against him. Malonis further alleged Mickelson engaged in harassment, abusive behavior, lack of civility, and election interference through the weaponization of the city’s code of ethics. 

“Do You Understand What ‘Relevance’ Means?”

During the opening statements, Milonas attempted to speak about alleged instances of Mickelson targeting him dating back to early 2025 but was stopped as those complaints had nothing to do with the allegations complaint he filed. Pieces of Milonas’ alleged evidence relating to Banks and the city’s logo and a 2020 misconduct investigation were also not admitted to the hearing because they lacked relevance to the allegations.

“Do you understand what relevance means?” Judge Victoria Schofield, who presided over the hearing, asked Milonas as he attempted to submit the two items.

Milonas said he thought they were relevant to the hearing, but when pressed by Schofield to explain, he tossed his hands up and admitted they weren’t.

“I guess it’s not relative to anything,” Milonas said.

Counselor Rob Zotti questioned Milonas on whether he had evidence of the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office leaking Milonas’ letter and interview regarding his concerns about corruption in the city, saying the city was notified of an investigation the day after Milonas received Banks’ ethics complaint.

“All I’m saying is, this is what happened and this is the timeline,” Milonas said.

Milonas attempted to later read the evidence he provided, which resulted in Schofield explaining to him that the evidence “speaks for itself” because the Council can read what was provided to them. That concluded the presentation of his case. Mickelson moved for a dismissal of the complaint against him because Milonas failed to provide clear evidence or witness testimony supporting his allegations, which the Council supported.

Banks v. Milonas

The Council found Milonas violated multiple tenets of the Council’s code of ethics May 14 when he posted a video to social media highlighting Banks’ sexual orientation and alleged Banks’ involvement with a “gay agenda” Thursday afternoon.

The Council found Milonas had violated sections of the ethics code related to social media use, harassment and abusive behavior, decorum, civility and respect, and abusive language. All but one of the votes finding Milonas had violated the various tenets were approved unanimously, with Hickerson voting no on the question of whether Milonas violated the code’s abusive language section.

The Council voted to issue a written warning to Milonas, as well as require him to undergo mandatory training. Votes for the sanctions against Milonas were not all unanimous. While the vote for a written warning was unanimously supported, the mandatory training sanction passed with Hickerson voting against and the public censure vote passed with Hickerson, Councilor Jeannie Demas and Mickelson voting against. A vote for a specific sanction needs to be passed by a two-thirds vote by Council members. Councilor Eric Bingham did not attend the hearing. 

Addressing a Larger Issue

During his opening statements, Banks said his feelings aren’t hurt and brought the complaint forward to address a larger issue of professionalism, respect and treatment of city staff.

“As a city employee, I understand that criticism comes with the territory, especially with a public-facing role like mine,” Banks said.  

Banks said anyone has the right to criticize what his department is doing and how it operates, but he draws a line between criticism of those functions and personal attacks. Banks said every city employee works for the Council and “deserves to be treated with the basic level of professionalism and respect by the elected officials.” He believes that when elected officials disrespect city employees, it gives city residents permission to do the same and creates an unhealthy environment for all city employees.

Banks said several claims Milonas made in his video are false.

“Counselor Milonas is aware that I had absolutely no involvement in selecting the colors for the city’s new branding,” Banks said. “It’s my understanding that the branding committee included the Mayor and several members of the Council at the time. I was not a member of that committee.” Banks said the mention of his sexual orientation in the context of the city’s logo and branding was intended to be inflammatory and derogatory. 

Milonas opted not to make an opening statement after Banks concluded his.

Banks provided emails between him and others regarding the colors and logo in 2024. One email Banks received focused on the colors, which included a note that the Council was “sold” on using blue, green, and yellow as colors in the city’s branding. Another email from IT Specialist Gena Davis noted the Council wanted to use the Downtown Rock Springs logo and transform it to be the city’s logo. By April 2024, city staff were emailed the new logo and colors with a request for them to start using them. He also provided the logos used by the city and Rock Springs Main Street, which were designed by Destination Development and Iron Horse Creative, respectively, along with the new logo Main Street adopted to utilize the city’s new branding colors. He said the new city logo was created by Davis, using the Main Street logo.

Banks said two years later on March 30, Milonas posted his video attributing the city logos and colors to Banks, while calling attention to Banks’ sexual orientation and claiming it was part of a “gay agenda.” Banks said he filed his complaint the same day.

Milonas provided the group with the city’s old logo, as well as the updated logo and an email between himself and Mickelson that he said proves Banks designed the city logo. Milonas said he wanted to call City Attorney Rick Beckwith to question him, though Beckwith refused Milonas’ request, saying Malonis couldn’t call a witness unless they agreed ahead of time.

A Kangaroo Court

Milonas believes the code of ethics the city has was enacted to target him. The code was created and approved by the Council in late 2025. He believes the allegations were created to violate his First Amendment rights and the code was created to silence, intimidate, and harass him.

“And this kangaroo court proves it all,” he said.

Milonas said everyone knows Banks’ sexual orientation and said he doesn’t have a problem with it. Milonas attempted to also highlight an email he says shows Mickelson admits to Banks designing the city’s logo. He said he spoke the truth in his video saying Banks is gay, he designed the logo, promoted drag shows at the Broadway Theater, and “gay pride events in the park.”

“Now if that isn’t promoting an agenda, I don’t know what is,” he said. “And remember, the only thing necessary for evil to succeed is good men to do nothing.”