Rock Springs City Councilman Rick Milonas is facing a formal ethics complaint, five months after the council adopted a code of ethics that he alone opposed.
The complaint, filed by city Urban Renewal Agency Director Chad Banks, alleges that Milonas was abusive and created a hostile work environment for city employees.
In the complaint, which was viewed by Cowboy State Daily, Banks addresses a video Milonas shared on social media on Friday that references Banks' sexual orientation.
According to the complaint, Banks said the video "falsely attributes the selection of the city's updated branding colors to me, implying I was advancing a 'gay agenda.'"
Meanwhile, Rock Springs City Attorney Richard Beckwith told Cowboy State Daily that Milonas has made numerous allegations of corruption at the city "during his short tenure, all without any supporting facts or evidence."
Milonas said in the video that he was called to the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office on March 30 to an interview concerning corruption at City Hall. The sheriff’s office did not return Cowboy State Daily's calls prior to publication.
The council will hold an evidentiary hearing to consider the complaint, which hasn’t yet been scheduled. That will depend on when Milonas provides a written response to the allegations.
Milonas has 20 days from the date the complaint was issued to file a written response.
Calls and emails to Milonas were not returned prior to publication; however, he addressed both the formal complaint and the sheriff’s office investigation of corruption his Friday video.
While Milonas does not name the employee who filed the complaint, he does mention Rock Springs Mayor Max Mickelson.
“I’m going to file my own complaint based on what the mayor has done to me since I was elected,” he said.
Mickelson deflected Milonas' threat in an email to Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
“In elected service, people — especially people with intent to run for the same position — will say all sorts of things. I remain focused on the work of serving our city, not engaging in noise,” he said.
Milonas put the mayor and council on notice in his Friday video.
“They all better be very, very careful of what they do and say to me,” he said, adding that he’s excited about the upcoming evidentiary hearing. “It’s going to be very entertaining.”
“Get your suits pressed boys, because you’re all going to be on the witness stand for this complaint. Buckle up, remove your dentures and tighten those bra straps, because it’s going to get bumpy.”
Videos Stir The Pot
In his Friday video, Milonas said the day after he was called into an interview at the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office last week concerning alleged corruption at City Hall, police arrived at his door with a formal complaint from a city employee.
The complaint, which Milonas said was a response to another video he posted March 30 on Facebook blasting the city’s new logo, “says I was abusive, hurt his feelings and created a hostile work environment.”
In the March 30 video, Milonas shows photos of some of the city’s previous logos, saying that Rock Springshired a professional marketing company about 20 years ago to help with branding the community to promote tourism and economic development.
The marketing company landed on the theme of outdoor recreation, incorporating the sun, mountains and water into a simple logo with earth-tone colors.
“We tagged everything” with the logo, Milonas said, including the Civic Center, the City Council Chambers, the chamber of commerce and all the city vehicles. “Even expensive, hard-to-replace signs got the new logo.
“I thought it was a nice touch for our downtown.”
But later, the downtown colors changed to red, green, yellow and blue, “the colors of the rainbow,” he said.
They also are the same colors of the city’s Urban Renewal Agency (URA).
“Everybody knows the head of the URA is gay,” he said. “It’s no secret, and I have no problem with it. But as soon as Max was elected mayor, he started replacing the professionally designed logo with the yellow-green-blue logo from the URA.
“Tell us why you’re changing the logo, Max,” Milonas continued. “This isn’t San Francisco or Seattle. This is Wyoming.”
Beckwith told Cowboy State Daily the complaint has nothing to do with the city's new logo.
In the complaint, URA Director Banks said that, "I want to clearly state that Councilor Milonas is aware that I had no role in selecting the City's branding colors. Despite this, he continues to make statements asserting otherwise. This is not a misunderstanding — it is a knowingly false representation of my role as a City employee."
Banks goes on to say the inclusion of his sexual orientation in the video is "intended to be derogatory and inflammatory.
"There is no legitimate reason to reference a personal characteristic in a discussion of City branding unless the intent is to disparage or provoke," the complaint says. "This moves beyond policy disagreement and into personal targeting."
Mickelson told Cowboy State Daily that the city contracted with a marketing firm in 2023 to propose updated logo designs for the city.
Ultimately, the logo committee did not select any of the proposed designs and instead chose new logo colors and decided to use the new design that the URA had adopted for its use.
Milonas calls the complaint “lawfare” and “retaliation.”
Milonas set off a political firestorm earlier this year when he gave a high school junior who won a city flag contest sponsored by the mayor a scathing critique.
Milonas called the flag design “butt ugly” in a January video posted to Facebook, in which he suggested the flag looked like something from a third-world country — namely, Somalia.
He also called the flag design contest a political stunt.
Code Of Ethics
The Rock Springs City Council adopted an official code of ethics on Nov. 4, 2025.
Mickelson said the code came following a discussion with other Wyoming communities. Rock Springs did not have a formal ethics code, he said, adding that “our governing body believes elected officials are held to a high standard for good reason.
“Formalizing our code as an ordinance provides every elected member of our governing body a clear expectation of conduct and an impartial process when misconduct is alleged,” he said.
Ordinance 2025-18 sets “clear standards of ethical conduct” to guide elected officials “in situations where conflicts of interest, misuse of office, or questions of propriety may arise.”
It lays out guidelines for meeting decorum, abuse, harassment and use of social media. According to the ordinance, any resident, elector, city employee, vendor or official can submit a written complaint alleging an ethics violation.
When a complaint is made, the ordinance allows for a public evidentiary hearing conducted by the governing body. The accused official has the right to be represented by counsel, present evidence and witnesses, and cross-examine adverse witnesses.
The ordinance does not allow for the official to be removed from office, but the council can impose sanctions with a two-thirds majority vote of all members present.
In this case, Milonas would not vote as he is the subject of the complaint.
Disciplinary actions the council could take against Milonas include issuing a formal written warning, mandated training, loss of committee roles or public censure.
What Happens Next
Milonas said in his video that he intends to file his own complaint against the mayor.
“He ambushed me at a City Council meeting about a conversation he eavesdropped on and falsely accused me of saying things I didn’t say,” Milonas said.
Milonas also said the mayor accused him of sexual assault.
Mickelson denies that claim.
“It is incumbent on elected officials to be accurate in their statements,” he said. “My office has not accused anyone of sexual assault or any other crime. If we had knowledge of an alleged crime, it would be reported to law enforcement.”
City staff will meet with the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday about Milonas' allegations of corruption in City Hall, Mickelson told Cowboy State Daily. He said the staff is fully cooperating with the sheriff’s office.
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
