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Mayor raises concern after overhearing councilor’s grocery-store conversation; councilor denies making corruption claim
Summary
Mayor Max Mickelson said he overheard a public conversation in a grocery-store aisle in which a councilor appeared to confirm a claim that city employees were "incompetent and corrupt," and he raised the matter at the Feb. 4 council meeting to allow the councilor to provide facts supporting the statement.
Mayor Max Mickelson told the Rock Springs City Council on Feb. 4 that he overheard a public conversation in a grocery-store dairy aisle during which someone said city employees were "incompetent and corrupt." Mickelson said he raised the matter at the meeting to give the councilor an opportunity to provide a factual basis for that claim.
Councilor Malonis (the councilor named in roll call earlier in the meeting) denied saying city employees were corrupt, saying he was listening to a resident, identified in the discussion as Lynn Jackman, who raised the issue. Malonis said he did not make the allegation and that he was merely listening to the other person’s statements.
Mickelson said the exchange he overheard included the councilor apparently affirming the allegation; Malonis disputed that characterization. The conversation also included references to prior local events — including a past mayor under federal investigation, which Malonis mentioned in response — but no council action or formal investigation was initiated during the meeting.
No formal complaint or motion to investigate was filed on the floor. The exchange concluded with the mayor expressing concern about public statements by elected officials and the council adjourning the meeting.
