This North Las Vegas official quit in May. He made $1M anyway

Ryann Juden, the city’s chief executive since 2018, was paid almost $675,000 in severance and $85,500 in consulting fees. Separately, he also cashed out roughly $97,000 in unused vacation and sick leave.

A Nevada think tank criticized the deal.

“They are basically paying someone almost a million dollars to not work full time anymore,” said Geoffrey Lawrence with Nevada Policy, a conservative think tank that scrutinizes government spending.

Coupled with his city manager’s salary and other pay, such as a retention bonus, North Las Vegas has given Juden just shy of $1 million this year, according to documents obtained Thursday through a public records request. The total of $994,400 is more than double the $453,900 he earned in 2023 from the city, where his base annual salary was about $300,000.

On May 1, the City Council approved a three-year, $630,000 consulting contract with Juden. His last day with the city, where he had worked since 2013, was in mid-May.

The consulting contract was part of the council’s consent agenda, a batch of ostensibly routine items OK’d in a single vote without any public discussion. The agenda item does not mention Juden by name, instead listing a company he formed in January, Edge Strategies.

The employment contract for Juden’s successor, former City Attorney Micaela Moore, was approved in the same vote.

Juden said it is not uncommon for a former government manager to get a government contract, and can be an efficient way to do business.

“I’m humbled that they still find value in me,” he said.

But Lawrence described Juden’s consulting contract and severance package as unusual.

Lawrence questioned the expense, noting that North Las Vegas not so long ago was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. (Juden is widely considered a key player in turning the city’s finances around.)

North Las Vegas, a city of an estimated 285,000 people, has a median household income of about $72,000 a year, according to 2022 U.S. Census data.

Severance ‘way out of line’

On Feb. 29, the city announced Juden’s resignation. The council promoted Moore, the city attorney since 2017, to city manager at a public meeting in late March.

Her four-year city manager’s contract, which includes an annual base pay of $322,000, was on the same consent agenda as Juden’s consulting contract.

Juden’s three-year consulting contract pays $15,000 a month, or $180,000 for each of three years. With $30,000 in expenses permitted each year, the contract totals as much as $630,000.

The backup information for the contract agenda item states that the city “has requested that the Consultant provide such expertise in rendering certain management, public affairs, leadership development, labor relations, public affairs, strategic communications, policy analysis, and advisory services.”

The contract is broad in scope without listing deliverables. It states that the consultant will “work with the City Manager, the City’s senior management team, Mayor, and City Council on matters relevant to North Las Vegas.”

Lawrence said, “In order to justify that contract, they would have to argue that they don’t have the expertise in house to handle those functions.”

Elected city officials, who have described Juden as a transformational leader and a friend, said city staff, including the new city manager, have expertise. They said they believe Juden will be instrumental in continuing the city’s progress.

“I don’t want to lose that momentum that we have now,” said Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown in an interview.

She said North Las Vegas has submitted a budget to the state that is $150 million in the black after a decade ago reckoning with a $150 million deficit and being close to state receivership.

Mayor Pro Tem Scott Black said Juden “had a great track record, and so we had the opportunity to hold on to a percentage of his bandwidth to help us continue the momentum in our city.”

Juden said the number of hours he works each week varies but can be as high as 20. Among the projects he is working on are plans for 130 acres that the city acquired near the VA Medical Center.

Lawrence questioned why Juden, whose contract ran until 2027, received a large severance after voluntarily quitting.

“That’s very unusual in government. That’s not a typical government perk,” he said.

City officials said Juden’s contract allowed the payment. It provides pay for 12 months’ salary, contributions to the Public Employees Retirement System and health insurance coverage for him and his dependents, as well as other accrued benefits.

“That’s way out of line for what exists in the private sector,” Lawrence said.

Asked to comment specifically on the appropriateness of the large severance, the city provided a statement from the mayor.

It states in part that in Juden’s time with the city, “The city has seen its assessed taxable value dramatically increase from $4 billion to nearly $14 billion over the past decade. Ryann was instrumental in developing the business and infrastructure plans for Apex, which is the region’s largest industrial park.”

Juden’s contract specifies that if he resigns, the city “may enter into a transitional consulting relationship with the city manager.” It does not specify the length of that transition.

‘Backroom deal’?

Juden’s name does not appear on the agenda item for the consulting contract. In the item’s backup material, it appears at the bottom of the contract, below the line for his signature.

Goynes-Brown and Black said council members had been briefed on the contract and knew Juden was the recipient. But did the public?

“It doesn’t matter that City Council knows what they’re voting on,” Lawrence said. “That’s kind of the definition of a backroom deal, if the city management knows what they’re voting on and the public doesn’t.”

Juden described the approval process as transparent.

“It was consistent with the way we do business with the city,” he said.

He also said the mayor has publicly said he would have an ongoing role with the city.

Black said the city complies with Nevada’s Open Meeting Law and routinely “spends a lot of money in the consent agenda on projects, on capital investment.”

Goynes-Brown said North Las Vegas has “very, very savvy residents” who would know how to contact the city if they had concerns about the contract.

“If that’s the case, we would have gotten tons of phone calls and emails and everything after this,” she said. “And we did not.”

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on X. Hynes is a member of the Review-Journal’s investigative team, focusing on reporting that holds leaders and agencies accountable and exposes wrongdoing.