On June 18, 2025, the Nevada Commission on Ethics accepted a stipulated agreement resolving ethics complaint 24148C that found former North Las Vegas city manager Ryan Juden violated the timing provisions of the state ethics law by negotiating a consulting contract with the city before he left office, Executive Director Ross Armstrong told the commission. The commission treated the violation as non‑willful and approved the stipulation unanimously among those participating.

Armstrong said the complaint, filed in September 2024, initially alleged multiple potential violations but that a review panel dismissed all allegations except for the timing‑related charge under the ethics statute addressing post‑employment contracting. "If they are thinking about going into a contract with the entity they work for now, they need to wait until after they aren't out of that position to do that negotiation or execution," Armstrong said during his presentation.

Armstrong told commissioners that Juden had notified the mayor and mayor pro tem in early January 2024 of his plan to leave the city manager position, and that Juden incorporated an entity called Edge Strategies on Jan. 5, 2024. The investigation found the city’s procurement steps were followed and that there was no evidence of undue influence over subordinates, but that the timing of the negotiation while Juden remained employed violated the applicable provision of the ethics code.

Todd Kreher, attorney for the respondent, said Juden acted transparently and followed what he believed to be proper channels. "Ryan Juden is a faithful civil civil servant...he was very transparent in having that clause of his employment agreement exercised," Kreher said, arguing the conduct was not willful but technical. Commissioner Sam Reynolds said he would reluctantly vote to accept the non‑willful finding but described the resulting three‑year consulting contract as "unconscionable" in his view, noting that contracting length and terms are governance matters beyond the commission’s statutory scope.

The stipulated agreement, as explained by Armstrong, treats the conduct as a non‑willful violation of the cited ethics provision and triggers a statutory consequence: a contract entered into in violation of the ethics law can be declared voidable by law. Armstrong said that, if the commission finds a violation and accepts the stipulation, the commission counsel will notify the City of North Las Vegas that the contract is voidable and it will be up to the city to decide any further action.

Commissioners voted to accept the terms of the stipulated agreement, directing commission counsel to finalize it in appropriate legal form. The motion passed unanimously among those participating. Armstrong told the commission he would notify the city as required by statute.

The commission’s action distinguished findings of fact (the review panel’s dismissal of other counts and the remaining timing violation), the enforcement outcome (a non‑willful finding), and the procedural direction to staff (finalize the stipulated agreement and issue statutorily required notices). No additional penalty amount was discussed on the record beyond the stipulation accepted by the commission.