North Las Vegas City Manager Ryann Juden speaks during a joint meeting of the Clark County Board of Commissioners and the Clark County School District Board of Trustees at the Clark County Government Center on Thursday, July 18, 2019.
Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 | 5:06 p.m.
North Las Vegas City Manager Ryann Juden plans to step down this summer after 11 years of serving the city and six at the helm, the city announced today.
While at top levels of management for Nevada’s fourth-largest city, Juden guided North Las Vegas through a dramatic economic turnaround, then the pandemic.
“Watching the final items being crossed off a list of goals first put together in 2013 made me realize we have accomplished what many said was impossible and put the city in the most stable position it has ever been in,” Juden said in a statement. “Now is the perfect time for this transition as our city is fiscally healthy and headed in the right direction with our amazing executive team, inspiring and incredible mayor, hard-working dedicated council and loyal team members delivering services for our residents.”
The announcement didn’t give an exact date for Juden’s last day — only saying it would be over the summer — or provide details on a succession plan. Juden's annual salary is $300,126.
A city spokeswoman said the agenda for Wednesday's City Council meeting will have an item on "leadership training and succession planning," although it doesn't explicitly refer to the city manager position.
Juden, who has a doctorate degree in public affairs from UNLV and a law degree from the University of Iowa, plans to pursue a career in the private sector.
Juden has worked for the city since 2013, previously serving as chief of staff and assistant city manager. He was promoted to city manager in April 2018.
He joined the city staff while North Las Vegas was in a financial crisis that lingered for years after the Great Recession. Plummeting state and local revenues, a $152 million long-term budget deficit and tanking municipal bond ratings put the city into state receivership. The city also had conflicts with labor groups, other local governments and additional external stakeholders.
It had also fired its last city manager for allegedly using her position of authority to pressure subordinates to push through a $30,000-a-year raise without City Council approval, and then trying to cover it up.
When Juden was elevated to city manager, he was given two years to fix the city’s problems.
So it focused on becoming business-friendly by attracting industry to shore up the tax base and restructuring departments vital to economic development. The city has also stabilized, strengthened and streamlined services and operations.
City leadership swung the pendulum back to its side when Juden, former Mayor John Lee and their team pushed through legislation that brought a surface water pipeline to Apex Industrial Park. This solved a chicken-or-egg problem in recruiting tenants — no businesses would come without water, no water main would be laid without businesses to serve. Major global corporations now have bases at Apex, a 28-square-mile manufacturing hub in the northeast corner of town. Infrastructure development is continuing.
“We are all like family, and we will greatly miss Ryann’s brilliant strategic mind and immense talents. He has transformed and forever changed our city for the better,” Mayor Pro Tem Scott Black said in a statement. “We are thankful he will continue to work with us during the transition as well as help us guide the many important projects we are working on.”
The city now has a balanced budget, has raised its bond rating from below “junk” to “A” status, and has several new departments and divisions, including the community services and engagement department, grants department, and parking services division. In February, Vegas Inc. named Juden to this year’s C-Suite Honors class.
“Ryann is an incredible leader who has worked tirelessly to turn our city around, and although I wish he would be our city manager for life, we are grateful his wife Debbie and children have shared him with us for so long,” said Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown. “One of Ryann’s many wonderful legacies is the very talented senior management team he has built and developed into amazing leaders who understand our vision and allow us to keep our momentum uninterrupted through internal succession.”
