A Henderson mayoral candidate who finished third in June's primary has filed a formal ethics complaint against Mayor Michelle Romero, arguing that voters deserve to know how much city officials are paid for private consulting work and who is paying them. Adam Price, president of the Henderson Democratic Club, submitted the complaint to the Nevada Commission on Ethics on August 3, taking direct aim at Romero's yearslong consulting relationship with the developers behind Union Village, the sprawling healthcare and commercial complex near Galleria Drive and Interstate 11.
Price said the public should know how much officials were paid and what they consulted on, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He attached financial disclosure forms from Romero, Councilman Jim Seebock and Councilman Dan Stewart to the complaint, and he posted details about the filing on Facebook on August 8. Price has also said he wants legislation addressing consulting arrangements in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson, and per the same report, he is talking to two congresswomen about possible legislative action.
Romero, who was first elected to the Henderson City Council in 2019 and became mayor in 2022, ran a sole proprietorship called Michelle Romero Consulting for several years with a single client: Union Village. She formed the firm in 2016, three years after testifying before Nevada lawmakers in 2013 in support of public redevelopment assistance for the project while she was still Henderson's Redevelopment Manager, a post she held from 2007 through 2016. Romero testified on Union Village's behalf again at a Henderson City Council meeting, including at the February 19, 2019 meeting where the council adopted the fourth amendment to the Union Village park agreement.
Romero Says Recusals Kept Her Walled Off
Romero told the Review-Journal that she had not worked for Union Village in nearly two years, that the work was extremely sporadic, and that it focused on ensuring the development followed applicable requirements and regulations. She said she was walled off from staff discussions regarding Union Village and that she abstains from voting on issues that could be perceived as conflicts of interest. According to the newspaper's review, Romero disclosed a conflict of interest at the January 6 council meeting and has abstained from Union Village-related votes at least 11 times.
Even so, Romero voted to approve a restricted gaming and liquor license for a Union Village tavern in 2025 and voted to approve a Union Village massage business license in 2023. Her consulting license expired February 28, and she has since canceled her business license, per the same report. Union Village itself has grown into a $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion, 155-to-228-acre master-planned complex anchored by the 242-bed Henderson Hospital, which opened in 2016 under Universal Health Services' Valley Health System, and now includes retail, entertainment, restaurant and residential space alongside its healthcare core, according to Turner Construction Company.
Council Colleagues Also Named in Disclosures
Price's complaint did not stop with Romero. Dan Stewart, vice president of development for Gardner Company — which helped develop the UNLV Harry Reid Research and Technology Park — reported business interests including Valley Construction Company, where he serves as president, along with Nevada Rock and Sand Co. and DM Stewart Investments LLC. Jim Seebock formed Bock Consulting Ltd. in 2024 to provide security training and consulting for a single client, but he said the firm was never actually hired, and he closed it in January 2026; Bock Consulting formally dissolved in 2026. Seebock also holds a financial interest in Feelz Inc., a technology side business that the Review-Journal reports has no involvement with Henderson City Council affairs.
Romero has accused Price of defaming her over the allegations. Price, for his part, finished third in the June 9 nonpartisan mayoral primary, taking 12,504 votes, or 21.4%, behind Romero's 29,040 votes (49.8%) and former Police Chief Hollie Chadwick's 13,432 votes (23.0%), according to the City of Henderson. Because Romero fell just short of an outright majority, Chadwick advanced as the sole challenger in the November 10 general election, and Price has since endorsed her.
A Councilwoman's Claims of Corruption
Price's complaint also references statements Councilwoman Carrie Cox reportedly made to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department detectives, in which she said officials were offered business from people with matters before the city council if they set up consulting companies, according to a transcript dated June 2025. Cox has said there is a lot of corruption and that repeated recusals negatively impact constituents. She also reported income from a child care business on her disclosure forms; a police investigation report on a separate matter involving Cox noted allegations that the business operated without a state license, which Nevada caps at four non-relative children before licensing is required, as reported by The Nevada Independent.
Cox is separately facing a felony charge alleging she secretly recorded fellow Councilwoman Monica Larson at City Hall, a case in which she has denied wrongdoing. In February, Clark County District Court Judge Nadia Krall denied Cox's motion to dismiss the charge, and a trial is now scheduled to begin in district court in October, according to KSNV News 3. Cox served on the board of Lutheran Social Services of Nevada, which suspended operations in October 2025. Larson, notably, lists no business interests on her own financial disclosure form.
What Nevada Law Actually Requires
The complaint lands against a legal backdrop that gives public officials significant latitude. Under Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 281A, public officers must disclose significant pecuniary interests and refrain from voting on matters where private commitments affect their independence, but state law also maintains a presumption that officers act independently unless a clear conflict is demonstrated. Benjamin Edwards, associate dean of Boyd Law School, said disclosing a conflict and abstaining from participation or voting is a good thing, and that Nevada's ethics laws encourage public officials to disclose matters that could hinder their judgment.
The Henderson ethics code requires full-time employees to receive department director and human resources approval for outside employment, but the city has no policy governing outside employment for the mayor or city council members, who serve part-time under Henderson's council-manager structure. That structure means legislative authority is shared among four council members and the mayor, so any individual member's recusal can directly shift voting quorums on land-use and licensing decisions, per Ballotpedia. Romero also frequently abstains from votes involving Las Vegas Paving Corp., which employs her husband and son.
The Nevada Commission on Ethics has not yet decided whether to advance Price's complaint. Under the agency's procedures, a designated review panel must first determine whether just and sufficient cause exists before a case can proceed to a formal adjudicatory hearing or a deferral agreement. Price has said he plans to push for greater disclosure requirements at the state or federal level regardless of how the commission rules, setting up a fight over consulting transparency that will likely stretch well past November's mayoral runoff between Romero and Chadwick, whom Hoodline previously reported launched her bid after being fired as police chief.
