Unresolved questions about Nevada's term limits for elected officials are making a comeback, this time through a lawsuit seeking to disqualify a top North Las Vegas mayoral candidate who plaintiffs say would exceed allowable time in office if he was elected to a full term.

The lawsuit filed Monday in Clark County District Court on behalf of Karín Rodriguez — a legal case manager with a background in voter registration — alleges that North Las Vegas mayoral candidate Scott Black, who has served for nine years as a city council member, is not eligible to become mayor during the 2026 election because it would put him over the state's 12-year constitutionally mandated term limit for local government officials. 

It acknowledges, however, "no Nevada court has ever made a definitive ruling" on precisely how the limits apply in North Las Vegas or elsewhere.

A victory for the plaintiffs would also be a coup for Assm. Daniele Monroe-Moreno (D-North Las Vegas), who is seen as his most serious competitor but trails Black in fundraising. 

Monroe-Moreno is head of the Nevada State Democratic Party; the plaintiff's lawyer, Bradley Schrager, frequently defends the party's causes in court. None of the other candidates in the mayoral race have held elected positions. 

In a text message statement to The Indy, Black said he was continuing his campaign.

"This suit is an indication my opponents don't believe they can win without a judge intervening," Black said. "Ultimately the voters will decide who represents them as Mayor." 

Monroe-Moreno said in a statement to The Nevada Independent that she had no knowledge of the lawsuit or any involvement with it. 

"No matter who I'm up against in June, my campaign remains focused on our North Las Vegas community — making this city more affordable, a place where Nevadans want to put down roots, start and grow a business, and where our kids are set up for success — and that will never change," she said.

The lawsuit's argument hinges on a 1996 ballot measure that amended the state Constitution to limit the terms of most elected officials in the state. The measure specified that for local governments, those terms would be 12 years. 

Questions about whether serving time as a city council member and mayor should be added up together or considered separately led to a 2014 Nevada Supreme Court ruling that determined the application of term limits depends on the individual city's charter and the way positions operate. 

The ruling from the Nevada Supreme Court prohibited then-Reno City Council members Jessica Sferrazza and Dwight Dortch from running for mayor. It noted that the mayor has the same voting powers as other members and that the Reno mayor's duties are limited by the presence of a city manager.

In 2022, a similar legal challenge was filed against then-Reno Councilwoman Jenny Brekhus amid her run for Reno mayor by a rival candidate. A district court dismissed the complaint, and the state Supreme Court ruled an appeal moot as both Brekhus and the other candidate lost in the primary.

For mayors and council members who share the same duties and are effectively in the same position, such as in Reno, the term limits would apply to years of service on the board regardless of a person's specific title. 

The North Las Vegas city charter says that the mayor should "serve as a member of the City Council and preside over its meetings," an explicit assertion that the mayor is a member of City Council, plaintiffs wrote. In contrast, the Las Vegas city charter outlines the primary duty of the mayor as to "preside over and conduct the meetings of the City Council." 

Attorneys for the plaintiffs declined a request for an interview but wrote in the complaint that Black's nine years as a city council member representing Ward 3 would preclude him from becoming mayor in 2026 based on the city's charter.

"The City of North Las Vegas is among those Nevada municipalities that, because of the structure of its governing body as reflected in its municipal charter, requires the counting of service time as a city councilperson combined with service time as mayor of the city for term limits purposes," attorneys argued in the lawsuit.