Update: In a 46-minute Special Meeting on Wednesday night, Newport City Council approved the appointment and engagement of Colin Kennedy as Newport’s next City Manager. The vote was 5 – 2, with Councilors Ceglie and Napolitano opposing Kennedy’s appointment. You can watch the meeting here.
Original Story
Newport City Councilors will be holding a special meeting immediately following their Regular monthly session on Wednesday, May 8, at 6:30 p.m. to disclose votes taken in executive session on the remaining candidates for City Manager and the consideration and approval of the employment agreement for the appointment of Colin Kennedy as City Manager.
The meeting, which is open to the public, will take place in the second-floor City Council Chamber, and all are welcome to attend.
The vote is expected to conclude a monthslong search process that attracted more than two dozen candidates from across the country interested in serving as the City’s top executive.
The recruitment process, which concluded in January, saw the City receive 27 applicants from 13 states, according to the City.
A screening committee made up of local and state officials, including Middletown Town Administrator Sean Brown, former Warren Town Manager Kate Michaud, and Ernie Almonte, the former Rhode Island Auditor General and current Executive Director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, was tasked with reviewing the applications before passing along ten applicants to the City Council for final review.
Of that applicant pool, the Council selected 5 top candidates for remote interviews held via Zoom in early April, according to the City.
After the final interview on April 8, the Council invited their two top candidates to a second round of in-person interviews held on April 20th. On April 24th, the Council voted in an Executive Session to extend a formal offer to Colin Kennedy, an active duty Commander in the U.S. Navy, currently serving in Newport.
The City of Newport provided the following background on Kenndy in a press release;
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a concentration in Oceanography, Kennedy has over two decades of executive-level management expertise as an officer in the United States Navy.
He holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma as well as a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College in Newport. His career accomplishments include a track record of spearheading large strategic initiatives, leading large, diverse teams, managing complex budgets, and fostering collaborative partnerships.
He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Navy Reserve Center Newport and before that was Director of Travel for the Navy Reserve Forces Command where he had oversight of logistics for the activation and movement of 50,000 Navy Reservists.
In addition to his administrative service, Kennedy served on four warships and deployed five times in support of combat operations, United Nations Security Council resolutions, and theater security cooperation with allied navies.
He is a four-time resident of Aquidneck Island, with stations in 2002-03, 09-10, 18-19, and 22-24.
Newport operates under a Council-Manager form of government, with the City Manager serving as the City’s top executive. Serving at the pleasure of the Council, they’re charged with overseeing all day-to-day operations for the City of Newport and its staff of roughly 350 personnel.
