The Newport City Council will host an Executive Session with Newport City Manager Joseph Kennedy on Wednesday, February 26 at 5:30 pm.
This workshop aims to ensure the city’s leadership is on the same page and working effectively within the established rules.
At the City Council’s Regular Meeting on Wednesday, February 12, Councilor David Carlin III proposed a closed-door meeting and requested the City Administration schedule an executive session.
Before voting on the resolution, Councilor Carlin amended the original resolution to remove the following language.
The resolution unanimously approved stated the following;
Councilor Xaykham Khamsyvoravong stated during the discussion that the executive session was as an opportunity for the council and administration to align their strategies and work together for Newport’s residents.
“We have a relatively new city manager, a brand new deputy city manager, we have new people in new positions up and down city administration. So I think with this resolution, this is a really good time for kind of us to come together, the council administration, and really kind of discuss our strategies and going forwards and what we kind of want to work [on]. So we are going in the same direction and then trying to do the best we can, you know, for the residents of the city of Newport,” Mayor Charlie Holder said during the discussion.
Councilor Stephanie Smyth on Monday, February 24, took to Facebook to set the record straight regarding any rumors for the purpose of this meeting.
“After receiving quite a few emails, texts, and phone calls, I’d like to clear up WRONG information that has been circulated in our community regarding an Executive Session that Council has on Wednesday, 2/26 at 5:30PM to discuss the job performance of the City Manager. This meeting is NOT to fire our City Manager. It is to discuss various topics related to Section 5 of our city’s Charter, title “The City Manager”.
