The Newport City Council will take up a full agenda at its regular meeting Wednesday, June 24, including major flood-resiliency grant requests, an adjustment to the non-owner-occupied residential tax rate and a series of resolutions aimed at council operations. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall, 43 Broadway.
The meeting opens with a presentation from Councilor Lynn Ceglie on the 2026 Sister City trip to Shimoda, Japan.
Among the more consequential items, the council will consider authorizing two grant applications to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program: a $1.425 million request for the third-phase scoping of the Elizabeth Brook Daylighting and Flood Resiliency Project, and a $20 million request for the South Easton’s Pond Dam Flood Resiliency Project. The council will also weigh a resolution authorizing wastewater system revenue bonds for a primary clarifier project and a measure to adjust the non-owner-occupied residential tax rate, replacing an earlier resolution.
Other action items include contracts for citywide plumbing, mechanical, electrical and elevator services; a sidewalk improvement program; Bellevue Avenue concrete joint repairs; a police cruiser fleet purchase; energy manager consulting services; and a design-build potable water tanks maintenance program. The council will also consider agreements for budgeting and treasury management software.
A group of resolutions sponsored by Councilor Steph Smyth, several co-sponsored by colleagues, would establish a Newport Tourism Commission, create professionalism and parliamentary procedure instruction sessions, support improvements to dog recreation facilities and evaluation of a south-end dog park, establish quarterly council meetings with the city and school finance departments, and set up fundraising for boards and commissions.
The consent calendar includes a long list of summer special events, among them the Cliff Walk Ruck March on June 27, the Preservation Society’s “Loyalty or Liberty” play at Hunter House running through September, Newport Design Week at Ochre Court and Rough Point on July 23 and 24, and Bike to the Beach New England on Sept. 19. The council will also consider a sound variance for the IYRS Summer Gala on July 11 and a special event license for Audrain Automobile Museum’s “250 Years of Independence: The Newport Parade & Declaration” on July 19, which includes a parade and road closures along Bellevue Avenue.
Several appointments to city boards and commissions are also on the agenda, including members of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission, the Historic Cemetery Advisory Commission, the Public Sculpture Commission and the Tree and Open Space Commission.
After adjourning, the council will convene as the Board of License Commissioners to consider daily liquor licenses, including one for the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s Hall of Fame Open from July 5 to 12.
The full docket is available here.
