Newport City Council spent most of its two-hour and fifty-minute meeting on Wednesday night discussing, amending, and eventually approving a resolution to provide more funding for the Rogers High School Building project.

The resolution, which was introduced by my Councilors, Khamsyvoravong and Holder, became contentious at times between Councilors and between members of the community and the council.

The resolution states that “the Newport City Council commits to funding up to an additional $4MM to the high school construction project to address current and projected shortfalls as reported in the Newport School Building Committee’s correspondence on May 14th; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this funding be provided contingent upon the Newport School Committee’s reserves being spent down to below 3% of its annual operating budget on either the school construction project, safety improvements to the entrance of Thompson Middle School, or restoring classroom positions for reading or Multi Language Learner programs for the upcoming school year; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the funding to meet the projected needs for the Final Certificate of Occupancy in December be provided contingent on the spend down of the Owner’s Contingency to the minimum contractually permitted.

City Council approved an amendment by Councilor Lima that would commit to funding up to an additional $3 million (instead of the proposed $4 million). Lima said during the meeting that she was planning for the future and wanted to comfortably commit to a number that wouldn’t affect the bond rating if Newport was to follow through with bond questions in November.

This is a breaking news item. What’sUpNewp will have more coverage of this on Thursday.

Watch The Discussion

Original Resolution

Rogers Download