Newport Council Unimpressed with City Manager Applicants, Starts New In-House Search

In Newport, it’s back to the drawing board in the search for a new city manager.

After hiring Randi Frank Consulting in January to conduct a national search for a new city manager, a majority of Newport City Council members are apparently unimpressed with the final slate of candidates culled by the search firm.

As a result, the city is severing ties with the firm and will launch an entirely new search. And this time, it will be led in-house by the city’s human resources department.

The City Council met publicly Tuesday night and Mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano announced the decision in a statement.

“After using an outside consultant to conduct a thorough search for a new City Manager for Newport, the City Council did not reach a consensus from that applicant pool and has decided to move forward with a new search using the City’s in-house human resources department,” the mayor said. “Previous applicants are welcome to reapply within the context of the new search.”

Notice for the Tuesday night meeting was posted on Friday. Napolitano said Tuesday before the meeting that there was “some confusion” about the scheduling of the meeting, with some believing that it was to be held behind closed doors but was posted as a public meeting incorrectly.

What actually happened, she said, was that the meeting was intended to be held in executive session but the council was notified that because they weren’t discussing individual candidates, it had to be public.

“There was a lot of back-and-forth all weekend,” Napolitano said, but in the end, she felt it was prudent to go ahead with the meeting in public and let the community know the status of the search, which some feel has dragged on for too long.

Former City Manager Jane Howington resigned fifteen months ago to take a new job in Ohio and City Solicitor Joseph Nicholson has been handling the job as acting city manager ever since.

The council hopes the process going forward will take about three months.

Randi Frank was paid $25,250 for the contract to conduct the search.

City Council members have remained mum about the behind-the-scene machinations during the search process and subsequent review of finalists, citing confidentiality rules.

In an interview, City Councilor Kate Leonard said that she could not elaborate on what led to the search failure, but said characterizing the council as “not being able to reach a unanimous consensus” on any one candidate would be accurate.

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