Newport Voters will Face 13 Local Ballot Questions on Tuesday

When Newport voters hit the polls on Tuesday, they’ll be asked to approve a host of changes to the City Charter, authorize millions in bonds for citywide renovations and weigh in on whether Newport and Middletown should establish a unified school district.

Question 8 on the ballot is the first local ballot question Newporters will see and it would authorize $6 million in borrowing for repairs and renovations to city-owned facilities, including at City Hall, where some of the money would be used to install a new elevator to meet ADA requirements. It also would replace the roof at Rogers High School.

The elevator situation at City Hall has forced the City Council and local boards and commissions to meet at alternate locations, including the new Claiborne Pell School’s cafeteria.

“It’s a dysfunctional city government that can’t meet at 43 Broadway,” said interim City Manager Joseph Nicholson at a recent form hosted by Alliance for a Livable Newport to address local ballot questions.

Other projects might include renovations at the Newport Public Library and the Edward King House Senior Center.

Question 9, which asks voters whether the city should join with Middletown to form a unified high school, is a nonbinding referendum that is intended to help municipal leaders determine if such a plan should go forward.

Questions 10 through 20 address proposed changes to the city charter.

Question 10 would begin the terms of office for elected members of the City Council on the first day of December following the election. This would eliminate the so called lame-duck session that exists now between the election and the second day of January.

Question 11 would change the charter to require the council to fill vacancies on the council or School Committee after soliciting applicants from the public. The council now is empowered to pick the next-highest vote getter in the previous election.

Question 12 reads: “If the Manager shall fail to perform any act required of him or her by the preceding section of this Chapter, any resident or taxpayer may require him or her to perform such act by filing with the City Clerk a demand in writing signed by such resident or taxpayer for such performance, which shall contain a recital of the facts upon which demand is based.”

The change would add “resident or” in three places in the section where just “taxpayer” currently exists.

Question 13 is tied to Question 10 and it allows the council to hold its organizational meeting when it selects the mayor and council Vice President on the first day of December.

Question 14 replaces the word “shall” with the word “may” under the canvassing authority section of the charter. This enables the city to merge departments if desired, which dovetails to Question 15, which would add a “power of the council to merge departments” to the City Charter.

This change would give the council unprecedented power to merge duties and functions of city departments, potentially eliminating a department or merging the finance departments of the city and school department, for example.

Question 16 would require all city authorities and committees to file annual reports, expanding existing provisions that requires all boards and commissions to file annual reports.

Question 17 asks Newporters to approve a requirement that the City Council develop a strategic plan for the city.

Question 18 would add a line to the charter that would require the city to decrease spending by a proportional amount to an anticipated revenue decrease if no budget is passed.

Question 19 coincides with Questions 10 and 13 and would require that all elected and appointed officers of city government begin on Dec. 1 following an election.

Question 20 would deem a ward City Council members’ seat vacant if he or she moves out of their ward.