Sister Cities: Newporters Invited to Meet the Irish Connections in Town This Week

NEWPORT, RI—Newport has enjoyed a sister city arrangement with Shimoda, Japan for decades. That connection, and one with Kinsale, Ireland, are its two most successful Sister City arrangements, according to Evan Smith, of Discover Newport.

In fact, they're both models for Sister Cities, he said.

"I'd eat my hat if there are any more successful Sister City programs in America," he said.

This week, it's Kinsale's turn to send a delegation to visit Newport. The public was invited to meet the Irish mayor at a City Hall ceremony Thursday. If you missed that one, the delegation is supposed to march in the St. Patrick Day Parade.

Thursday's get-together was "free," according to the Newport Hospitality Commission, which sent a press release on the mayor's behalf.

But once or twice a year, Newport sends councilors on trips overseas to Sister Cities.

How does the City pay for the Sister City program and the councilors' travel? It turns out the money is taxpayer money. The funds comes from some $43,000 annual rent the City collects for the Gateway Center.

There is only one tenant, Discover Newport, at Gateway, but Discover Newport does not, in fact, provide any money for the Sister City program, Smith said.

The City has opted to deposit $10,000 of the annual rent in a capital improvement account per the lease agreement. But the rest goes into an escrow account used for the Sister City program. Newport could do anything it wants with that money, Smith said. No strings are being attached by Discover Newport, Smith said.

Of course, Smith said, the Gateway lease is an unusual arrangement in that it calls upon Discover Newport to pay all the building upkeep and utilities. He estimates the total comes to about $300,000 a year. Costs include keeping the public bathrooms cleaned, stocked and open.

Patch sent the City Clerk a Request for Public Information about the rent agreement; the names of people who took the Sister City trips over the past two years; and the source of funds to pay for their trips. Although most of the names have been published in local newspapers, Finance Director Laura Sitrin declined to provide any information without a Freedom of Information Act form.

Initially, Sitrin said this: "There was an agreement with Discover Newport that the City would take over the Sister City program and Discover Newport would give us $30,000 annually to pay for the program. That money is put into a restricted account and is used solely for the Sister City program. No other monies are used to pay for that program."

In the past, councilors have repeatedly insisted the money for councilors' trips is not taxpayer money, and one recently published article referred to the funding as a "stipend" from Discover Newport.

But that's not the case, Smith said when asked about the specifics. Discover Newport does not give Newport a stipend or any money for the Sister City program, he said, and it has no say in how the program is run. Years ago, he said, Discover Newport ran the program, but that hasn't been so for the past 20 years.

On Thursday, the City provided some, but not all, the information Patch requested. According to City records provided, the mayor's office arranged three trips over the past two years.

Two trips were bound for Shimoda, Japan, and one went to Imperia, Italy. Councilor Lynn Ceglie went on all three junkets, and her expenses were paid from the Sister City Escrow Account. Also, that account paid the expenses of former Councilor Naomi Neville, who went on the 2015 trip to Shimoda, and Councilor Jeanne Marie Napolitano, who went on two trips, the 2016 trip to Japan and a 2016 trip to Italy.

On the 2015 trip to Shimoda, Vin Ceglie, Ceglie's husband; Gwendolyn Rothermel and Mary Rothermel went with the mayor's delegation but paid their own way, Sitrin said. Two students, Michael Ashby and Caeli Palmer, traveled at the expense of the Newport Schools through a student-exchange program.

For the 2016 Shimoda trip, the City said Jeanne-Marie Napolitano's expenses were paid from the escrow account, but she re-imbursed the City for Keeley Sheekey's expenses. No mention was made of the rest of the delegation.

Finally, the City tapped the escrow account to pay travel expenses for Ceglie and Napolitano on the 2016 trip to Imperia, but no mention was made of the rest of the delegation for that trip, either.

"If others went on the trip, they did not make any arrangements through the City nor receive any payments/ reimbursements," the City indicated in a note.

All the trip arrangements are made through the mayor's office, Smith said. The mayor can send anybody on a trip, he stressed. Frequently Discover Newport staff will find out about a trip and ask to go along. If so, Discover Newport pays for its staff member. On the Imperia, Italy trip, for example, Smith said Discover Newport's Andrea McHugh went along for what's essentially a sales trip. Discover Newport paid her expenses.

According to newspaper accounts, the other people on the 2016 delegation to Imperia were Vin Ceglie; Colleen McGrath; Napolitano's son Sean and his wife Andrea; Tim Wein and Steve Kemp.

Smith wholeheartedly supports the Sister City programs but said only three -- Shimoda, Kinsale, and Imperia, Italy -- are really active. The others have simply been dormant. From the tourism point of view, he said, it's very much worth the money. Discover Newport would have to pay substantially more to make sales at a trade show, by comparison, he said.

But that's only about tourism, he allowed.

Sister City agreements are fundamentally agreements between two governments. Tourism and trade are two motives, but the other reasons are student-exchange programs and cultural exchanges. Although the trade benefits appear negligible, he believes the student-exchanges and cultural exchanges are valuable.

"I'm a supporter" of Sister Cities, he said and added some connections have led to lifelong friendships.

As for the organization of the trips, Smith said that's all done through the mayor's office. The mayor decides who will go on the trip and deals with the protocol, which usually involves a welcoming ceremony and meetings with VIPs. The payment for an individual's travel can come from a number of sources, he added. For example, a parent sometimes goes on a student-exchange trip. But in that case, the parent will pay for himself or herself.

Overall, Smith said, he sees the Sister City arrangements as "healthy" and beneficial. He is not sure what should happen about the dormant Sister City agreements.

Newport's dormant Sister Cities are St. John, New Brunswick, Canada (1993), Skiathos, Greece (1996), and Ponta Delgada, Portugal (2002).

"Does a Sister City die?" he said. "I don't know."

But no question, the Kinsale (1998) and the Shimoda (1958) Sister City connections have been positive. He believes they are the gold standard for Sister Cities. Imperia, which came on in 1978, is a bit behind the other two but still promising.

Turning to this week, according to the Hospitality press release, four members from the Bandon-Kinsale Municipal District are here, including the mayor of the Bandon-Kinsale District, Cllr. Kevin Murphy.

"Joining him will be his wife, Mrs. Eileen Murphy; Ms. Mary Ryan, Director of the Bandon-Kinsale Municipal Services, and her brother, Mr. Martin Donnellan; and Mr. Enda O’Halloran, Bandon-Kinsale Municipal District Officer. Representing the Kinsale-Newport Twinning Committee are former Mayor, the Hon. Michael Frawley, Jr.; former Mayor, the Hon. Tomas O’Brien; and Eoin O’Callaghan, former President of the Kinsale Rugby Club.

Patch has asked for additional records about the Sister City trips and will update this story when information becomes available. The City has asked for 20 additional business days to comply.