Newport resiliency director outlines department work as council and manager clash over utilities reporting

Teresa Kreen, director of the city's Resilience & Sustainability Department, presented the department’s FY2027 budget lineup and outlined cross-department projects ranging from EV chargers and the community electricity aggregation program to Cliff Walk stewardship and a newly centralized grants function.

Kreen said the new resilience and sustainability umbrella is intended to promote interdisciplinary collaboration across planning, public services, building and information technology. “Resilience and sustainability refer to a future where our people, ecosystems and economies are more resilient, able to prepare, respond and recover from rapid social and environmental change and sustainable where we increase efficiencies,” she told the council.

The presentation covered staff and responsibilities, grant support, and projects funded or pending through state and federal sources. Kreen highlighted a recently hired grants officer and a planned resilience assistant to help manage cross-department projects. She also noted the department’s role in supporting the city’s 2027 comprehensive plan update and work tied to the 2024 infrastructure and resilience bond.

The workshop turned contentious when the city manager outlined a proposed change in organizational reporting: making the utilities director a direct report to the city manager rather than keeping utilities under the resilience director’s line of supervision. The city manager framed the proposal as an administrative recommendation to balance supervisory loads and to create four direct reports to the manager — utilities, resilience, public safety and finance/support services. “It is my recommendation... to have 4 direct reports to the city manager, that being the Director of Utilities, the Director of Resilience and Sustainability, the Director of Public Safety, and the Director of Finance and Support Services,” he said.

Several councilors expressed strong concern that the proposed change conflicted with the council’s prior intent in creating the resilience function and they questioned whether the change complied with the city charter. One councilor asked the solicitor to review charter provisions after saying the charter gives the council the authority to determine department organization. The councilor also raised accountability and continuity concerns tied to stormwater and other utilities projects cited as critical to long-term resilience strategy.

City Manager Kennedy responded that the utilities director has been reporting to the resilience director this year and described the proposed change as a formal recommendation in the manager’s proposed budget rather than an immediate unilateral reorganization. “The proposal... is to make a change. I fully respect the council's prerogative not to do so, but it is my recommendation,” he said, adding that the administration will accept the council’s direction.

Other department directors delivered technical budget briefings during the session. Bill Riccio, director of Public Services, described staffing priorities and capital needs such as vehicle lifts, and highlighted street cleaning, litter collection and seasonal workforce management. Trish Reynolds, director of Planning and Development, summarized planning achievements including a housing fellow funded through a state technical assistance grant, completion of the zoning permitting portal, and progress on the 10-year comprehensive plan update. Brad Ward, the new building official, and Nick Craig, IT director, reported on permit and information-technology operations: Craig said the department consolidated telecom contracts and improved cybersecurity posture since a 2022 incident.

Council and staff agreed to continue the discussion with a utilities-specific budget workshop scheduled for the next day and asked the solicitor to review charter-related concerns about department organization. The council did not take a formal vote on the proposed reporting change during the workshop.

What’s next: The city will hold a utilities budget session the following day; staff will provide whatever charter or legal analysis the council requests to show whether the proposed reporting structure complies with the charter and previous council actions.