Newport City Council elects Kevin Charbonneau president, appoints task‑force chairs and schedules special meeting on vacancy

The Newport City Council voted on a series of personnel and committee appointments during its March 17 regular meeting, electing Councilor Kevin Charbonneau as council president and approving a slate of special‑purpose task forces and annual appointments.

Presiding remarks opened the discussion of Item 5, which the council had added to the agenda earlier in the evening to cover "council assignments." Councilor Carter Finnegan was nominated and confirmed to chair the new Financial Reporting and Fiscal Practices Task Force. Councilor Andrew Touchette was appointed to work with the mayor on personnel matters and related hiring for a financial and office administrator. The council approved these motions by voice vote after seconding the nominations; the meeting record does not show a roll‑call tally, only unanimous assent on the voice votes.

The council also elected Kevin Charbonneau as council president. Charbonneau was nominated, a second was supplied, and the presiding official recused himself from that particular vote to ensure a majority cast by other members. The motion to appoint Charbonneau passed by voice vote.

The mayor read a worksheet of annual appointments and reappointments for dozens of municipal posts and commissions. Among the recommendations the council approved were Tom Bernier as Superintendent of Streets and Water Works, Travis Bingham to remain chief of police, reappointments to the cemetery and harbor commissions, and continuation of Frank Cheney as grant administrator until a financial/office administrator is hired. The council moved to affirm the mayor’s recommendations as a block and the motion passed by voice vote.

Several members of the public raised procedural and legal questions during the meeting. Resident Jennifer Burley asked whether the charter allows for appointing two city attorneys and whether grant‑management duties would revert to a future city manager; the presiding official said the council would continue the current arrangement for now but would investigate charter questions before taking any permanent action.

Finally, after public comment on a separate agenda item, the council agreed to call a special meeting on March 20, 2025, at 6 p.m. for the purpose of considering an appointment to the city council. That motion was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote.

What happens next: the council’s appointed task‑force chairs will begin organizing the work assigned to them; the council also plans a special session on March 20 to act on the outstanding vacancy. The mayor said that where appropriate the council will provide short public disclosures about who was appointed and the reasons for those appointments.

Votes at a glance - Motion to remove item 5 (rec food shelf) and replace with 'council assignments': passed by voice vote (motion moved and seconded). - Motion to approve consent agenda: passed by voice vote. - Motion to elect Kevin Charbonneau as council president: passed by voice vote (presiding official recused from one vote to secure majority). - Motion to appoint Carter Finnegan as chair of the Financial Reporting and Fiscal Practices Task Force: passed by voice vote. - Motion to appoint Andrew Touchette to assist on personnel matters: passed by voice vote. - Motion to affirm the mayor's annual appointments: passed by voice vote. - Motion to call a special meeting for 2025‑03‑20 at 6:00 p.m. to consider a council appointment: passed by voice vote.

(Quotations used in this article are verbatim excerpts from the March 17, 2025 meeting transcript.)