Newport City Council tabs Navy officer for city manager role. Who is Colin Kennedy?
Newport City Council will vote on Wednesday on whether to accept a Navy executive as the next city manager.
The city revealed the final candidate for the city manager position, whose contract the City Council will vote to accept or reject at a special meeting following the regular meeting on Wednesday, as Colin Kennedy, the current chief executive officer of Naval Reserve Center Newport.
The decision to go into contract negotiations with Kennedy split the council during an executive session held on April 24, as three councilors voted in favor of the other candidate, interim City Manager and Director of Finance Laura Sitrin. Sitrin has served as interim city manager for about 10 months following the retirement of former City Manager Joseph Nicholson, who served in the role for nine years. Councilors Lynn Underwood Ceglie, Jeanne Marie Napolitano and David Carlin voted for Sitrin to take on the permanent position, while Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong and Councilors Mark Aramli, Angela Lima and Charles Holder voted in favor of Kennedy.
Who is Colin Kennedy?
If Kennedy’s contract is approved and he takes on the city’s top executive position, he will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the city. While he has not held a position in municipal administration before, Kennedy has served over two decades as an officer in the Navy, previously working as the director of operation training and performance for the Commander Naval Surface Force Atlantic, the chief executive officer for Navy Operational Support Center in Milwaukee and the director of travel for the Navy Reserve Forces Command. He received a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma in 2010.
In addition to his administrative service, Kennedy served on four warships and deployed five times in support of combat operations, United Nations Security Council resolutions, and theater security cooperation with allied navies.
He is a four-time resident of Aquidneck Island, with stations in 2002-03, 09-10, 18-19, and 22-24.
The selection process
Kennedy’s selection concludes a months-long, nationwide search the city conducted to hire its next city manager. Candidates were previously unknown, however, the city noted that the list of 27 applicants was reviewed by a screening committee that included Middletown Town Administrator Sean Brown, former Warren Town Manager Kate Michaud and Eric Almonte, the executive director of the RI League of Cities and Towns.
That committee passed along a total of 10 applicants to the City Council for final review and of that applicant pool, the council selected five top candidates for remote interviews held via Zoom in early April.
After the final interview on April 8, the Council invited their two top candidates to a second round of in-person interviews held on April 20. On April 24, the Council voted in an executive session to extend a formal offer to Kennedy.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport City Council extends city manager position to Colin Kennedy
