The Newport City Council convened on May 14, 2025, at 6:30 PM in Council Chambers. The meeting began with a swearing-in ceremony for Bo, the department's new therapy canine, followed by a citizens' forum. The council then acted as the Board of License Commissioners, approving several liquor licenses and holding hearings on license transfers and expansions. Key actions from the regular council session included tabling the FY2026-2027 biennial budget, approving a $1.9 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application, and passing a resolution directing the administration to draft ordinances prohibiting non-owner-occupied short-term rentals in all zones. Numerous licenses, permits, contracts, and resolutions were also adopted.
Fantastic. And not oh wait a minute, are you here for the puppy? Is that what's going on? Oh right, uh Madam Clerk, you want to take the roll call, please. Uh yes, David Carlin. Lynn Underwick Segley. Here. Proli Holder. Here. Psycham Saborvon. Here. Green Marina Politano. Here. Alan Pinock. Stephanie Smythe. Here. There is a quorum present, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of the United States. I think the top play. And the recoup late for me, which is one thing. I give uh individual Jeff State. And Madam Clerk, we have uh Council Carlin present. We'll make sure he's marked. Yes, Council Carlin is present. All right. We're gonna start uh tonight's presentation off with uh Chief Duffy. Good evening, Ryan Duffy, Chief of Police. Uh thank you uh for allowing me to take a little bit of uh time here with the council. Hello everybody. Um I'm uh excited to be here. I mean I'm excited to be at every council meeting, but I'm really excited to be here tonight. Uh to introduce uh the newest member of the Newport Police Department. Um we've we've been uh uh in the process of getting a canine program together over the past number of years, but for a slew of reasons it it uh hasn't come to be until now, and so we're very happy that we are uh we are starting this program. Uh in a minute, I'm gonna uh call up um our our assigned canine handler, uh community police officer Nick St. Lawrence. Uh he's been assigned as the as a handler um and he's gonna give a a quick uh once over what uh our newest member what what his mission is uh but I just want to thank um Nick and his family uh because it's not just a job that is seven to three. Uh he's the canine handler. It's a responsibility not only for him but for his whole family, and they're taking on this responsibility um and caring for Bo for the time that he's that he's in service. So um thank you, Nick, and I'll call him up here and give a little uh little introduction to Bo, and then we will do a quick swearing in. Oh, he's so cute. All right. First, I want to say uh thank you very much for having us. Uh Bo here is 10 weeks old and he is uh the newest member of the community policing division with the Newport Police Department. Um and his main goal um really is uh you know uh make people feel better. But uh most importantly, he'll be in schools. Uh he will be at all our events, our summer camps, uh, our mentorship programs, um, as well as for detectives that are working with juveniles and uh people in need. Uh and then most importantly, I think uh I can't forget about the men and women of our police department.