The Town of Newport is working to improve the Town by modernizing Town operations, developing long-term strategic planning, overhauling Town policies and procedures, maintaining our infrastructure, strengthening road safety, enhancing community engagement, and more.
For more information on Town projects and initiatives, please contact Town Supervisor Nathaniel Lowell.
A new section of this webpage with a year-in-review report for the year of 2024 is coming soon.
In March 2024, the Town of Newport launched a new Town website. The goal with this new website is to enhance online engagement features and provide an easy-to-navigate and accessible virtual platform for people to learn more about the Town and access the information and services they need. With the new website, people can sign up to receive email and text notifications when new information is added to the website, access Town forms, laws, and ordinances, and view Town meeting agendas and minutes.
In March 2024, the Town of Newport launched a new citizen reporting system called Hey311 to enhance opportunities for community engagement and responsiveness from Town officials. For more information on how to use the Hey311 platform, please see the following article: How to submit a request through our 311 system called Hey311.
In April 2024, the Town of Newport collaborated with the Village of Newport to install a speed tracking sign on Newport Road where the speed limit changes from 55 mph to 30 mph.
In July 2024, the Town of Newport completed the restoration of the Woodchuck Hill Road Bridge in partnership with Slate Hill Constructors, Inc. and Plumley Engineering, P.C. Woodchuck Hill Road Bridge had damaged abutments and wing walls, which were removed and replaced with new retaining walls and rip-rap embankment erosion details.
In July 2024, the Newport Town Board approved a seven-phase Comprehensive Plan Review plan that integrates a combination of in-house resources and outsourcing of select tasks to create a revised Town comprehensive plan that analyzes our current community and creates a clear vision and action items for the future. The Comprehensive Plan Review process and its seven phases are approved to occur over the course of August 2024 to August 2025. Click here to learn more.
In September 2024, the Town of Newport became a Microsoft 365 Government organization, enhancing workplace modernization and efficiency with all Microsoft 365 features and capabilities in a segmented government cloud community to meet U.S. compliance and security standards.
In September 2024, the Newport Town Board approved a Town Code Codification plan that partners with General Code, LLC to review and modernize all Town laws, ordinances, and policies from the 1970s to 2024, enact new laws, ordinances, and policies, and codify them into one centralized code that is available online through General Codes’s eCode360 platform. The project is expected to conclude in 2026. Click here to learn more.
In November 2024, the Newport Town Board approved the transition to Intermedia's cloud-based phone system that will allow all Town department heads to have access to Town PBX phone extensions, remote calling capabilities, fax, and voicemail, as well as enable the Town to have a main call center for the Town offices to assist in directly connecting residents with the Town official they need in one call. The system is expected to launch in January 2025.
In December 2024, the Newport Town Board approved an investment into professional tax billing and collection software that will allow residents to easily access tax information with online bill pay and e-notification options and allow the Town Clerk’s office to alleviate tedious tasks and have a centralized system for record-keeping of municipal charges and parcel data. The system’s implementation is currently in development.
In January 2025, the Newport Town Board approved a three-year partnership with Bowers CPAs & Advisors to provide professional bookkeeping, financial reporting, audit preparation, and long-term financial planning services, as well as to ensure compliance with Federal, State, and local reporting requirements.
In January 2025, the Newport Town Board approved a partnership with ADP to enable the Town to modernize hiring and payroll processes, create and maintain an employee handbook, and streamline recruitment and talent acquisition as part of the Town’s short-term and long-term workforce recruitment and retention objectives.
In January 2025, the Newport Town Board commissioned a facilities condition assessment of municipal facilities in partnership with Lamont Engineers, P.C. to complete an on-site facility condition assessment and develop a comprehensive condition assessment report to serve as a ten-year plan for facility repairs and replacements, cost savings, and energy efficiency. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.