NEWPORT – The city has appointed current Finance Director Laura Sitrin to serve as interim city manager, temporarily replacing outgoing City Manager Joe Nicholson, who is departing City Hall in September after 37 years.
The Newport City Council met in executive session Wednesday to interview candidates, announcing afterward that Sitrin will be stepping in to fill the roll until the council finds a permanent replacement. The current Deputy Finance Director, Jim Nolan, will take up all finance duties in the meantime.
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Appointed by the council, the city manager is responsible for overseeing daily operations and the city’s roughly 300 employees.
Newport’s longest serving city manager and its longest tenured active employee, Nicholson submitted his formal resignation letter last week. He had announced his plans to depart City Hall back in May.
A partner with Nicholson and Sampson Law Offices before being appointed assistant city solicitor in 1986, he served as city solicitor from 1988 until 2014 and briefly served as interim city manager in 2002, becoming city manager in 2012.
Newport communications director Thomas Shelvin on Thursday said the council is expected to discuss how they will go about searching for a new executive in the coming weeks. It will likely coincide with the city planning process ramping up this fall and may involve the hiring of a national recruiting firm.
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com.
