Here are the ballot questions voters will decide in each Newport County municipality
Each election cycle, municipalities have the opportunity to add additional questions to the ballot for voters to decide on big matters, such as bonds, charter changes or, such as this year, school district unification.
While every voter in Newport County will be asked to decide on three statewide ballot questions, here are the local questions voters will decide on via referendum this year.
Questions shared by multiple municipalities
Cannabis licenses
Newport, Middletown, Tiverton, Jamestown and Little Compton voters will be asked to decide whether their municipality should license businesses related to the cultivation, manufacture, laboratory testing, and/or retail sale of adult recreational-use cannabis.
Ballot approval of marijuana business licenses is one of the provisions in The Rhode Island Cannabis Act, which Gov. Dan McKee signed into law in May. It’s designed for municipalities who may want to opt-out of licensing these types of businesses.
More:From traffic to drugged driving, how Portsmouth is preparing for legalized marijuana
Portsmouth is the only Newport County municipality without this ballot question, as it already has a medical marijuana facility.
Middletown-Newport regional school district
Ballots in both Middletown and Newport will have a question asking whether the municipalities should combine their school districts under one unified administration.
Local questions
Neither Portsmouth nor Jamestown have additional ballot questions outside of the state questions and the cannabis question.
Newport
The rest of Newport’s ballot questions are suggested changes to the city charter, the foundational document of the city. Like a constitution for a state or country, the city charter outlines the rules and regulations for how the municipal government should function. All changes to the charter must be done by referendum, according to Article 13 of the Rhode Island Constitution.
Although the Charter Review Commission came up with 37 possible revisions to the charter, the five the City Council approved for the ballot are all simple language changes that don’t impact how the city functions.
6. QUORUM; PROCEDURE: Section 2-18 of the current Charter, which outlines what constitutes a quorum for the City Council, the charter says all councilors must vote on any question before them “unless they disclose a personal interest therein and are excused by vote of the remaining members or are barred by law.”
Voting “approve” would be permitting the City to change the language to the simplified version: “All members of the Council present must vote on any question unless they recuse themselves on the question before the Council on ethical or other legal grounds.”
More:37 changes were proposed to Newport's City Charter. Why voters will see just 5 of them.
7. NOMINATION PETITION; SIGNATURES: Voting “approve” would allow the City to increase the number of petition signatures for candidates in the City Council At-Large race or the School Committee race from 50 to 100. This change is just to update the charter to reflect current practice.
8. CANVASSING AUTHORITY: Voting “approve” would permit the City to replace the 103 word paragraph outlining the existence of the Canvassing Authority in Section 4-6 of the Charter to read ““There shall be appointed a Canvassing Authority having the functions, powers and duties as provided for by the General Laws of Rhode Island.”
9. TRUST AND INVESTMENT COMMISSION: Voting “approve” would allow the City to make several revisions to Section 4-7 of the Charter, which outlines the existence and role of the Trust and Investment Commission. These changes specify the commission is only responsible for overseeing the management of police and fire department pensions, and benefits for retired employees.
10. OATH OF OFFICE: Voting “approve” will permit the City to replace the line “Every officer, elected or appointed, shall take and subscribe the following …” in Section 6.4 of the Charter, which governs the oath of office undertaken by all city officials, with “Any elected or appointed individual assuming a city role or job, may be required to take and subscribe to the following…”. It also removes “Providence Plantations” from the oath.
Middletown
5. MIDDLETOWN SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION, RENOVATION, IMPROVEMENT, REPAIR, LANDSCAPING, FURNISHING AND EQUIPPING OF NEW SCHOOLS THROUGHOUT THE TOWN $235,000,000 BONDS AND/OR NOTES
Like Newport in 2020, the town of Middletown is requesting permission from its residents to take out $235 million in bonds to build new school facilities (which would be reimbursed at 80.5% by the state). The current plan is to build a new elementary school to replace Forest Avenue and Aquidneck Elementary Schools and build a joint middle school and high school building to replace Middletown High School and Gaudet Middle School.
More:'Very difficult to pass this opportunity up': Middletown plan revamps future of education
Passage of this ballot item will only go into effect if voters in Newport and Middletown also approve of the regionalization question, according to Section 15 of the General Assembly act that allowed Middletown to place this question on the ballot.
Tiverton
Like Newport, Questions 4 through 7 on the Tiverton ballot are amendments to the town charter. Unlike Newport, these changes may impact how the town functions and are all related to how the town hires municipal personnel.
4. ARTICLES IV, V and IX: Voting “approve” would allow the Tiverton Town Council to set additional hiring requirements for the Town Administrator, Fire Chief, Police Chief and Director of Public Works. Currently, each of these positions have a qualifications section outlined in the charter, which would be removed if this question is approved by voters. Instead, the town council will enact an ordinances to update the qualifications for each position as needed.
More:Why Tiverton officials want to drop the costly Financial Town Referendum process
5. ARTICLE X Section 1007 PERSONNEL BOARD: Voting “approve” would allow the Tiverton Town Administrator to hire for temporary or seasonal employees with positions lasting no longer than 180 days. Currently, all personnel hired to work for the town have to go through the town’s Personnel Review Board.
This is already a practice done by the Tiverton Town Administration, but the change would update the charter to reflect current practices.
6. ARTICLE III and All Related Sections: Voting “approve” would allow the Tiverton Town Council to adopt a unified budget rather than having to go through a referendum process to set the town budget each cycle.
7. ARTICLE VII BUDGET COMMITTEE: Voting “approve” would reduce the number of members on the budget committee from 11 to seven.
Little Compton
Not to be outdone, Little Compton has 14 changes to its charter up for vote in November. These changes are a mix of how the town is run and updates or clarifications to the charter itself. Voting “approve” for the following questions will make the following changes to the Little Compton charter:
5. TOWN PROPERTY: Removes reference to the Little Compton Agricultural Conservancy Trust as those acquisitions do not require Town Meeting approval, and adds the ability to hold a Special Town Meeting in lieu of waiting for the annual Financial Town Meeting.
6. ELECTIONS TO OFFICE AT TOWN MEETING: Allows the Board of Canvassers to close polls for elections at Town Meeting after 15 minutes or such additional time for all voters to cast their ballots after the adjournment of the Town Meeting.
7. DATE AND PURPOSE OF FINANCIAL TOWN MEETING: Allows the Annual Financial Town Meeting to be held through the third full week in June, under extenuating circumstances.
8. NOTICE AND AGENDA FOR MEETINGS: Acknowledges the role of the Town Clerk with regard to warrant items, voting procedures and the Budget Committee format.
9. BUDGET COMMITTEE: Removes “Town Treasurer/Tax Collector '' from the list of elected officials and clarifies that the Budget Committee reviews the capital expenditure program for the Town.
10. PREPARATION OF THE BUDGET: Acknowledges the Town Administrator’s role in preparing the budget and adjusts the timeline to allow more time to process the budget.
11. CAPITAL PROGRAM: Makes clear the Town Administrator prepares the Town’s Capital Expenditure Program for the Budget Committees’ review and recommendation.
12. TOWN TREASURER/TAX COLLECTOR: Recognizes the Town Treasurer/Tax Collector is now an appointed position and documents how a Deputy Town Treasurer may be appointed.
13. TOWN TREASURER/TAX COLLECTOR: Allows the Council to make provision for the assumption of the duties of the Town Treasurer/Tax Collector by the Town Finance Director.
14. TAX ASSESSORS: Document the provision of a single Tax Assessor employed by the Town.
15. TAX ASSESSMENT BOARD OF REVIEW: Reflect the current structure of a single Tax Assessor and an appointed Tax Assessment Board of Review.
16. TOWN FINANCE DIRECTOR: Adds a new section to document the position of Town Finance Director.
17. LITTLE COMPTON HOUSING TRUST: Allows the Little Compton Housing Trust to petition the Town Council, on a case by case basis, for approval of acquisitions for housing needs, whereby if approval were granted by the Council that acquisition would not additionally be subject to the provisions of Section 103 of the Charter.
18. POLICE DEPARTMENT: Adds language that the Chief of Police shall be subject to applicable provisions of Town ordinances in addition to State Law.
19. FIRE DEPARTMENT: Designates the Fire Chief as the administrative officer of the Department and subject to applicable provisions of Town ordinances in addition to State Law.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: A quick guide to Newport County's 2022 ballot questions
