Newport City Manager Joseph Nicholson Stepping Down This Fall After 37 Years Of Service

NEWPORT, RI — After 37 years serving Newport, City Manager Joseph Nicholson will retire from public service this fall.

Nicholson, whose current contract was set to run through June 2024, emailed the city council on May 4, with his intentions to submit a formal resignation letter in July.

"It has been a supreme honor and privilege having served the city of Newport as its city solicitor as well as city manager, and to have worked with all of you, as well as councils past," Nicholson wrote in his email.

A native Newporter and an attorney by trade, Nicholson spent his entire professional career in service to the city, taking on his first role as assistant city solicitor in 1986. He would go on to serve as city solicitor from 1988 until 2014, and for the last nine years as city manager, where he’s overseen the daily operations of Newport's government and its roughly 300 employees.

Over the years, Nicholson would be called on twice to serve as interim city manager — the first time from February 2002 until November of that year — and again from July 2014 until April 2016.

"Since joining the city in 1986, Joe has been involved with almost every major project that rebuilt Newport following the loss of the America’s Cup in 1983 and Navy’s withdrawal in the 1970s," Mayor Xay Khamsyviravong said. "Today, Newport is considered one of the best municipalities in New England, with much credit to Joe’s leadership."

Upon Nicholson's departure, he’ll hold the distinction of being Newport’s longest serving city manager and its longest tenured active employee.

"I’d like to thank Joe for his 37 years of service to the city," Khamsyviravong said. "Newport is better because of his service, and we are well positioned for the City’s next chapter."

Nicholson's last day is tentatively set for Sept. 15.

"Newport is entering an exciting but complicated new chapter and the decisions we make will impact us for generations," Khamsyviravong added. "Joe’s decision and thoughtful transition timeline positions the council to select and support a new manager equipped to steward the city through this next era. I will be asking the council to integrate its selection process for the next city manager with the professionally led strategic planning process already scheduled to occur over the next couple months."