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NEWPORT — After about two years of service, Nathan Longly has resigned from the Newport City Council.
Longly announced his resignation shortly before the end of the council’s Monday, June 15 meeting. He and his family have been preparing to move away from the city for some time, Longly said, and their plans finally came together last month.
Longly was elected to Position 5 in 2023, his term starting the following year. He referred to his time as a city council member as an opportunity, thanking Mayor Keith Campbell, his fellow council members and city administrator Abby Gribi for their hard work and dedication to the city.
“I still have my heart here,” Longly said at the meeting. “And although I won’t be part of the decision-making, I certainly plan to keep attending and being part of what happens here.”
After Longly’s announcement, council member Mark Zorica asked for the laws and standard operating procedures for appointing his replacement as soon as possible.
Earlier in the meeting, Newport Hospital and Health Services representatives Jenny Smith and Kim Manus presented NHHS’s expansion plan to the council.
As previously reported by The Miner, NHHS is proposing a $51 million bond on the August primary election ballot to fund emergency room improvements, medical technology updates, a surgical capacity increase and the introduction of new services. The measure is estimated to cost $1.47 per $1,000 in assessed property value, collecting $51 million over a 30-year term. NHHS expects to fund an additional $4 million with cash, a lease and grants.
“This is an expansion concept,” Smith said at the meeting. “We have not gone into the details, architecture, engineering at this point.”
Of the expansion’s total $55 million cost, $42.4 million would be used for construction, contingencies and administrative costs, $4.95 for equipment and furnishings, $3.3 million for services and $4.4 for sales taxes. NHHS would stay open during construction, which Smith said would end after about three years.
If approved, Smith and Manus said the expansion would allow NHHS to address hospital growth by streamlining patient flow, hiring upwards of 20 jobs and, most importantly, making medical care more locally accessible.
Results of a recent market assessment revealed that, because NHHS could not provide certain services, many locals were traveling to Spokane or Coeur d’Alene for medical care instead, spending more on gas and taking time away from work or home life.
Based on their payment of annual bond taxes, Public Hospital District 1 taxpayers could also apply for up to $750 a year in credits toward NHHS medical bills and Seeber’s Pharmacy prescription drugs. Previously, they could only apply for up to $500 a year.
“[The Board of County Commissioners] increased it, recognizing that with this particular bond, in a time of inflation, it is just an added burden to our taxpayers,” Smith said.
Before NHHS’s presentation, Gribi announced that the Newport Spray Park spray pad was not in operation, as the proprietary software behind it was no longer supported.
The proprietary software vendor could not be reached, so the city was searching for alternatives. Newport Spray Park was funded by a state grant and donations from local businesses. The spray pad was considered an older system even when the park opened in 2013, Campbell said, hence the frequent closures and other issues.
Zorica requested that a city employee who had communicated with the proprietary software vendor attend the council’s next meeting, and that city update the community on the splash pad’s status weekly.
“It’s either tear it down, build a new one, or get this thing running, make this a priority,” Zorica said at the meeting. “Because there’s nothing worse than a splash park without water.”
In other business, the council granted the Pend Oreille County Historical Society’s hotel-motel tax funding request of $1,826.50 for public restroom utility payments, then tabled to their next meeting a resolution authorizing the investment of city funds in the Local Government Investment Pool. The resolution would give new city clerk-treasurer Theresa Schoener authority to contribute or withdraw funds to and from LGIP, with approval from Gribi or city deputy clerk-treasurer Tiffany Hansen. The council must read the associated prospectus before they can pass the resolution.
The Newport Creative District received a $16,000 grant to commission a sculpture for T.J. Kelly Park, President Linda Cassella told the council.
The Creative District is commissioning Kalispel Metal Products in Cusick, and they plan to install a sculpture of a life-sized grizzly bear. Cassella had not yet received a cost estimate for the creation and installation of the sculpture, but she advocated for the corner of First Street and Washington Avenue to be chosen as its location.
Wade Nelson, Newport Police Department chief, presented police clerk Kathryn Bowman with a letter of appreciation for her contributions to local law enforcement.
