Peluso is a household name in Newport — one that is synonymous with the city’s government.
Jerry and Frank Peluso have served a combined 49 years in public service positions for Newport; 2023 will be the first year since 1988 the Newport City Commission will not have a Peluso in its ranks.
Jerry Peluso was first elected to the commission in 1988, where he served for 20 years until announcing his intention to run for mayor in 2008. He was elected to the mayor’s office in 2009 — he served two terms, completing his second term in 2020. He was elected to the commission once again in 2020, serving two more years before announcing his intention not to seek reelection this year.
Frank Peluso was first elected to the commission in 2007 and appointed to vice mayor for the 2015-2016 term. He, too, announced his intention not to seek reelection this year.
Newport residents elected Mike Radwanksi and Julie Smith-Morrow to the commission in November alongside longtime commissioners Beth Fennell and Ken Rechtin. While the new commissioners-elect are focused on their upcoming term, both told LINK nky they have a great deal of respect for both Pelusos and their legacies within the community.
“When I told Frank that I was running, he was really supportive,” Radwanski said. “He told me that he knew I’d do the work and that I could do good things.”
Smith-Morrow echoed Radwanski’s sentiment, saying the city will miss their abundance of knowledge pertaining to community governance.
“They’re really important to the city,” Smith-Morrow said. “I value each of them so much. They have a long history of steady-handedness, staying the course and serving people. I talk to each of them fairly often.”
Both Radwanski and Smith-Morrow have goals they’d like to accomplish for the city, but they said they know that both Jerry and Frank will be available for guidance and advice.
“They’re just really outstanding people,” Radwanski said. “As far as filling their shoes, it’s nice to know that they’re still going to be in Newport are not going anywhere.”
Smith-Morrow’s campaign platform focused on various issues, such as supporting public safety, promoting economic development and increasing the supply of affordable housing. Most of all, she said she wanted to be accessible to her community, just as Jerry and Frank Peluso were.
“Jerry and Frank have done a great job listening to their constituents,” Smith-Morrow said. “Everybody I’ve talked to, I’ve said, ‘I want you to keep my phone number here on this little card. Keep this on the refrigerator, call me and check in with me. Let me know if there’s something that I can help with.’ I really want to be accessible.”
Continuing to improve Newport’s Comprehensive Plan was one of Radwanski’s core campaign tenets.
The Comprehensive Plan serves as a policy guide and implementation plan for the Newport city staff when preparing their annual budget. Radwanski was involved in planning the current iteration of the plan, and hopes his tenure can help Newport excel past the plan’s stated goals such as increasing financial transparency, upgrading infrastructure and creating a “smart corridor” on Monmouth Street. Both Jerry and Frank Peluso contributed to Newport’s 2020 Comprehensive Plan.
“If I get to a place where I decide it’s time to be done with the commission, I hope that I can look back and say that I was able to at least accomplish a fair portion of what we had in the Comprehensive Plan,” Radwanski said.
