Julie Raboin, president of the Newport City Council, will not seek reelection in March.
That’s according to an email Raboin sent reporters this week.
“It has been an honor to serve the citizens of Newport for the past 3 years,” she wrote in the email. “The support I’ve received has been uplifting and gives me hope for the future of Newport.”
Raboin, whose City Council seat will be open on Town Meeting Day, wrote that she’s not ruling out a return to public service in the future. She declined to comment further about her departure.
Raboin’s decision comes after she found herself the target of criticism and the lone dissenter in several meetings over the last year.
During the months that Newport considered an ordinance to allow ATV travel on some city roads, Raboin made the most vocal case against the idea among council members.
Last week, Raboin engaged in a heated discussion with other officials about Newport’s lack of recognition for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Raboin argued that the holiday should be observed by the city and asked how council members could ignore racial inequity and “call ourselves decent citizens who care about an equitable society?”
Her remarks drew a rebuke from council member Melissa Petersson.
“It’s a management decision,” Petersson said. “To start going out and saying, ‘Let’s get a poll, let’s see who wants to celebrate Martin Luther King,’ I think is baiting for racial discord.”
She added: “I think it’s a dangerous precedent to arbitrarily do work outside of contracts, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to start saying, ‘OK, who’s a racist because they don’t want to take Martin Luther King Day off?’”
On Facebook two days after that Jan. 20 meeting, Raboin wrote about the debate: “I’ve had a lot of disappointments during my 3 years serving on this council. This one tops the list.”
