Paul Monette won a sixth straight term as Newport mayor Tuesday night, fending off two challengers.
Monette received 246 votes cast, according to early results from City Clerk Jim Johnson.
Carl King, who ran unsuccessfully for city councilor last year, got 77 votes and Jesse Elliott, who challenged Monette in 2015, was third with 64 votes.
Four hundred fifty-five people voted in the election, Johnson said.
King also lost a bid for one of two Newport City Council seats. Chris Vachon, who ran unsuccessfully last year, was the top vote-getter, with 341 ballots cast, Johnson said. Incumbent Melissa Pettersson won 279 votes and retained her seat. King received 95 votes, according to the clerk.
Monette was elected mayor in 2009, after several years on the city council, and has since served five consecutive two-year terms.
His initiatives include efforts to spur economic growth after the EB-5 scandal dashed the city’s hopes of hundreds of new jobs.
Newport voters also approved a nearly $5 million plan to build a new water tower, install water meters across the city and upgrade a water reservoir on Palin Hill.
The bond vote passed with 265 citizens for and 155 against.
The plan calls for a 210,000-gallon tank tower to supply water for the city’s eastern industrial park near Derby Road, along with the metering system and the reservoir improvements. Plans are to build the tower in 2022, and install meters in 2023.
City officials have said the project would help Newport accommodate more businesses.
The proposal sparked local controversy because it would end a longtime agreement with Derby Village for water services to the eastern industrial district area.
Derby Village officials made public appeals to Newport residents, saying the village could supply all the city’s water needs. They called the appeal a “neighborly act,” but Newport city officials balked at the intrusion into their business.
And, at a city council meeting Monday, some residents questioned the validity of the metering effort.
