The Newport City Council in Rhode Island ap­proved a contract amendment recently that guarantees a $5.5 mil­lion maximum construction price for state-funded renovations to the Florence Gray Center.

The construction contract with Ahlborg Construction Corp. of Warwick, R.I., was initially awarded by the council in April when it approved a roughly $38,000 ex­pense for pre-design construction manager services. Those services included Ahlborg working with the city, its partners on the project and construction consultants to draft building plans that would meet the $5.5 million figure.

A mid-September council vote amended the contract to give Newport and its partners some legal standing if the total is exceeded, even though the maximum price amount is subject to project change orders and other factors.

About $7.5 million has been awarded to the city through the Rhode Island Pandemic Recovery Office to upgrade the building and have it designated as a municipal learning center to support educa­tional, health and workforce pro­gramming.

Renovations are slated primarily for the interior of the building, particularly in its Galla­gher wing, Newport This Week reported Oct. 2.

The city is the fiscal agent for the project, giving it the power to approve related contracts. The building effort is grant-funded, and con­struction requires city funds.

Newport Councilor David Carlin, who cast the sole vote opposing the measure, took issue with the April vote to approve funding for pre-design services. That earlier mo­tion made clear that the $38,000 expenditure was awarded to craft a maximum price agreement for the project, though Carlin asked why the city was not presented with other bids at the time.

"You're asking this council to ap­prove a $5.5 million request, and I have nothing regarding who those other bidders were or what their bids were," Carlin said.

In February, the city formed a selection committee consisting of Teresa Crean, Newport's director of the Department of Resilience and Sus­tainability; Rhonda Mitchell, of the Newport Housing Authority; con­struction consultants and repre­sentatives from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Newport County; and the town of Middletown.

At that time, Newport and its housing authority advertised a request for proposals for a construction manager. Four bids were received, according to project officials. They were scored by members of the committee on a system that factored in tech­nical and cost components. In the end, they selected Ahlborg, according to Manny Ferreira, the city's con­tracted project manager for the renovations.

In 2023, the Newport Housing Authority and the local Boys and Girls Clubs signed on as partners to the project. The same year, Middletown and Newport inked an agreement to combine grant allocations for the project and ensure that the learning center be used by resi­dents in both communities.

Ear­lier this year, the Newport City Council passed a resolution barring City Manager Colin Kennedy from signing any contracts related to the project above $250,000 without the council's approval.

At the city level, the project falls under the purview of the De­partment of Resilience and Sus­tainability. Crean added that the city also is in communication with the state's Pandemic Recovery Office and Lori Turner, Middletown's Healthy Communities coordinator, who is spearheading the project for that town.

Approximately 20 similar projects are happening in Rhode Island as the state implements a larger role for municipalities in public education in the post-pandemic landscape. Two years ago, Gov. Dan McKee kicked off his Learn365 initiative at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Newport County with the goal of improving academic outcomes and boost attendance to higher levels than those in Massachusetts.

Newport This Week noted that the Florence Gray Center project must have a cer­tificate of occupancy by October 2026 to meet its grant requirements.