Warwick’s new superintendent, who steps into the job next Monday, is being extended the welcome mat by Mayor Scott Avedisian.

In an overview of city developments given Thursday at a meeting of the Warwick Rotary Club, the mayor said he invited Philip Thornton to serve on his cabinet and meet regularly with municipal department directors. The intent is to give Thornton a picture of city issues and to develop a relationship with the directors.

The mayor also sees Thornton’s inclusion as “breaking down barriers” between the schools and the city. Interim superintendent William Holland thinks it is a positive development.

“However he can meet [with the mayor] on a regular basis makes sense,” Holland said Friday.

Holland suggests Thornton open lines of communication even further.

“He [Thornton] should be giving frequent briefings to the council,” Holland said.

Avedisian opened his talk with a history of efforts to cope with Apponaug traffic and the circulator now under construction. The mayor said the current rotary plan introduced in the 1970s was to have been evaluated after eight months.

“It was an absolute failure and didn’t do anything,” he said.

It wasn’t until Lincoln Chafee was elected mayor 20 years later that designs to improve the system were drafted. Some federal funding came years later when Chafee served as U.S. senator. The plan now being built evolved after community hearings.

In place of conventional intersections, the circulator will have five roundabouts. To do otherwise, Avedisian said, would have given the village “nothing but asphalt and traffic signals.”

The mayor reported the project is more than four months ahead of schedule and on budget. While scheduled for completion in 2017, Avedisian pointed to the new Cumberland Farms at the Four Corners as a “big addition to Apponaug” that is already making the village a different place. He said a developer is interested in acquiring the “saw tooth” building that was once part of the Apponaug Mill and converting it into a mix of restaurants, office and residential space. The building would look out on a village commons with outdoor eating and a place that could be used for summer concerts.

“It’s a whole new beginning for Apponaug,” he said.

From road construction Avedisian turned to the airport, citing the recent completion of Winslow Park and its softball and soccer fields and how relocation of the fields is paving the way to extension of the main runway.

“The Rhode Island Airport Corporation did a fantastic job,” he said of the playing fields.

The next step in the runway project is the relocation of Main Avenue that is under construction now. Avedisian said looping the road around the extended runway would make “Main Avenue safer and better.”

He said arriving at a plan for airport expansion has taken years of proposals that have often put the city and RIAC on opposing sides. Some suggestions like that for parallel 10,000-foot runways would have virtually leveled homes and business from Post Road east to nearly Warwick Avenue. He said that in the end, the project being built is “so much better” than had the city accepted the RIAC plan from the start.

In his overview, the mayor had the following reports:

Rocky Point

Avedisian said the Central Rhode Island Chamber movie nights were well attended and that other events expected to bring in large audiences are planned for next summer. He said the Department of Environmental Management is working on the design of a fishing pier with floating docks for boats that would be built in vicinity of what remains of the former amusement park pier.

City Centre Warwick

Avedisian said there remains a high level of interest in development in the area between the airport and Jefferson Boulevard, and “I think we will see some real movement very soon.”

Pawtucket Red Sox

Now that the PawSox’s plan to build a stadium on former Route 195 land in Providence is off the boards, Avedisian said “there’s been some discussion [early on the mayor suggested three possible Warwick sites for a stadium] and I think it will continue.”

Rhode Island Mall

Avedisian, who toured the closed mall this summer, said it was like “a human time capsule.” He said the mall office and some stores were just as they were years ago.

“It was almost creepy, nothing got moved,” he said.

He said new owners plan for construction to start this fall and expect to have three retailers open in time for the back to school season next year.

Airport service

Avedisian reported Condor Airlines, which initiated seasonal service to Frankfurt, Germany, this summer, “sold out” and is considering year-round service. He also said that additional service to Europe is being explored and that the volume of the duty-free shopping at Green started when Cabo Verde Airlines relocated service from Boston to Green is beyond expectations.