R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-15-7
At the time mentioned in the notice given under the authority of § 39-15-6, or at such adjournment from the time as the court shall order, the court, after hearing the parties in interest therein who may desire to be heard, shall first adjudge whether the taking of the property, estate, or rights in question is a public necessity, and, if that shall be adjudged affirmatively, the property and rights of property shall from that time be deemed to have been taken, and the court shall then appoint three (3) suitable persons to be commissioners to appraise the damages sustained by any person whose property, estate, or rights of property shall have been taken for either or any of the purposes authorized in this chapter. The commissioners, after being duly sworn to the faithful discharge of their trust and giving due notice to the parties in interest, shall proceed to hear the parties with their allegations and proofs, and to examine the premises, and shall make up and return their award in the premises to the clerk of the superior court from which they received their appointment, with their fees marked thereon, which fees, being first allowed by the court, shall be forthwith paid by the town, person, or corporation taking the property, estate, or rights of property embraced in the award.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-15-7