‘I will stay and finish my job’

Kimberlyn King-Hinds

Commonwealth Port Authority’s Kimberlyn King-Hinds stands firm in her decision to stick out her term as CPA board chair despite questions raised why she is still holding out from voluntarily resigning.

When the new administration took office earlier this year, a memorandum was issued for autonomous and semi-autonomous agency board members to voluntarily resign from their posts; this includes CPA.

However, like a few other critical agencies, CPA’s board remains intact, with its chair remaining steadfast in upholding her oath to serve as a board member until her term expires in October 2023.

“When I took my oath to serve as a board member, it was an oath to the people to serve CPA to the best of my abilities in accordance with law. A part of that is a commitment to the Federal Aviation Administration that, regardless of the politics, I will stay and finish the job. This is something that I have personally shared with the governor, who is aware of our endeavors and who have not objected to the efforts that we are undertaking for the benefit of agency,” she said.

King-Hinds explained that the CPA board has assured the FAA that it would resolve issues addressed in CPA’s previous audit and that she intends to keep her word.

“But for the fact that the board gave its assurances to the FAA that we would see through the completion of addressing the audit findings by fully implementing the corrective action plan that we have submitted to ensure that our access to federal funding opportunities are not in jeopardy, we would have gladly submitted our courtesy resignation. The fact is, we are still in the process of working toward ensuring that we have a clean audit and that’s by strictly monitoring compliance with our new SOPs [standard operating procedures] and reporting to the FAA on a monthly basis our progress,” the CPA chair said.

King-Hinds said she continues to communicate with the current administration in terms of progress and she will continue to do so until her term expires.

“Since Inauguration Day, as chair, I have been in direct communications with the governor, providing updates of issues, actions, and progress, whether it be about projects or policies that we are pursuing. Because I am a member of the board, I am a public figure and, as a public figure, criticism comes with the territory. Mischaracterization of my intent and efforts, ‘Trumpy’ tactics deployed to malign my character, or having a coronary because I’m doing what I’m doing, are all par for the course. Those moves, however, will not deter me from living up to my oath and commitment to serve the people to the best of my abilities,” King-Hinds said.

“We are almost at the finish line and I will give CPA, this administration and, more importantly, the people the best of who I am. Until then, as the saying goes ‘Potatoes gonna potate and haters gonna hate,’” she added.