New leadership is coming to the Connecticut Port Authority.
Ulysses Hammond, the interim executive director since 2022, will retire this Friday. David Kooris, the chairman since 2019, is stepping down to start a new job with the state.
Kooris said his time as chairman has been quite a ride.
“It has been an incredibly challenging, yet rewarding opportunity to work towards the objectives of the authority, but I think my time has come to step into a slightly reduced role,” Kooris said. “I have been in conversations with Paul Whitescarver, and he has demonstrated his willingness to step into the chair position, and I have agreed to stay on the board for at least until the end of the year and perhaps further to serve as a resource.”
Whitescarver is a retired Navy commander of the New London Submarine Base. He currently serves as executive director of a non-profit economic development organization.
At the meeting, Kooris also addressed concerns that the State Pier, which was constructed to facilitate offshore wind construction, was costing even more money.
Kooris said the $3.7 million transaction in question was from 2020.
“We did not physically move the funds from the railroad escrow account to the construction escrow account. I don’t know why it wasn’t done at the time. We weren’t fully staffed. We didn’t have the finance department that we have now. It was always appropriately accounted for within all our bookkeeping.”
The State Pier project has been controversial because of its escalating costs. It was initially estimated to cost $93 million, but ended up costing $310 million.
