Drew Dixon
Thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis, the governing Board of one of Florida’s more modest ports has a new member.
Lynda Kirker was appointed by DeSantis this month as the latest member of the St. Augustine Port, Waterway, and Beach District Board of Commissioners. The board has five members who serve the nautical interests of St. Johns County along coastal areas.
The District is primarily charged with promoting the development of St. Johns County maritime interests among commercial and recreational activity in the area. When it was founded in the 1930s, its original intent was to promote and protect nautical interests near the St. Augustine Inlet. But it’s grown to involve marine projects, dune crossover development, and other maritime projects.
“I’m excited, and I’m flattered that the governor has that much faith and trust in me,” Kirker said in an interview with Jax Today. “I hope that I can do a good job.”
In addition to maritime promotion, the District levies property taxes in coastal areas to support coastal projects, and the board’s jurisdiction runs south to the Matanzas Inlet.
One of the more high-profile projects the board is connected to is the beach renourishment undertakings. In the past couple of years, that has been a huge and expensive issue in St. Johns County.
While the northern shoreline of St. Johns County was restored, another beach renourishment project was conducted south near St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach. About $30 million in federal, state and local funding was paid for the beach renourishment, which ran from Anastasia State Park to St. Augustine Beach near A Street.
Kirker has extensive public service and management experience. She was Flagler Hospital’s former Chief Financial Officer and is a Trustee of the Flagler College Women of Vision Advisory Board and the St. Augustine Sister Cities Association.
Kirker got a bachelor’s degree in business and accounting from Stetson University.
