Port authority executive gets boost in salary

LR official’s pay is raised to $220,000 in board vote

The Little Rock Port Authority’s board of directors on Thursday voted to increase Executive Director Bryan Day’s annual salary to $220,000.

His previous salary was $197,000.

Board members convened virtually Thursday morning for a short special called meeting to approve the pay increase for Day because of a procedural error during a meeting the day before.

During the meeting on Wednesday, which was also held via teleconference, board members entered executive session. When they returned from the executive session, Chair Bobby Brown announced that board members had voted unanimously to increase Day’s pay to $220,000.

However, board members did not publicly vote to approve the pay raise as required by the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

The law states, “No resolution, ordinance, rule, contract, regulation, or motion considered or arrived at in executive session will be legal unless, following the executive session, the public body reconvenes in public session and presents and votes on the resolution, ordinance, rule, contract, regulation, or motion.”

After an inquiry from an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter on Wednesday afternoon regarding the lack of a public vote, the board reconvened the next day.

On Thursday, Brown reiterated his message from the day before as he praised the efforts of Day and the staff leading the port authority.

Day thanked board members for the raise. “I’m very grateful,” he said. “I’m honored to work for you, and I hope that we will continue to have great success.”

After serving as Little Rock’s assistant city manager, Day became the port authority’s executive director in 2014, replacing the retiring Paul Latture.

When Day was hired, his salary was set at $150,000, the Democrat-Gazette at the time.

The roughly 11.7% pay raise approved Thursday pushes Day’s salary past that of Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., who is paid $200,000 per year.

Last April, members of the Little Rock Board of Directors authorized increasing Scott’s annual pay from

$160,000 to $200,000 at the same time that they authorized raises for City Attorney Tom Carpenter and then-City Manager Bruce Moore.

The top officials at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, Central Arkansas Water and the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority will continue to be paid more than Day despite the increase approved Thursday.