The Rock Region Metro board of directors was unanimous in praising the Pulaski County transit agency's boss in his first annual evaluation but declined to raise his pay Tuesday.
Charles Frazier said he is fine with the $160,000 annual salary he was given when he was hired in May of last year.
The board did vote to give him a one-time $2,500 bonus, contribute $2,500 to his deferred compensation plan and provide him an additional five days of annual leave to the 20 he already receives.
"He brought some great dynamics to the table when he was interviewed, but he's far surpassed the bar of what we expected," said Nicole Hart, a board member from North Little Rock who made the motion to award Frazier the compensation package. "He's brought new energy. His implementation strategy has been awesome. It's just an exemplary job for his first year."
Hart and Frazier said a factor in not granting Frazier a raise was the financial difficulties of one of Rock Region's main funding partners.
The city of Little Rock recently cut $2.1 million from its operating budget and eliminated 44 positions, including 31 that were filled. The employees have been notified that their last day of work is June 28.
The transit agency has a $19.2 million operating budget for 2019. Of that total, five jurisdictions contribute a total of $13.6 million.
In addition to Little Rock, they are Pulaski County and the cities of North Little Rock, Sherwood and Maumelle. Little Rock contributes the most -- $9.4 million.
"For us as a board, we're conscious of the budget right now," Hart said. "Our funding partners are having to really look at their budgets and make smart decisions. All of us were being conscious of that, as well. It was just important for us to make a good decision to show in good faith all the great work that he has done but also be conscious of where we stand in the budget."
Frazier said he supported the decision.
"What I want to be doing here is demonstrating to the community that we are being fiscally responsible," he said. "Little Rock just went through a budget adjustment. Since that's my largest funding partner, I don't think it's appropriate for me to get a raise."
The board voted on the package after Frazier provided a 19-page annual update to review the progress the agency has made in meeting the board's goals for the previous year.
Among Rock Region's key accomplishments, according to Frazier, was receiving a $3.5 million competitive grant to purchase new buses powered with compressed natural gas; completing a route analysis that identified up to $300,000 in annual savings; and implementing a project with the Arkansas Homeless Coalition to provide free bus rides to homeless people.
He also cited a 238 percent increase in streetcar ridership in the first four months of 2019 after the board agreed to eliminate fares for riding streetcars. A total of 36,471 people rode the streetcars in the first four months of this year compared with 10,718 in the same four months of 2018.
Frazier also told the board that the agency has recouped $15,000 in lost streetcar revenue through streetcar sponsorships.
Metro on 06/19/2019