In a 4-0 vote last Wednesday, Oct. 25, the City Advertising and Promotion Commission agreed to hire Mike Maloney as Interim Tourism Director following the resignation of Scott Bardin.
Chair Chris Clifton introduced Maloney as someone willing to take interim head of the department with Maloney giving a short history of his background including his work as CAPC director until 2015, his work as the CEO of a marketing company in NWA, and short time as director of the Lowell A&P before it was closed by election after a single year of operation.
Clifton asked Maloney what his expected salary would be and after negotiation, Maloney said $90,000 a year with no city benefits. Bardin had received $80,000 and performed duties of both the Tourism and Finance Director.
After a 20-minute executive session and successful vote, commissioners asked Bardin if he would stay as interim finance director and Bardin agreed.
Bardin explained that he has the work for finance director down to only needing two weeks or less a month and converted that to the hourly rate of $35, and the commission voted unanimously to instate him back as finance director, which was his original position when hired several years ago.