The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board voted Friday to reward its former interim executive director and CEO, Krishniah Murthy, with a $32,000 bonus.

Murthy was brought on last December as part of a one-year, $400,000 deal to oversee HART through next month while the rail authority searched for a permanent replacement after Dan Grabauskas resigned Opens in a new tab in August 2016 — two years into a three-year contract. Grabauskas had come under sharp criticism as the project grappled with a growing multibillion-dollar budget deficit.

Newly hired HART Executive Director Andrew Robbins started in September, and Murthy has agreed to stay on as a senior adviser to help with the transition.

At the time of Murthy’s hiring, the rail board said he would be eligible for a bonus of up to 10 percent of his base salary, or $40,000, if he hit certain benchmarks. (By comparison, Grabauskas was paid a $299,250 base salary and Robbins receives $317,000 in base pay.)

At its meeting Friday, the rail board unanimously approved the $32,000 bonus for Murthy after discussing his performance evaluation behind closed doors. HART Board Chairman Damien Kim thanked Murthy for taking the reins “in that interim time when we were kind of a little in turmoil.”

Murthy oversaw the effort to seek additional financing for the project from the state Legislature earlier this year. Lawmakers ultimately agreed to an estimated $2.5 billion bailout package to help fund completion of the 20-mile rail line.

Murthy, through a HART spokesman, declined to comment on the approved bonus.

An engineer by trade, Murthy retired in 2014 as executive director for project delivery for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority. He previously spent nearly 40 years with the engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff.