A Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority executive who was paid $115,000 in bonus money earmarked to her by the CIAA basketball tournament resigned Monday.

But the city's tourism arm said Ereka Crawford-Brim will still work for the authority on the 2012 tournament as a consultant, and will be paid $45,000.

Since the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association came to Charlotte in 2006, former CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry earmarked bonus payments yearly to Crawford-Brim.

The CRVA prohibits employees from being paid by clients. But the authority said the bonuses were OK because they had been routed through its organization first - an explanation that concerned Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx and City Council members.

The CRVA later reversed itself, and changed its policy in August to forbid such payments. Under pressure from Foxx and council members, the CRVA board in July said it would demote chief executive Tim Newman and hire a new CEO. Foxx had been concerned about the management of the authority.

On Tuesday, the CIAA announced that Kerry, 63, stepped down from his post effective immediately for "personal reasons."

Newman said in an email Thursday that Crawford-Brim resigned to "pursue her own marketing and project management agency." He also said she will have a contract with the CRVA as consultant for "marketing and logistics" for the 2012 CIAA tournament and her former position is being eliminated.

The CIAA, based in Hampton, Va., is a collection of 12 historically black colleges and universities, including Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte. The CIAA is paid $1 million each year as an incentive to bring its basketball tournament to Charlotte. Most of that comes from taxpayers, including $200,000 each from the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

The CRVA and CIAA have said the $1 million is for scholarships. The agreement between the city of Charlotte and the CRVA does not specify that the money must go for scholarships, however.

CIAA spokeswoman Shera White declined to say why Kerry resigned, and referred questions to the CIAA board chair, Mickey Burnim of Bowie State University. Burnim didn't return calls by the Observer Thursday.

Kerry has been the focus of a lawsuit filed in September by one of his former assistants who later became a CIAA associate commissioner in 2006.

In his lawsuit, Jeffrey McLeod said he was responsible for raising scholarship money for the CIAA, and that he had an agreement with the association for 15 percent of the money raised. McLeod claimed in his complaint that for the 2010 fiscal year, Kerry told him he wouldn't be paid a commission because the CIAA "went in the hole $300,000" during the previous year.

The CIAA's tax returns for the year ending June 2009 show the association had an operating loss of $390,000. In the year ending June 2010, the CIAA had closed that deficit, and had only lost $105,000.

During that time, Kerry was paying bonus money to the CRVA, meant for Crawford-Brim. In an interview with the Observer in April, Kerry said Crawford-Brim was his "Kelly Girl," and the money was meant to thank her for her extra work in making the tournament a success. Kerry earmarked $15,000 for Crawford-Brim in 2006, and then $20,000 in 2007. Crawford-Brim received $25,000 bonuses in both 2008 and 2009, and in 2010 she received a $30,000 bonus.

Crawford-Brim was paid $135,000 in 2010, including the CIAA bonus money.

Joshua Davis, an attorney representing McLeod, said his client was surprised that the CIAA was paying bonus money while his client wasn't being paid what he was owed. McLeod is seeking nearly $600,000 in commissions.

White, the CIAA spokeswoman, said the CIAA is starting a new three-year contract with Charlotte to host the tournament through 2014.

Newman said the CRVA has no concerns about being able to successfully host future CIAA tournaments. Maria David contributed.