The School Committee voted to renew Finance Manager Michael MacMillan’s contract for five more years on Wednesday. However, the committee hesitated to add a clause that one member said would provide the district with some much-needed stability.

Committeeman Geoff Swett said the contract should require MacMillan to give six months notice should he resign. As written, the contract allows for 60 days notice.

Swett said he was pleased with MacMillan’s job performance, but finding a replacement of his caliber would be difficult.

“There’s a great deal of dis-equity in this situation,” said Swett. “I’d like to get more notice because it would be a tremendous problem to replace him.”

When Swett formally made the recommendation, it was not approved by a second member of the committee and therefore did not receive a vote.

Chair Mel Lazarus said it was inappropriate for the School Committee to negotiate employee contracts in open session. Also, that’s the superintendent’s job, he said.

“We can recommend to the superintendent what we’d like to see here,” said Lazarus. “We don’t have the right to bargain.”

Following more discussion and hearing the recommendation of Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood, the committee voted 4-1 to offer the five-year contract to MacMillan – pending further negotiations.

Swett voted “no.” He said he was opposed to five-year contracts in general, not MacMillan in particular.

The draft contract includes a $110,000 salary for 2017 with increases tied to job performance in subsequent years. Shaver-Hood said that represents a 3 percent increase over MacMillan’s current salary.

Member Cliff Sylvia said the move was a step in the right direction for the district.

“If we are going to keep good people, we need to offer them good faith in terms of multi-year contracts and also provide them with a competitive salary,” said Sylvia.