LONGMEADOW – The Select Board voted 3 to 2 in favor of negotiating a renewal of Town Manager Stephen Crane’s contract before it’s due to expire on June 30.

Select Board Chair Richard Foster said during the selectmen’s Jan. 26 meeting if the board takes no action between now and the end of June, Crane’s contract would automatically be renewed for one year.

The original motion to renew Crane’s contract for three years  was made by Selectman Marie Angelides. Selectmen Mark Gold called for an amendment to modify the contract for two years. His motion was struck down 4 to 1.

Angelides then made an amendment to her original motion to negotiate a renewal of Crane’s contract. Gold and Selectman Alex Grant voted against that amendment.

“I’m not going to be voting for this … I do it against the backdrop of there having been two evaluations [of Crane], both of which had been poor,” Grant said. “I would have preferred there be sort of an evaluation process prior to this meeting, but I guess that’s not what [Select Board Chair Richard Foster] or the town manager would like.”

Grant previously called for a “mutual parting of ways” between the community and Crane during his second performance review on May 4, 2015. Crane received mixed reactions from the board during that review. During Crane’s first performance he received poor ratings from the board.

Selectman Mark Gold said communication between the board and the town manager has improved during the past year with the help of former Lowell City Manager Bernard Lynch, who has served as a facilitator to cultivate a better relationship between the two parties, but additional improvement is needed.

“We’re not there yet,” he added. “I will say that we’re way ahead of where we were two years ago. We’re way ahead of where we were a year ago. I think we have some prospects of getting where I’d like to see us get, which is a high performing team of six people working for the town.”

He continued, “Until we are there, it’s a difficult thing to say, ‘We’re ready to move forward as a team of six.’”

Angelides said she believes communication has “vastly improved” in terms of the depth of information in town manager reports that the board receives.

Selectman Thomas Lachiusa said he would not support a search process to hire a new town manager.

Crane listed several accomplishments under his leadership during the past several years, including the town’s arbitration with MGM and Massachusetts Gaming Commission to receive $4.4 million – more money than any other community in Western Massachusetts received for casino mitigation.

“The benefits of that will be felt for decades,” he added.

Crane said the town recently received awards for best budgeting practices by the Government Finance Officers Association and is in the process of unveiling a new personnel manual, which hadn’t been drastically updated in 20 years.

He added the town is in the process of finalizing a sewer contract with the city of Springfield’s Water and Sewer Commission.

“The town was going to be able to pay a percentage of debt service that the town was not involved in under the original proposal by the commission,” Crane said. “It was largely through the town’s negotiation and push back that they took that provision out.”

He noted he was also involved with hiring three new department heads, which included fire and police chiefs and a Department of Public Works director, after the previous department heads all retired in the summer of 2015.

“It was a major change and not only did we identify the right people to fill those positions, I think we’ve elevated the departments by having new ideas even though two of the people were internal candidates,” Crane said.