Bainbridge Island Police Chief Matthew Hamner will stay on the Bainbridge force.

The Bainbridge Island City Council voted 6-1 at a special meeting Tuesday to offer the chief more money in a new employment contract than the employment agreement OK’d by the council last week.

Council members said it would be a big mistake to lose someone of Hamner’s caliber, and cast off concerns that it would set a precedent for other department heads when their employment contracts expire. Council members repeatedly noted the trust that the department has earned since Hamner took over the Bainbridge department in 2013.

A new contract was a surprise this week, as the council approved a new employment contract for Hamner at its meeting last week; his current five-year contract ends June 10. But the contract was revised following news that Hamner wasn’t satisfied with the new agreement, and City Manager Doug Schulze said he had misunderstood Hamner’s willingness to agree to the contract put before city decision-makers last Tuesday.

The risk of losing Hamner was too great for a majority of the council. Hamner, who has been Bainbridge’s top cop for the last five years, is a finalist for the police chief job for the University of Colorado Police Department in Boulder, Colorado.

Last week’s contract included a base salary of $158,000. The new employment agreement includes an increase in base salary from $158,000 to $170,000.

Councilman Ron Peltier was the only vote against the new contract.