HOUGHTON – The Houghton City Council approved contracts with two police unions at its meeting Wednesday night.

The contracts for patrol officers through the Michigan Police Officers Labor Council and supervisors through Michigan American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees Local 226 run through June 30, 2018.

“One of the things I worked really hard on in these negotiations was to line these two contracts up, because you have a group of people that are working together essentially doing the same job, same shift, to get these lined up where both contracts are going to essentially read the same,” said City Manager Eric Waara.

All officers will receive a 3.5 percent wage for 2015, 3 percent for 2016 and an opener for 2017.

The contracts change the definition of a regular work period to 84 hours, which eliminates contract overtime every pay period for officers on 12-hour shifts. Base wages were instead increased by the value of the overtime. Regular eight-hour and 10-hour shifts were also defined for an 80-hour pay period.

The contract can be reopened to discuss health care costs if they increase more than 10 percent in a year.

Some changes also align with a Department of Public Works contract approved last year. Callouts were increased from two hours overtime to three hours. Also, new employees will no longer receive a $200 retiree stipend.