The Pullman Police Department and Pullman City Council came to an agreement on a new labor contract at a city council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 12.

The contract covers the 2015 and 2016 calendar years, including pay raises for officers each year. The pay raise for 2015 is a 3 percent raise, to be retroactively paid. In 2016 there will be a 1.7 percent increase from the new 2015 rate.

Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins said holiday pay for officers was changing, with the date of payments being changed to help their payroll department.

Included in the contract were alterations to the way police shifts change. Jenkins said there are many parts of the old contract in which the wording is confusing and unclear.

He said a large part of the shift changes portion of the contract was changing how many days in a row an officer must take off after completing a patrol shift.

Last year police were operating off an older labor contract while this new agreement was being created. The new contract is being grandfathered in now that it has been completed.

Jenkins said this delay in a new contract was the result of the two parties simply not being able to come to an agreement.

Reporting by Seth Hansen