(KLZA)-- The Falls City Council has approved changes to a pair of articles of the IOUE Police Union contract when they met Monday evening.

The first change approved is changing the schedule and having officers work a regular schedule versus a rotating shift.  Currently officer work a 10-hour rotating shift. With the change, officers will work 12 hour shifts,  working 84 hours every two weeks.

The Council also approved a change to the wage scale deleting the amount of steps on the wage scale to get to the top of the scale.  The Investigator, Sergeant and Police Officer position will go from a seven-step pay-scale to a three-step pay scale, and will now start out at what was previously the fifth step on the pay scale. 

Two recent resignations have left the Police Department short-handed and a number of changes are being implemented including a $10-thousand hiring bonus for certified officers in an effort to recruit officers.