The men and women responsible for the upkeep of the city’s streets and sewers will be receiving some new benefits.

The Dowagiac City Council approved the terms of a new two-year contract between the city and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the organization representing the Department of Public Works’ unionized workers. According to the terms of the contract, the workforce covered by the union will receive a 4 percent increase in pay, spread out over the next two years.

“It’s a fairly straightforward agreement,” said City Manager Kevin Anderson. “There are not a lot of changes to it overall. It calls for wage increases of 2 percent over each year of the contract; that’s fairly consistent with what we have with other bargaining union agreements that we’ve negotiated and that council has authorized for the non-bargaining unit.”

The city has been in talks with the union since June of 2014, with their previous contract expiring back on Dec. 31, Anderson said. This new agreement the city has worked out with the organization will run through Dec. 31 of 2016.

Besides the pay increase, the contract makes several changes to clauses inside the previous versions. One of these is to the grievance procedure, with the previous language requiring a joint conference between union members and city administration. The updated contract inserts new language, stipulating arbitration requirements instead.

“Both parties are in agreement about this,” Anderson said. “The last procedure we had was very cumbersome at the end, when it comes time to arbitrate.”

A new provision was also added that allows newly hired workers to advance to the three-year rate of pay by the end of their initial probationary period, should the employee perform well on an evaluation based on preestablished objective criteria.

“This is a fairly good thing for us to have,” Anderson said. “The last couple employees we had have come to the workforce with some outstanding skills to begin with. This allows them to move through that [process] a little quicker.”

The IBEW approved of the contract earlier this month, on Jan. 7.

Other business conducted by the council Monday included:

• The purchase of a used, track-based storage unit from Intercare Community Health Network for $3,000. The unit will be used for records at the Dowagiac Area History Museum.

• Appointment of Randall Gross to a vacant position on the Dowagiac Dial-a-Ride Transit board.

• Payment of the city’s outstanding bills and payroll, in the amount of $826,843.08.