FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) -- The Fort Pierce Police Officers Union and city negotiators finally reached an agreement to raise wages for all officers in the department.

Optimism of an eventual agreement had been growing in recent weeks, after a recent city commission meetingoffered clarity on the commission's view of the negotiations.

Prior to that city commission meeting, negotiations seemed far apart at the previous bargaining session, where city negotiators mentioned the potential of exploring the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office as an option to police the city, if an impasse was reached.

At that session, the union's asked for a 28% salary increase over three years, and the city offered a 16% increase over the same period of time.

During Monday's negotiations, which spanned nearly four hours, the two sides focused on getting an agreeable number in year one, rather than expanding the pay raises over several years.

Now that the number has been agreed to, the union will now await a contract from the city, and the members of the union will vote on this agreed-upon wage increase.