The Cedar Falls City council voted 5 to 2 to slowly start replacing firefighter positions with Public Safety Officers or PSO's. Thursday night's meeting got heated quickly as both the fire department and police department had the chance to share their thoughts ahead of the vote. Many others also spoke, spending more than an hour sharing their opinions. Cedar Falls approved combining the roles of police and firefighters in 2014, calling them public safety officers. The city hoped this would save money and increase the number of responders. But many have criticized the change. During the four-hour meeting council members and city leaders took different positions on the program. Dozens of community members wore red in protest of the idea. Many firefighters have quit over the program, saying they don't feel safe working with PSO's. A referral was added to the end of the agenda which adds a task force to oversee the new department and operations.