GOODHUE, Minn. – The City Council voted unanimously to shut down the city’s police department in response to a mass resignation by every officer. Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck said she has been in talks with Goodhue County Sheriff Marty Kelly to take calls from Goodhue. Further backup can be provided by the State Patrol, which polices State Highway 58 through Goodhue, the mayor said. Mayor Buck said she was gobsmacked last week when Police Chief Josh Smith quit over police salaries, which the Council had increased by $13,000 a few months earlier. All the officers resigned in support of Smith’s request for more noney. Mayor Buck agreed tyhat salaries were low but had hoped the officers would have come back to the Council this week to discuss a resolution, It didn’t happen. “We have a very small budget,” she said. “We’re a small community.” With the officers dug in, outsourcing to the county was the only recourse, the mayor said. Long term, she added, the city is looking to hire new officers. She acknowledged that this may be difficult. Statewide there are 200 vacant police officer positions.

Earlier: Cops all quitting in Goodhue over salaries