GOODHUE, Minnesota (AP)-- A little Minnesota town will soon be without an authorities department, an exodus spurred by low spend for the chief and his officers.
Goodhue Police Chief Josh Smith and another officer are still on the force, but only up until their resignations end up being official on Aug. 23, the
Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. Smith sent his resignation at a City Council meeting Aug. 9, while another full-time officer and five part-time staff members resigned Friday after finding out that Smith was stepping down.
" This is heartbreaking to us," Goodhue Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck said Monday night after an emergency council conference. Goodhue, in southeastern Minnesota, has about 1,300 residents.
The council will look for extra enforcement from the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office while town authorities work to rebuild the department.
Smith did not respond to require comment. He told the council in July that the city wasn't using adequate cash to keep officers when other places were willing to use much better pay amidst increasing task vacancies. Goodhue likewise hasn't matched other cities' rewards such as sign-on bonuses, which Smith stated affected recruiting.
" Trying to employ at $22 an hour, you're never going to see another person once again walk through those doors," Smith told the council. He said smaller sized departments pay a minimum of $30 an hour.
The mayor stated the mass resignations were surprising since the council offered officers a 5% increase and Smith a $13,000 raise earlier this year.
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Goodhue is the latest little Minnesota community that's having a hard time to stay up to date with law enforcement needs amid increasing spending plan costs and a continuous scarcity of officers.
In 2015, the cops department in Morris was disbanded after an unstable few months during which the department eroded to just the chief and one other officer. The town now contracts with the Stevens County Sheriff's Office.
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