The city of Goodhue is in turmoil after its police force resigned last week.

The city of 1,300 about 15 miles south of Red Wing will be without local law enforcement after Aug. 23, the last day for Police Chief Josh Smith and one other officer.

“This is heartbreaking to us,” Goodhue Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck said Monday night after an emergency Goodhue City Council meeting.

Smith resigned at a City Council meeting Aug. 9. Another full-time officer and five part-time employees resigned on Aug. 11 after hearing Smith quit.

Smith reportedly resigned for a job with nearby Lake City police over pay and recruiting concerns. He did not respond to calls for comment Monday.

Anderson Buck said the resignations took city officials by surprise. The council gave officers a 5% raise earlier this year but Goodhue officers were still paid lower than comparable communities.

“We were trying very, very hard to bring those numbers up,” Anderson Buck said.

The council will seek extra enforcement from the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office in the interim. The mayor and other officials plan to speak with Sheriff Marty Kelly on Wednesday on what it would cost for deputies to patrol the community while Goodhue officials work to rebuild the town’s police force.

Goodhue County already provides extra enforcement for some communities, Anderson Buck pointed out. Wanamingo contracts with the county to have deputies on patrol.

Yet, other council members pointed out that paying the county staff the same hours as local police — about 16 hours a day, seven days a week — would cost about $325,000 if the county charges Goodhue similar to what it charges Wanamingo. That’s far over the city’s police budget.

The council appeared to agree on rebuilding the city’s police force rather than permanently contracting with the county, though it’s unclear how long that will take. Even then, city officials say it will be “an uphill climb” to restore the department.

“They provided excellent safety and security to our community,” Council member Chris Schmit said. “We want that back.”

Roxanne Fischer, a Goodhue resident who attended the council meeting Monday, said she was surprised the entire police force had resigned but expects the council to work hard to rebuild the department.

“Our officers were very visible,” Fischer said. “We just knew if we needed them, they would be there.”

Goodhue is the latest in a number of small Minnesota towns struggling to keep up with public safety demands amid increasing budget costs and an ongoing shortage of peace officers throughout the state.

Officials in Morris, Minn., disbanded that city’s police department a year ago, contracting with the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services. The move followed a turbulent few months during which the Police Department was whittled to just two officers, including the chief.

Staff writer Jenny Berg contributed to this article.