The city of Goodhue has a tentative deal in place with the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office to police the city after local officers quit en masse last week.

The Sheriff’s Office announced the deal Wednesday night, pending approval from the Goodhue City Council, to provide police services to the area for the remainder of 2023. The Sheriff’s Office said in a statement it will hold further talks with city officials about policing in 2024.

It’s unclear how much the agreement will cost the city of Goodhue, or how many hours deputies will patrol the community each week. Goodhue city officials, including Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck, and the Sheriff’s Office have not responded to calls for comment Thursday.

The Goodhue City Council is scheduled to meet and review the deal next week.

Goodhue’s agreement comes after the city’s police force — one full-time officer and five part-time officers — quit following Police Chief Josh Smith’s resignation last week.

Smith reportedly left for a job with nearby Lake City police over pay and recruiting concerns. He has not publicly commented on his resignation but told the council during a public meeting last month he was fielding job offers while trying to replace a full-time officer who quit in June.

Smith argued the city wasn’t offering enough money to retain officers when other communities and metro areas were willing to pay better.

“Right now … trying to hire at $22 an hour, you’re never going to see another person again walk through those doors,” Smith told the council. He said smaller departments were offering at least $30 an hour.

The council held an emergency meeting Monday to figure out its next steps. Council members signaled they hoped to rebuild the city’s police department rather than permanently contract with the county.

At Monday’s meeting, Anderson Buck said the resignations took city officials by surprise. The council gave officers a 5% increase and Smith a $13,000 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.