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The Oakboro Police Department’s future appears to be in doubt after a decision made Tuesday night by the Oakboro Town Commission.

At a special called meeting at Oakboro Town Hall, commissioners unanimously voted to ask Town Administrator Georgia Harvey to go into contract negotiations with the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for police coverage of the town.

The board initially called the special meeting to approve a grant resolution, which the board did as well.

After a closed session at the meeting, the board came back into open session, where Commissioner Brett Barbee made the motion to lock into a contract for police protection for the Town of Oakboro with Stanly County Sheriff’s Office and give Harvey the authority to negotiate the contract. Commissioner Lanny Hathcock seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

In a statement to the Stanly News & Press, Harvey said three of the town’s five full-time officers have submitted their resignations as of Tuesday night.

“At last night’s council meeting the board unanimously agreed to move forward with entering into contractual negotiations with the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement protection. This comes in lieu of the majority of the police officers submitting their letters of resignation,” the statement read. “We as town board members want you to know that our town is not going without law enforcement protection. Since May the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office has been assisting with coverage and they assure us they will continue to provide coverage until a contract can be reached. Moving forward we as a town board will do our very best to keep you informed on this progress.”

This is a developing story.