A small Alabama town took further action against its three-person police department after outrage erupted over one of them texting a racist joke about slavery to a colleague.

CNN reports that the Vincent City Council voted at a public meeting on Thursday (Aug. 18) to abolish its police department.

Previously, the lawmakers voted at an Aug. 4 emergency meeting to suspend the police chief and assistant police chief with pay over the incident. The third officer resigned immediately after the council’s Aug. 4 vote.

RELATED: Alabama Town Disbands Police Department After Officer’s Racist Text Surfaces

A legal issue prevented the council from terminating the officers, USA Today reported. At the public meeting on Thursday, Mayor James D. Latimer explained to residents that the city’s attorney said termination of city employees requires two written complaints and a verbal warning, which never happened in this case.

Consequently, voting to disband the police department solved that problem. "It's not firing them. It's laying them off," Latimer stated.

The mayor told CNN that the two suspended officers, who had filed retirement documents during the uproar, will be laid off five days after the council passed the ordinance to dissolve the department.

He said the controversial text was sent in June. Al.com published a screenshot of the racist joke about about slavery sent from someone identified as “752” to an unknown recipient.

City officials plan to rebuild their police department. In the meantime, they will contract with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services.

Vincent, a city of less than 2,000 people, is located about 30 miles southeast of Birmingham. Its residents are about 85% white and 12% Black.