The regular meeting of the Robertson County Commissioners was prefaced with a concern by a local county resident. His property had been vandalized recently and he was upset by the response from local law enforcement. The Sheriff’s department gave the resident some pointers on safety and explained that it was not a criminal matter and they would have to take up the issue with the civil courts. The resident wanted to express his frustration, and that of other neighbors who are experiencing vandalism on their property. The commissioners were happy to hear his complaints and thanked him for his time. As the meeting progressed, Rebekah Calloway addressed the court regarding dates and locations for the upcoming May runoff elections. The commissioners listened to her recommendations and discussed the different options and finally decided on three locations for the runoff election; Franklin, Bremond and Hearne. The commissioners all agreed that Bremond voters should have a polling location open as it is the furthest from the other two regular polling locations. The county is still awaiting word on a grant applied for to do some work on Vaughn Lane just outside of Hearne off of FM 485. The grant is in the final stages and they expect to hear something soon. They are still awaiting word on the General Land Office grant that they county applied for last year. The municipal grants have recently been awarded and the GLO is still working on the County level funds. Funds for the Robertson County Sheriff’s office from Texas Senate Bill 22 in the amount of $300,000.00 has been awarded and the Sheriff’s office and Commissioners wasted no time in finding three vehicles for the department for only $150,000.00. The leftover funds will be used to upgrade the current vehicles and purchase safety equipment for the department. The District Attorney’s office was awarded $175,000.00 and they plan to use their funds to hire an Assistant District Attorney. Judge Jo David Scarpinato announced that the County offices were preparing for an auction and they are currently doing spring cleaning around the various offices for computers, office equipment, furniture and other working items that the county no longer needs. The county auction will take several months to plan and execute, but they hope to have many gently used items available to purchase. The commissioners plan to have a workshop regarding Hotel/Motel Tax or HOT funds and the three most recent approvals. The commissioners want to review the rules on what counties can use HOT funds to do and then review the recent requests to make sure they meet current guidelines. Commissioner Threadgill expressed that these recipients should be informed immediately and Mayor Rick Swick of Bremond expressed concern about his meeting with Kathy Hedrick to review his HOT funds request for the annual Polski Dzein festival. Judge Scarpinato assured Threadgill that he would contact the three recipients as soon as possible and assured Mayor Swick that his meeting would not be in vain and he should go ahead with the request. The commissioners approved the first permit for a special event, giving the go-ahead to the Robertson County Gunslingers for their annual trail ride. The group took great pains to work with law enforcement, emergency management and county commissioners to make a safety plan and inform local first responders of the dates, times and location of their event. It is an annual event that has not had any issues in the past and the group had safety measures in place before the recent guidelines were in place. The commissioners and judge were pleased to approve the very first special event permit and they hope all future permits are as easily granted.