Today’s meeting of the Brown County Commissioners Court was busy and lengthy, with a number of matters considered.

The Commissioners canvassed the election results from the May 28 run-off elections in Precincts 1 and 3.  Elections Administrator Brenda Arp presented the final vote totals.  For County Commissioner, Precinct 3, David “Doc” Reid defeated incumbent Wayne Shaw by four votes:  346 to 342.  For the open office of Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1, Mitchell Jacobson defeated Dustin Larremore:  198 – 138.  Arp also requested funds to purchase signs to help with curbside voting for disabled persons.  Commissioners approved $3,100 for the purchase of twenty curbside voting signs from Willie’s T’s.  The signs will be posted at all voting locations in the County.

Commissioners also heard from Sam Goldsmith of Goldsmith Solutions, the County’s information technology consultant.  In reviewing the County’s computer systems, Goldsmith found that the County is spending too much money for desktop printers and toner.  He recommended a contract with Kirbo’s Office Systems that will include 68 Lexmark desktop printers and 3 Lexmark printer/copy machines.  The contract will include the printers, service, repair/replacement, and toner for 60 months at a cost of $1,253 per month, up to 62,650 copies per month.  That would lower the County’s cost per copy to 2-cents per page.  Currently the County is purchasing the printers and toner on an as-needed basis, and spending as much as 4-cents per page.  Commissioners approved the contract with Kirbo’s Office Systems.

Sheriff Vance Hill addressed the Commissioners with a request to add a K-9 program to the Sheriff’s Department.  He has collected $11,650 in donations to pay for the K-9 program, and requested permission to accept the donations and add the program.  Commissioners agreed.

Commissioners agreed to leave the burn ban off for now.  They also agreed to set no restrictions on fireworks for the 4th of July holiday.

Commissioners listened to a lengthy presentation about County Road 310 from Dean Clements, who lives adjacent to the road.  CR 310 has not been maintained by the County for several years, creating issues for Clements and two other land owners.  The issues include access to their land, trash being dumped on the road by other persons, etc.  Commissioners talked with Clements for an extended period of time.  They took no action today, but agreed to work with Clements to find a solution to the situation.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Larry Traweek presented a request from Sunoco Pipeline L.P. to install a private natural gas line on County Road 171.  Commissioners approved the request.

James Masters presented an annual report from the County’s Veterans Service Office.  Some of the highlights of his report:

*** There are currently 2,863 military veterans in Brown County.  Thirty-seven served in World War II, 169 in Korea, 998 in Vietnam, 523 in Desert Storm, 599 in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, and 537 during the Cold War and other periods of service.

*** $23,006,000 in federal benefits to veterans were received in 2023 through direct compensation and pension payments to veterans and their widows.

*** The County’s Veterans Service Office assisted disabled veterans and their dependents with education applications resulting in $1,092,000 to higher education institutions in Brown County and online educational institutions.

*** The County’s Veterans Service Office provided services to 958 Brown County veterans in 2023.

*** The Veterans Administration Health Clinic in Brown County provided services to 2,177 veterans.  The services included direct patient care, nursing home care, home health care contracted services, and community care primarily provided by Hendrick Medical Center Brownwood.  The value of these services was $17,721,000.  The VA Clinic payroll was $2,100,000.