Cooke County commissioners approve proclamations, keep victim‑assistance pay as budgeted and set 35 mph on County Road 212

Cooke County Commissioners Court met in session and on the agenda approved two proclamations, kept the county’s victim assistance coordinator pay at the level previously set instead of authorizing a one‑year supplement from asset forfeiture funds, approved a 35 mph speed limit on County Road 212 in Precinct 2, and took several routine administrative actions including a budget transfer for EMS and authorization for quarterly Carter Blood Care drives in the library parking lot.

The court voted unanimously on a set of routine and contested items. After public proclamations honoring the 4‑H Youth Development Program and declaring October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the most contested discussion concerned a request from District Attorney John Warren to top up the salary of the county’s victim assistance coordinator after a grant that had funded part of the position expired.

Warren told the court that the coordinator, identified in the meeting as Cali, had lost roughly $20,000 in grant‑funded pay this year and that he had researched asset‑forfeiture law and was requesting permission to use $17,019 from the district attorney’s asset forfeiture account to restore salary for fiscal year 2026. “Cali does the work of two people,” Warren said, calling her a longtime employee and asking the court to make the position whole for one year while the office reapplies for grant funding.

Several commissioners objected to using forfeiture funds to augment a recurring salary on principle and as a matter of precedent. One commissioner said supplementing the position would…