A vote to ban robot brothels in Conroe was unanimous at Conroe City Council on Dec. 13. “I am sure that all of you who watch the news are familiar with the situation that occurred down in Houston where a business was proposed of this variety and the city council reacted by amending its sex-oriented business ordinance to prohibit this type of business," Conroe City Attorney Marc Winberry said at the Dec. 12 workshop. "Several other communities in the area have followed suit ... the proposed amendment that has been prepared will bring us in line with the responses of all those other communities." This comes after the city of Houston rewrote an ordinance to effectively ban the operation of robot brothels within city limits in early October. In Harris County, activists opposed to human trafficking approached Harris County Commissioners Court on Oct. 9 to ask the county to ensure those business operators do not move into less-regulated, unincorporated parts of the county. Oak Ridge North’s city council also unanimously banned robot brothels in early November. Conroe City Administrator Paul Virgadamo said after the meeting that no business of this type had made an attempt to locate in Conroe. "We try to pay attention to what's happening in Texas. You begin to see these things start popping up in cities and people react to it," Virgadamo said. "We wanted to be proactive and make sure Conroe was covered." Additional highlights from the Dec. 13 meeting include city council: -Voting unanimously to use $20,000 from the hotel occupancy tax to market and host the Bass Pro Tour Major League Fishing Tournament to be held on Lake Conroe in February 2019. Major League Fishing announced Lake Conroe as the second venue for its eight-event tour Dec. 12. -Voting unanimously to use hotel occupancy tax funds to promote tourism by enhancing and upgrading existing sports facilities and to undertake a convention center hotel project funded in part from the state hotel occupancy tax and sales taxes generated by the project. -Voting 4-1, with councilmember Seth Gibson voting against, to eliminate the tree survey requirement for property development. The council also increased the threshold for protected tree status, which increases single tree preservation and new tree replacement planting requirements.