'Recent road resurfacing was illegal'; City responds to blog claim

VENUS - A recent news release issued by the city of Venus states they became aware of a blog posting in late December of last year by an A.B. Owens and Ben Clopton accusing them of illegal road construction.

The two, according to the city, "routinely make false claims" costing the taxpayers thousands of dollars per year.

Owens and Clopton accused the city of conducting a road project without a licensed professional engineer with a blog posting of an email appearing to be from the Texas Board of Professional Engineers to support their claim.

The TBPE is a licensing organization working to make sure engineers in the state of Texas are competent, continually educated and reputable.

According to the Texas Attorney General, professional groups such as this one are not regulatory and have no enforcement over municipalities.

The city of Venus contacted the TBPE where the board notified the city no complaint has been filed regarding the street resurfacing project. According to the news release, the board also informed the city the email posted online was not an official public statement, they would not support its contents and questioned if it was even real.

Though the city is not regulated by them, the city does see TBPE as a partner in good government. The board agreed to work with the city to correct the misrepresentations made.

Venus City Attorney Cass Callaway reviewed the statutes regarding engineering requirements and ruled the city to be in full compliance.

The street project in question, was a road resurfacing project.

"No new curbs were built, no culverts constructed, no widening done, no changes in grade or any other engineered change allowing the city to not have an engineered plan uniquely drafted for the project," stated Callaway.