League City officials respond to accusations on watchdog website

by Hayley Kappes/ The Daily News
khou.com
Posted on March 24, 2011 at 10:43 AM

LEAGUE CITY, Texas — High-ranking city staff members have responded to allegations that have been circulating and were published by a website claiming to be a League City governmental watchdog.

The website berates the city for wasteful spending on projects, including the renovation of city hall. It also claims there’s a conflict of interest in city-awarded engineering contracts and that special preference was given to maintenance of Fourth Street, a public road leading to the Clear Creek Gun Range owned by the father-in-law of Mayor Toni Randall.

City Manager Marcus Jahns at Tuesday’s council meeting addressed some of the allegations, which have circulated before the website launched.

"In keeping with our values of being open and transparent, I thought it would be best to address council so they hear the same thing," Jahns said. "A lot of this is purely not true, and it’s starting to impact staff."

The site was registered Feb. 9 through Domains By Proxy, a company that allows users to anonymously launch a website.

A representative from the company could not be reached Wednesday.

The company website states that in special situations, it might be necessary for Domains By Proxy to reveal the name and some personal information of someone who has registered privately, including when required by law, or in "the good faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the edicts of the law."

The website accuses the city of awarding a couple of design engineering contracts to Aledo-based Wasteline Engineering because some of the company’s employees previously worked for Lubbock-based Oller Engineering, owned by Rich Oller, League City’s assistant city manager of public works.


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