Editing Sugar Land, Texas (section)

==Government and infrastructure==
===Local government===
[[File:SugarLandTXCityHall.JPG|right|thumb|City of Sugar Land City Hall, [[Sugar Land Town Square]], [[First Colony]]]]
[[File:SugarLAndFireDept1.JPG|thumb|The grounds of Sugar Land Fire Department #1 house the City of Sugar Land Fire Department offices, and at one time housed City Hall.]]
Sugar Land operates under the [[Council-Manager]] form of government. Under this system, Council appoints the [[city manager]], who acts as the chief executive officer of the government. The city manager carries out policy and administers city programs. All department heads, including the city attorney, police chief and fire chief, are ultimately responsible to the city manager.

Some of the strengths of the council-manager form of government as opposed to a strong-mayor form of government include - all councilmembers have equal rights, obligations and opportunities, the power is assigned to the council as a whole, and the city manager must be responsive in providing day-to-day services to citizens.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/index.aspx?nid=170| title=Form of Government| publisher=City of Sugar Land| access-date=August 31, 2016}}</ref>

Sugar Land has had four city managers since instituting the council-manager form of government in 1986:

* William H. Lewis (1986&ndash;1988)
* David Neeley (1988&ndash;2001)
* Allen Bogard (2001–2020)
*Michael Goodrum (2020–Present)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.click2houston.com/news/2019/11/02/sugar-land-names-new-city-manager/|title=Sugar Land names new city manager|last=Taylor|first=Brittany|date=November 2, 2019|website=KPRC|language=en|access-date=February 23, 2020}}</ref>

The average tenure nationwide for municipal and county managers is 7.4 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://icma.org/en/icma/career_network/education/data |title=Statistics and Data |website=ICMA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613055953/https://icma.org/en/icma/career_network/education/data |archive-date=June 13, 2010}}</ref> The City of Sugar Land's last two city managers have an average tenure of over 13 years. The longevity of Sugar Land's city managers indicates stability in this form of government.

Sugar Land's composition of the [[city council]] consists of a [[mayor]], four councilmembers to be elected by [[single-member districts]] in odd-numbered years and two councilmembers by [[at-large]] positions in even-numbered years with the mayor.

The city hall was built as part of the Sugar Land Town Square development in First Colony.<ref name="HallHeart">Hall, Christine. "[http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2005/04/18/focus2.html?q=%20Sugar%20Land%20Town%20Square%20%20%20First%20Colony Sugar Land Town Square gets a 'heart' with addition of City Hall]." ''[[Houston Business Journal]]''. April 15, 2005. Retrieved on May 15, 2010.</ref> Prior to the opening of the current city hall, city hall was located at 10405 Corporate Drive.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/template.asp?pageid=511 |title=City Phone Directory |publisher=City of Sugar Land |date=May 16, 2003 |access-date=June 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030725091402/http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/template.asp?pageid=511 |archive-date=July 25, 2003 }}</ref> That space was converted for use by the offices of the Sugar Land Fire Department.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/fire/programs/citizens_fire_academy/index.asp |title=Citizen's Fire Academy |publisher=City of Sugar Land |access-date=June 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719164401/http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/fire/programs/citizens_fire_academy/index.asp |archive-date=July 19, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Sugar Land has had nine mayors:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ci.sugar-land.tx.us/sugarland/about_us/history_presentation.asp |title=City of Sugar Land |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070720145744/http://www.ci.sugar-land.tx.us/sugarland/about_us/history_presentation.asp |archive-date=July 20, 2007}}</ref>
* T. E. Harman (1959–1961)
* Bill Little (1962–1967)
* C. E. McFadden (1968–1972)
* Roy Cordes Sr. (1972–1981)
* Walter McMeans (1981–1986)
* Lee Duggan (1987–1996)
* [[Dean A. Hrbacek]] (1996–2002)
* [[David G. Wallace]] (2002–2008)
* [[James A. Thompson (Texas politician)|James A. Thompson]] (2008–2016)
* Joe R. Zimmerman (2016–Present)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/index.aspx?nid=160|title=Mayor & City Council - Sugar Land, TX - Official Website|website=Sugarlandtx.gov|access-date=May 2, 2017}}</ref>

===Politics===
At the start of the 21st century, Sugar Land was well-known as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] stronghold.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/04/26/for-a-conservative-life-is-sweet-in-sugar-land-tex/0a2f5ae5-2892-4a0f-83c0-c8e7b1817fe5/ |title=For a Conservative, Life Is Sweet in Sugar Land, Tex. |date=2004-04-26 |access-date=2022-10-11 |newspaper=The Washington Post |last=Finkel |first=David}}</ref> More recently, the city has been trending [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] in presidential elections; after voting Republican in 2012<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fortbendcountytx.gov/sites/default/files/2021-11/CanvassReport.pdf |title=2012 Canvass Report |access-date=2022-10-11}}</ref> and 2016,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fortbendcountytx.gov/sites/default/files/2021-11/FBCcanvass2016PDF.pdf |title=2016 Canvass Report |access-date=2022-10-11}}</ref> Sugar Land was won by [[Joe Biden]] in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fortbendcountytx.gov/sites/default/files/document-central/document-central/elections-documents/2020-election-results/FBCCanvass.pdf |title=2020 Canvass Report |access-date=2022-10-11}}</ref>

Sugar Land is located in [[Texas's 22nd congressional district]]. It is represented in the US House of Representatives by Republican [[Troy Nehls]], a former Fort Bend county sheriff. The district had long elected former House Majority Leader [[Tom DeLay]], who served from here from 1985 until his 2006 resignation.  Previously in 1976, Republicans ran a write-in campaign and gained election of Republican [[Ron Paul]], who served briefly in 1976. He ran for a full term in 1978, serving from 1979 until 1985.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Stronghold: How Republicans Captured Congress But Surrendered the White House |last=Schaller| first=Thomas F. |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0300172034 |pages=173}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=P000583 |title=Biography Ronald Ernest Paul |website=Bioguide.congress.gov |publisher=Biographical Director of the United States Congress |access-date=November 23, 2017}}</ref>

In the [[Texas Legislature]], most of Sugar Land is represented in [[Texas Senate, District 17|District 17]] of the [[Texas Senate]], which is represented by Republican [[Joan Huffman]]. Some western segments of the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction, including the master-planned communities of [[New Territory, Texas|New Territory]], [[Greatwood, Texas|Greatwood]], River Park and [[Telfair, Sugar Land|Telfair]], are situated in [[Texas Senate, District 18|District 18]], represented by Republican [[Lois Kolkhorst]]. She succeeded [[Glenn Hegar]] in a 2014 special election following the latter's election as [[Texas State Comptroller]] earlier that year.

In the [[Texas House of Representatives]], most of Sugar Land is located in District 26, which is represented by Republican [[Rick Miller (Texas politician)|Rick Miller]], a retired [[United States Navy]] officer and current Sugar Land businessman.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/138333/rick-miller |title=Rick Miller's Biography |website=Vote Smart |access-date=March 1, 2014}}</ref> Some parts of the city are also represented by Democrat [[Ron Reynolds (Texas politician)|Ron Reynolds]] (the Sugar Land Business Park) in District 27 and Republican Phil Stephenson in District 85 (the River Park, Commonwealth and Riverstone communities).

===County government===
Fort Bend County does not have a hospital district. OakBend Medical Center serves as the county's charity hospital which the county contracts with.<ref>{{cite web|last=Knipp|first=Bethany|url=https://communityimpact.com/news/2016/11/02/fort-bend-county-lacks-hospital-district/|title=Fort Bend County lacks hospital district|newspaper=[[Community Impact Newspaper]]|date=November 2, 2016|access-date=October 18, 2021}}</ref>

===State government===
The [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]] (TDCJ) operates the [[Jester State Prison Farm]] complex ([[Jester I Unit|Jester I]], [[Carol Vance Unit|Vance]], [[Jester III Unit|Jester III]], and [[Jester IV Unit|Jester IV]]) in an [[unincorporated area]] near Sugar Land.<!--Vance is one of the institutions of the Jester farm--><ref>Nowell, Scott. "[http://www.houstonpress.com/2003-09-18/news/doing-time/ Doing Time]" ''[[Houston Press]]''. Thursday September 18, 2003. Retrieved on September 23, 2011.</ref>

The TDCJ operated the [[Central Unit]] in Sugar Land.<ref>"[http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/unitdirectory/c.htm CENTRAL (C)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725200946/http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/unitdirectory/c.htm |date=2010-07-25 }}." ''[[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]]''. Retrieved September 14, 2008.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://svrch15.sugarlandtx.gov/website/street_locator/viewer.htm |title=Street/Address Locator |publisher=City of Sugar Land |access-date=June 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609004604/http://svrch15.sugarlandtx.gov/website/street_locator/viewer.htm |archive-date=June 9, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Central Unit was the only state prison within the city limits of Sugar Land.<ref name="HansonHist">Hanson, Eric. "[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5640750.html Historic prison may be closed]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. March 22, 2008. Retrieved on April 30, 2011.</ref> The Sugar Land Distribution Center, a TDCJ men's correctional supply warehouse, was inside the Central Unit compound.<ref name="SLDC">"[http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/manufacturing-logistics/transport/transport-agricul--warehs.htm Sugar Land Distribution Center] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100712211436/http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/manufacturing-logistics/transport/transport-agricul--warehs.htm |date=2010-07-12 }}." [[Texas Department of Criminal Justice]]. Retrieved on May 22, 2010.</ref> In 2011 the TDCJ announced that the prison was closing and would be vacant by the end of August of that year.<ref>Ward, Mike. "[http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=59098 Texas closing prison as part of cutbacks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401142044/http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=59098 |date=2012-04-01 }}." ''[[Austin American-Statesman]]'' at KDH News. Wednesday August 3, 2011. Retrieved on September 23, 2011.</ref> With the prison's closing, Sugar Land became the first Texas city to have its state prison close without a replacement facility.<ref>Maxey, Elsa. "[http://www.fortbendstar.com/?p=7238 Sugar Land Central prison unit to be emptied out by end of August]." ''[[Fort Bend Star]]''. Retrieved on September 30, 2011.</ref>

===Post offices===
[[File:SugarLandPostOfficeSugarLandTX.JPG|thumb|Sugar Land Post Office]]The [[United States Postal Service]] operates the Sugar Land Post Office at 225 Matlage Way and the First Colony Post Office at 3130 Grants Lake Boulevard.<ref>"[https://archive.today/20120719165856/http://usps.whitepages.com/service/post_office/48747?p=1&s=TX&service_name=post_office&z=Sugar+Land Post Office Location - SUGAR LAND]". ''[[United States Postal Service]]''. Retrieved on December 6, 2008.</ref><ref>"[https://archive.today/20120718001903/http://usps.whitepages.com/service/post_office/57192?p=1&s=TX&service_name=post_office&z=Sugar+Land Post Office Location - FIRST COLONY]". ''[[United States Postal Service]]''. Retrieved on December 6, 2008.</ref>