Editing Sugar Land, Texas (section)

===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>