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Sugar Land Today | October '08 - November '08 Issue

I sincerely hope that you, your family, and your home made it through Hurricane Ike safely and with minimal loss and that life is almost back to “normal” again for each of you. Now, several weeks since the storm arrived and left, I am grateful to say that Sugar Land was fortunate compared to other cities, and we are continuing to recover quite well. The article on the front page of this issue details some of the recovery efforts by the City.

In the days following Ike, I saw what makes our City so special: the citizens. Your patience was remarkable—whether it was demonstrated as we were unable to answer your questions about the schedule for power restoration or whether it was when the busy phone circuits kept forcing our Connect CTY calls to your voicemail. And the sense of community! You helped your neighbors clean their yards and stack their debris, and once you were done with those tasks, many of you also came to City Hall to volunteer to help those you didn’t know. This caring spirit in our community was a crucial part of our speedy recovery.

Over six hundred city employees worked countless hours before, during, after the storm. Their work extended far beyond the people at our Emergency Operations Center. All employees worked together to ensure we were prepared and ready to immediately begin recovery – and that you would continue to receive police, fire, public works, and utilities services throughout and after the storm. Despite the lack of power, we never had to ask you to boil your water, and the streets were substantially cleared within the first twelve hours.

Employees also worked to ensure that other behind-thescenes, but still very essential, daily operations continued throughout the storm. A great example of this is the fact that we did not have to delay the final presentation and adoption of the Fiscal Year 2009 budget on September 16, only days after Ike came ashore.

The 2009 budget illustrates the City Council’s current and past commitment to strong financial management. (See page 4 article.) The $169.7 million FY09 budget funds the Capital Improvement Program, the continued implementation of the City’s Strategic Plan, and enhancements such as a year-long 50th Anniversary Celebration, increased landscape maintenance on major thoroughfares, and ten new police officers in preparation for the creation of a 5th Beat. But, most importantly, it also continues to maintain a sizeable fund balance – the practice of which allowed us to approve several emergency contracts on September 16th, including an almost $2 million debris removal contract to ensure our recovery could continue to move forward.

Clearly, though the storm brought many uncomfortable days and a lot of hard work for our entire community, it also showed the character of this community. Again, I express my very sincere appreciation to you, the City of Sugar Land employees, and the City Council you have elected. Please continue to let us know what we can do to help as we all continue to return to our normal lives.

View Allen Bogard's Bio