Sugar Land, Texas – The Center for Digital Government (CDG) named Sugar Land among the nation’s top five cities that successfully use technology to improve citizen services, enhance transparency and encourage citizen engagement.
Sugar Land competed against cities ranging in populations from 75,000-124,999 in CDG’s 2017 Digital Cities Survey. Rounding out the list were places like Boulder, Colo.; Roanoke, Va.; Pueblo, Colo.; Allen, Texas; San Leandro, Calif.; and others. The complete list is posted at www.govtech.com/dc/digital-cities/Digital-Cities-Survey-2017-Winners-Announced.html.
“This year’s leading digital cities are leveraging technology to connect citizens with critical information and services, promote citizen inclusion in important government processes and share government data with the public,” said Teri Takai, executive director of the Center for Digital Government. “Thanks to the efforts of (cities like Sugar Land), citizens can now meaningfully interact with city government more easily than in any other time in history.”
Judges specifically credited Sugar Land for innovative efforts to engage the public utilizing numerous social media platforms and transparency initiatives that leverage online tools such as the city website and mobile applications.
“Tied for seventh place in last year's survey, Sugar Land, Texas, has climbed to fifth, buoyed by what judges recognized as solid decisions,” wrote Government Technology. “This year the city joined the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), enhancing its cybersecurity posture, and also launched a newly redesigned website with simplified navigation options. Also newly arrived is the MySugarLand app, which is integrated with the city's computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) from Cityworks and lets residents report related concerns.
“This summer, Sugar Land launched the City Council Goal Measures Dashboard to let residents monitor the council's progress. The city (further expanded) its social media video offerings via a production-quality livestreaming system, and … for the first time this year, the city hosted several Town Hall and City Council meetings on Facebook Live.”
Sugar Land and other top-10 ranked cities will be honored at an awards ceremony during the National League of Cities’ annual conference in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 16. City staff will not travel to the awards ceremony.
The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute focused on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. CDG is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education.
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