The Sugar Land City Council discussed several topics at their Sept.27 workshop meeting, including an in-depth review of the city's red light camera system, the feasibility of giving money to nearby Texas State Technical College and prospective bills to watch in the 2017 Texas legislative session. The Sugar Land City Council discussed red light cameras, the upcoming Texas legislative session and giving money to Texas State Technical College at a workshop meeting Sept. 27.[/caption] Here are three key takeaways from this week's workshop session.

1. The city will install red light camera systems at two intersections.

One camera system will be installed at the intersection of Hwy. 90 and Eldridge Road/Lombardy Drive in October. The other camera system is estimated to be installed in January 2017 at the intersection of Elkins Road and University Boulevard. The city has existing cameras at Hwys. 59 and 6, West Airport Boulevard and Eldridge Parkway, Hwy. 6 and Lexington Boulevard, and Hwy. 90 and Dairy Ashford Road. The city adds or removes the camera systems based on driver behavior patterns, so if an intersection becomes less of a problem, a camera may be removed, Sugar Land administrative coordinator Peggy Heinemeyer said. Of the 16 most problematic intersections for the city, 11 of them involve Hwy. 90, according to meeting documents.

2. Council is considering giving $100,000 dollars to Texas State Technical College, but still has questions.

Texas State Technical College opened a new $40 million campus in Rosenberg and is seeking participation from the city of Sugar Land for support. The college requested $100,000 in support from the city, but some council members are grappling with whether spending money on a non-Sugar Land campus is a good use of the city's funds when it has other pending projects. While members all said they were supportive of the work of the technical college, the council decided it wanted city staff to research if it has given entities outside of Sugar Land money and how often. "We owe a huge responsibility to people in Sugar Land and we need to make sure before we start spending money for something outside of Sugar Land that the citizens of our community are also going to be of the opinion that's a good use of our money as well," council member Amy Mitchell said.

3. Council was briefed on the upcoming 2017 Texas Legislative session.

Members of Focused Advocacy, an Austin-based public affairs, lobbying and legislative consulting firm, told City Council of several items anticipated on the agenda that would affect municipalities. One topic expected from the Legislature pertains to sanctuary cities, or cities where police decline cooperation with the federal government regarding immigration status. Another issue could be annexation reform, which could involve requiring communities being annexed to vote on the issue. Focused Advocacy also cited potential bills that would aim to lower city revenue caps to address concerns that property taxes are rising too quickly. Bill filing begins Nov. 14. The 2017 session officially starts Jan. 10. and ends May 29.