Three city council members were effectively re-elected for another term during this week’s Sugar Land City Council Meeting.
Council members unanimously approved an ordinance declaring Don Olson, Russell Jones and Michael Schiff re-elected because they are all unopposed in the May municipal election.
In briefing materials provided to the council, City Secretary Glenda Gundermann said the filing period for those seats had closed and, under state law, the three incumbents can be declared re-elected without opposition.
“The filing deadline for placement on the ballot and for declaration of write-in candidacy has passed and each of the candidates for council member for districts two, three and four are unopposed,” Gundermann noted. “The Texas Election Code, section 2.053, authorizes a governing body to declare each unopposed candidate elected to office and to cancel the election for the respective unopposed office.”
Pursuant to state law, an Order of Cancellation will be posted on election day at each of the polling places where an unopposed candidate would have run.
Olson will be serving his second term representing District Two. He was first elected in May 2007.
OLSON
Olson and his wife Celia moved to First Colony in 1983 and reside in Meadow Lakes. The Olsons have two married children and five grandchildren.
JONES
Jones was first elected to represent District Three in May of 2003 and was re-elected in 2005 and 2007 for two-year subsequent terms. He also made an unsuccessful run for mayor last year.
Jones and his wife, Thelma Holoway Jones, have been residents of Colony Park in First Colony since 1994. They have two daughters and two sons-in-law.
Schiff was first appointed to the city council District Four seat in June 2002, elected for a full term in May 2003 and re-elected in 2005 and 2007.
SCHIFF
Schiff and his late wife Jan became residents of Sugar Land in 1981. He has two adult children and currently serves as mayor pro tem.
Even though three of the single-member district seats have been filled, Sugar Land will still have one council member to elect in the May election.
PARMER
Incumbent District One Councilman Dennis Parmer is not seeking re-election. He has served on city council since 2003.
Two candidates are vying for Parmer’s seat. Consultant Don Smithers and psychotherapist George Kakkanatt are running to represent District One.
