New Lake Jackson assistant city manager comes with wealth of experience

Riazul Mia

The Facts
By CYNTHIA ZELAYA cynthia.zelaya@thefacts.com
June 13, 2023

LAKE JACKSON — A municipal administrator with a passion serve the public is applying that love to the City of Enchantment.

Riazul Mia joined Lake Jackson as its new assistant city manager June 5. He replaces Megan Borth, who left earlier this year.

“I love public service. I believe we are born to serve other people,” Mia said.

Hailing from Bangladesh, Mia attained his first degree in civil engineering from Bangladesh University, not knowing it was the first of many academic achievements in his future.

Upon coming to the United States, he procured a master’s in civil engineering from Louisiana State University. Following graduation in 1996, Mia dove into a career in local government, starting in Laredo.

“It’s a border town, they’re very friendly,” Mia said. “It’s not a very mixed culture like what you see in Lake Jackson … mostly Hispanic. It was great. But I never thought I would have spent 27 years of my life there. I enjoyed it.”

The years in Laredo flew by as Mia worked his way up from his first job as the director of environmental services to utilities director and eventually up to assistant city manager in 2020. This career growth ran parallel to his academic growth. As his responsibilities at work grew, he realized he would benefit from more skills in leadership. This led him to pursue a master’s in public administration from Texas A&M-Laredo in 2003.

But he wasn’t done yet. In 2006, Mia was given the opportunity of a lifetime when he was accepted to the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program in Harvard.

“I spent almost six weeks in Harvard; that was probably the best thing to ever happen in my life,” Mia said “Every year, only 100 people get to go to that academy. They take people from all over the world. I was very fortunate and honored to be there.”

He recalled the caliber of people present, including big-name politicians and officials, delighted to have gotten to work, learn and network by their side.

As education and life experiences shaped him through the years, Mia came to specialize in hydraulics, drainage and the management of watershed, waste and the environment, to name a few. He developed programs in Laredo to solve its flooding problems over the course of 15 years. Although Laredo is dry and not too prone to rainfall, any small amount of rain would often cause severe flooding. Thanks to his drainage project, the flooding issue has been solved, he said.

He decided to leave Laredo to spend time with his family and travel with his wife, not expecting another opportunity to come along so soon, Mia said. City Manager Modesto Mundo gave him an extra month before starting in Lake Jackson to allow Mia his intended break, Mia said.

Mia is looking forward to putting his insight and experience to use in Lake Jackson, he said, already planning solutions and preventative measures to protect the city from floods in years to come.