4 8 25 City Council Proceedings Official SpecialCITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA
CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS
SPECIAL SESSION
OFFICIAL
The Dubuque City Council met in special session at 6:30 p.m. on April 8, 2025, in the
second-floor Council Chambers of the Historic Federal Building, 350 W. 6th Street.
Present: Mayor Cavanagh; Council Members Farber, Jones, Resnick, Roussell (at-
tended virtually), Sprank, Wethal; City Manager Van Milligen (attended virtually).
Mayor Cavanagh read the call and stated this is a special session of the City Council
called for the purpose of receiving presentations on certain Fiscal Year 2026 Department
Budgets.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
City staff presented Fiscal Year 2026 departmental budgets and responded to City
Council questions following each presentation. Presentations were given by representa-
tives from the following departments:
1. Airport Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Presentation: Airport Director Todd Dalsing. Mayor
Cavanagh requested that Improvement Package No. 3 for an additional $10,000 for ad-
vertising expenses, which was not recommended, be held for consideration during the
final hearing to adopt the budget. In response to questions about why the improvement
package was not recommended, Van Milligen referred to the package description, which
indicated that the additional advertising was intended for events, rather than for commer-
cial flights. As a result, Van Milligen concluded that the request did not align with the City
Council’s top priority on air service. Dalsing confirmed that, if approved, the funds could
be spent on advertising for commercial air service, which City Council expressed support
for. All seven Council Members concurred with holding the improvement package for dis-
cussion during the final budget hearing. Council Members requested a report be submit-
ted for the final budget hearing outlining how the funds would be all ocated toward com-
mercial air service advertising if approved. They also acknowledged that a recurring im-
provement package request must be identified to offset the cost of this proposal if they
chose to approve it.
2. Purchase of Services Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Presentation : Assistant City Manager
Cori Burbach.
3. Planning Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Presentation: Planning Services Director Wally
Wernimont.
4. Economic Development Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Presentation: Economic Develop-
ment Director Jill Connors, Assistant Economic Development Director Ian Hatch, and Arts
and Cultural Affairs Manager Bonnie Spurling. Clark Schloz, 2925 Burlington St., spoke
on the City’s engagement with developers, road use tax funds, and the Unified Develop-
ment Code (UDC) update.
5. Finance Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Presentation: Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Lar-
son, Purchasing and Risk Manager Tony Breitbach, and Utility Billing Supervisor Chris
Vallee.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, Mayor Cavanagh declared the meeting adjourned at
9:43 p.m.
/s/Adrienne N. Breitfelder, CMC, City Clerk