8 20 24 City Council Proceedings Official SpecialCITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA
CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS
SPECIAL SESSION
OFFICIAL
The Dubuque City Council met in special session at 4:00 p.m. on August 20, 2024, in
the Grand River Center. The meeting was originally scheduled for Room #4 but was re-
located to the River Room due to maintenance issues.
Present: Mayor Cavanagh; Council Members Farber, Jones, Resnick, Roussell,
Sprank, Wethal; City Manager Van Milligen, City Attorney Brumwell.
Mayor Cavanagh read the call and stated this is a special session of the City Council
called for the purpose of conducting annual goal setting.
GOAL SETTING
SESSION 1 OF 3
Mayor Cavanagh provided introductory remarks, summarizing last year’s accomplish-
ments and current challenges.
Facilitator Lyle Sumek, of Lyle Sumek Associates, Inc., reviewed the following sections
of the Leader’s Guide 2024 Working Document for input from the City Council:
Section 4 - Performance Report 2023-2024 for City of Dubuque
Section 5 - Looking to Dubuque’s Future
Assistant City Manager Cori Burbach reviewed proposed definitions for the five pillars
the city’s strives to achieve to create an equitable community and organization of choice:
resiliency, sustainability, equity, transparency, and compassion. City Council discussed
the definitions and suggested updating the proposed definition of compassion to include
empathy and replacing the “desire to alleviate distress” with the “desire to help”. City
Manager Van Milligen stated that the five definitions will be presented at a future Council
meeting for City Council to formally adopt the definitions.
Assistant City Manager Burbach then reviewed a suggestion to include the word “be-
longing” when city staff speak of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals. City Council
discussed the terminology and supported the addition of belonging.
Mr. Sumek reviewed Goals #1, #2, and #8 in Section 7 – Plan 2024-2029 for City
Council input.
City Council recessed for dinner at 6:10 p.m. and reconvened at 6:39 p.m. to continue
discussing the goals.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, Mayor Cavanagh declared the meeting adjourned at
8:48 p.m.
/s/Adrienne N. Breitfelder, City Clerk