10 28 08 City Council Proceedings Official
CITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA
CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS
OFFICIAL
The Dubuque City Council met in special session at 4:00 p.m. on October 28, 2008, in the
Historic Federal Building
Present: Mayor Buol, Council Members Braig, Connors, Jones, Lynch, Resnick, Voetberg,
City Manager Van Milligen, City Attorney Lindahl
Mayor Buol read the call and stated this was a special session of the Dubuque City Council
called for the purpose of discussing the City’s Sister City – Handan, China
Council Member Lynch stated the purpose of the special session was to determine whether
the City wanted to proceed with the Sister City relationship with Handan, China, and if there
was consensus to go forward how that should be done. He provided a slide presentation
detailing the recent visit he, Council Members Connors and Voetberg, Dick Landis, and Jim
Schilling made to Handan and provided the following list of recommended actions to be
considered should it be determined that the Sister City relationship would continue:
Continue relationship and look for ways to expand on it;
•
Establish a Sister City Planning Committee;
•
Reciprocate by inviting Handan delegation to Dubuque in mid 2009 – Invitation to come
•
from Mayor Buol;
Explore the possibilities with group visiting this fall;
•
Handan Park in Dubuque;
•
Teacher and youth exchange for multi cultural awareness;
•
Aggressively pursue economic development opportunities with Handan; and
•
Apply for grants to foster Sister City relationship.
•
Following discussion, staff was directed to research what other cities do regarding their
Sister City relationships to make them thrive and also to provide suggestions as to how to
form a “Sister City Planning Committee” and who should be invited to participate on it.
Council also discussed that a delegation of approximately 7 – 14 business people, mostly
from Tianjin, China, would be visiting Dubuque in the next few weeks. It was noted that this
delegation will also be visiting other cities in the United States and are not associated with the
Sister City relationship. Staff was directed to organize a dinner for these visitors to showcase
the City.
There being no further business, upon motion the meeting adjourned at 5:25 p.m.
/s/Jeanne F. Schneider, CMC
City Clerk
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