Several elected officials from Iowa communities are in Washington, D.C. this week to attend the non-partisan National League of Cities Congressional City Conference.
Dubuque Mayor Brad Cavanagh is among them and he says it’s an excellent opportunity to network with other civic leaders, and also with those at the federal level.
“In Dubuque, we have a lot of things going on, particularly around infrastructure, and making sure that we’re creating and investing in a city that is going to last for generations,” Cavanagh says. “So we have really important meetings that we’ve had with lots of different federal departments, from the White House on down, meetings with the Department of Interior, USDA, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency.”
Organizers say the conference is being attended by more than 2,800 city leaders from across the country who are discussing some of the most pressing issues facing cities today. Those include infrastructure, transportation, public safety, clean energy and digital equity.
Being in the nation’s capitol, the mayor says he’s cementing good partnerships with key federal officials.
“We have access to a lot of resources to be able to get some of these major projects done,” Cavanagh says, “so talking to these departments and having direct relationships with them in this way is really how we make sure we have good access to those resources, and we can apply for the grants we need to, and really be able to have these things moving forward.”
Cavanagh says many elements of federal legislation that are being approved have been “transformative.” “Generationally, for cities and towns, and I think in Iowa, there’s absolutely no exception to that,” Cavanagh says. “We are seeing a lot of things happen from an infrastructure standpoint. In the Inflation Reduction Act, we have a lot of access to things that surround the sustainability efforts that are really important to us in Dubuque, and I think are important across Iowa.”
Other Iowans who are listed as attending the conference include: Ames city council members Gloria Betcher and Anita Rollins, Cedar Rapids city council member Ashley Vanorny, Dubuque city council member Susan Farber, and Alan Kemp, the executive director of the Iowa League of Cities.
The conference opened Monday and will conclude on Wednesday.