City manager’s office highlights grant leverage, organizational culture and RAGBRAI preparations

Anderson Sainci, director of strategic partnership, and Assistant City Manager Corey Burbach delivered a joint presentation April 16 on behalf of the city manager’s office, summarizing priorities and near‑term operational items ahead of the FY2027 budget deliberations.

Sainci emphasized the office’s role in building state and federal relationships and distributing the city’s strategic priorities to legislators; he cited prior North Port revitalization that the city said has leveraged more than $500 million in public and private investment. Burbach focused on internal initiatives: an emphasis on building organizational culture, department‑manager annual appraisals and executive coaching, succession planning, and a practitioner/facilitator certification program for staff.

Staff also described a recently launched service platform, Report to DBQ, to manage resident requests and track response patterns; Burbach said the city targets reaching residents within 48 hours and aims to improve the percentage of cases resolved within seven days (62% in 2025 with a 75% target). On special events, staff explained that departments will repurpose existing FY26 funds to prepare for RAGBRAI in July, including asphalt and concrete work, painting hydrants along the route, planting about 20 trees funded by the Branching Out Dubuque grant, and using approximately $20,000 in event funds to cover staff overtime.

Burbach noted the city manager’s office requested a nonrecurring $40,000 improvement package to support succession planning and training; the office’s net operating property‑tax support was listed as about $437,000 (average homeowner investment $6.85), and staff framed many of the initiatives as investments in service continuity and customer response.

Councilmembers thanked staff for the presentation and noted the potential to track grant success rates more formally; staff said they would consider the idea of measuring grant ‘batting average’ and follow up with additional information.