For more information, contact:
Sen. Dan Kapanke – 608-782-3975
La Crosse, WI – State Senator Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse) met with Dubuque Mayor Roy Buol and City Administrator Michael Van Milligen on Friday to gather specific details on how the city recently obtained over 1,300 jobs with the opening of an IBM operation center.
“IBM’s decision to locate in Dubuque was largely the result of a tremendous public and private collaboration,” said Kapanke. “With city initiatives and partnership such as the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation and Dubuque Initiative, Inc., all played key roles in securing the placement of IBM’s operation center in Dubuque.”
During the discussion, Buol and Van Milligen indicated securing IBM was part good timing and part planning. Dubuque had an office building available which needed infrastructure upgrades. Then each entity committed either financial or people capitol which in turn presented a unified community to IBM.
When IBM contacted the city to discuss locating in Dubuque, the community pulled together a team and presented a first class overview of the community. Moreover, when IBM had questions that the team could not immediately answer, Dubuque got back to the company by the close of business that same day. That is the responsiveness we need from government.
This was not always the case in Dubuque; in the early 1980s, the community experienced 23 percent unemployment and challenging labor-management issues. People in the community realized they were in this together and changed the collective mindset. Dubuque is now one of the leading Midwest cities in terms of job growth and was ranked 22nd in 2005 as the fastest-growing economy nationally.
“There has been a drastic change in the economic climate of Dubuque,” said Kapanke. Dubuque is on schedule to turn over building keys on June 1, which is extraordinary given it started October 2008 with a phone call and formally announcing in January 2009 to turning over the keys in June. It sends the message that Dubuque is serious, friendly and open for business. “They’ve learned from the past and are now implementing a business and government partnership that is creating a truly unique economic environment.”
Western Wisconsin has so much to offer a large employer like IBM and if we continue to aggressively advertise all our positives, we can attract the attention of businesses looking to expand. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through a regional approach similar to the 7 Rivers Region and Southwest Regional Economic Development Coalition. It encourages community collaboration instead of competing interests and places an importance on partnerships with businesses to bring these opportunities to the region.
Kapanke also said that it became evident during the discussions, that there needs to be a reciprocity agreement between Wisconsin and Iowa as well as tax credits for students who are retraining at technical colleges.
“It’s encouraging to see job growth in our neighboring state of Iowa,” said Kapanke. “But it also creates a sense of urgency to begin implementation of our own job-creating measures so that Wisconsin can secure anchoring businesses such as IBM. We have similar incentives such as a thriving higher education system and an incredible Midwestern work ethic which makes me wonder, if Iowa can attract jobs like these, why can’t Wisconsin?”
This visit has shown the need for partnerships between city governments and businesses to attract job growth. Securing the IBM operation center in Dubuque was a result of an involved and engaged city government. It’s very encouraging to see the outcome of cities and businesses working together and it will be essential for this type of partnership to be implemented in cities in Wisconsin in order for our state to remain economically competitive.
