City Manager Executive Recruitment
Summary
Dubuque is searching for a new city manager after a long-tenured manager, and the council heard pitches from two firms before picking GMP Consultants. The consultant will run stakeholder engagement, candidate outreach, screening, and final selection support, with a contract expected by September 21 and a possible September 28 kickoff.
At a glance
- Total mentions
- 6
- Last 30 days
- 1
Rising — discussed at 3 meetings since Sep 9, 2026, up from 1 in the two months before.
Impact analysis
GMP's flat fee is $20,000, with an estimated $5,000-$7,000 in pass-through advertising and job board costs.
Residents get a structured, transparent process for choosing the city's top administrator, with public updates on a city webpage.
Mentions & discussions (6)
City Council - Oct 19, 2026
The council shaped how it will engage stakeholders and the public — and how much to pay — in recruiting a successor to the retiring long-serving city manager.
City Council - Oct 5, 2026
Council agreed the next city manager must live in Dubuque — with one year to establish residency — and expanded stakeholder outreach to include manufacturing, finance, the casino and young professionals groups as the GMP-supported search moves toward February/March 2027 interviews.
City Council - Sep 9, 2026
Dubuque is searching for a new city manager after a long-tenured manager, and the council heard pitches from two firms before picking GMP Consultants. The consultant will run stakeholder engagement, candidate outreach, screening, and final selection support, with a contract expected by September 21 and a possible September 28 kickoff.
City Council - Aug 18, 2026
The city is hiring a recruiting firm to help find its next city manager, with nine firms bidding between roughly $20,000 and $45,000. All seven council members will score the proposals themselves, meeting on off-Mondays in September to pick the winner — a decision that shapes who leads city government for years.
City Council - Jun 15, 2026
The council approved the search firm RFP and committed to a special meeting in August so all seven members can review, rank, and interview candidates together — an unusually hands-on approach for the city's top job.
City Council - Jun 1, 2026
With the city manager position in transition, the council opted to seek outside executive search firms via RFP rather than run the search in-house.
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