Encyclopedia Dubuque
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MEYERS, Donald R.
MEYERS, Donald R. (Clinton, IA, Oct. 28, 1926--Dubuque, IA, Nov. 12, 1997). MAYOR. Meyers, a union production worker at the DUBUQUE PACKING COMPANY for forty years before his retirement in 1981, served as mayor of Dubuque in 1970. Elected to the Dubuque City Council, he served from 1968 to 1972 and was re-appointed to the Council in 1975. As a council member, he had been one of those who traveled to Washington, D.C. to testify against budget cuts which would have jeopardized the development of the city's FLOODWALL.
As mayor, Meyers used a favorable attorney general's opinion allowing the city to use road-use tax money to convince the other council members to construct a new city garage. His term of office saw the city hire Dwight BACHMAN as the city's first civil rights director. DUTCH ELM DISEASE had peaked in the city, but was still a major problem. Kenneth GEARHART came to Dubuque as the assistant manager. The movement of business westward was illustrated by the opening of KENNEDY MALL. The first of the city's INDUSTRIAL PARKS was nearly ready pointing to an earlier study that space needed to be available for business expansion. To counter movement out of the downtown, the reconstruction of TOWN CLOCK PLAZA was underway and the FIVE FLAGS CIVIC CENTER committee was formed. Danger existed from the six MINING shafts that remained upcapped.
Meyers was president/business agent of what became the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 150A. He also served on the board of directors of the Dubuque Federation of Labor. A member of the board of Project Concern and the Dubuque County Hospital, Meyers was also a member of the Dubuque County Democratic Central Committee. His memberships included the Dubuque Community Development Commission, Dubuque Low Rent Housing Commission, Dubuque Crime Prevention Coalition Committee, and the Dubuque City Advisory Commission. He was a board member of DUPACO COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION for thirty years and belonged to the Iowa State Council of Senior Citizens, Mercy Health Center Sponsorship Committee, and Mercy Health Center Fund Development Committee. He was a DUBUQUE AREA LABOR-MANAGEMENT COUNCIL Community adviser. In 1980 Meyer served as chairman of a group of fourteen former mayors opposed to a change in Dubuque's form of government.
In recognition of his contributions, Meyers was awarded the "Prestigious Cooperative Spirit Award" from the Iowa Credit Union League in 1994 and in 1997 the "Bob Bennett Good Faith Award" from the DUBUQUE AREA LABOR-MANAGEMENT COUNCIL. On September 27, 1997, Dupaco Community Credit Union dedicated its new building at 1465 Sycamore St. in his name as recognition of his community involvement and dedicated service to the credit union.
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Source:
Obituaries. Telegraph Herald, November 13, 1997, p. 6A
Bergstrom, Kathy. "Former Mayor Meyers, 71, Dies," Telegraph Herald, November 13, 1997, p. 12A
