Dubuque Mayor Roy Buol is running unopposed for his second term Tuesday.

It's the second time his only competition has been a write-in line. He ran unopposed for his 2nd Ward council seat in 1999.

"I still like to get out there and knock on doors," he said. "It's always been a part of campaigning that I've enjoyed, listening to personal stories. It's very unscripted."

Over his term as mayor, Buol said he's proudest of the expansion of arts and cultural programming, including citizens and business in the government process, and the city's sustainability initiatives.

On the road ahead, city leaders will confront budgeting challenges with the uncertainty about state funding, and tackle public safety issues, Buol said.

The mayor sat down with the Telegraph Herald to talk about IBM, sustainability and crime.

Would you talk a little about IBM and that process, and what you'd like to see repeated in the future?

We really gave them a sense of quality of the people and employees, the work force in Dubuque and our educational system.

Everyone of

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elections Tuesday More than 100 candidates in four northeast Iowa counties are vying for city government positions in Tuesday's elections. Here are the polling hours: Dubuque County: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Dubuque, Asbury, Dyersville and Cascade; noon to 8 p.m. in all other locations in Dubuque County. Jackson County: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., city of Maquoketa; noon to 8 p.m., all other polling locations. Delaware County: Noon to 8 p.m., all polling locations. Clayton County: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., cities of Guttenberg and Strawberry Point; noon to 8 p.m., all other polling locations. Turn to THonline.com for election night updates, and read complete, comprehensive coverage in Wednesday's TH.elections Tuesday More than 100 candidates in four northeast Iowa counties are vying for city government positions in Tuesday's elections. Here are the polling hours: Dubuque County: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., all polling locations. Jackson County: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., city of Maquoketa; noon to 8 p.m., all other polling locations. Delaware County: Noon to 8 p.m., all polling locations. Clayton County: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., cities of Guttenberg and Strawberry Point; noon to 8 p.m., all other polling locations Turn to THonline.com for election night updates, and read complete, comprehensive coverage in Wednesday's TH.

those (IBM) groups that came was very impressed (by) the institutions of higher learning, the four in town and three surrounding us.

They were so impressed that (the schools) actually hosted the dinner in the evening and talked about what their institutions had to offer as far as IT service curriculum ... and they also offered to add curriculum if it was needed to help with the recruitment of IBM.

It was that, and our strong public-private partnerships that we've created over the past few years.

One of the challenges we have with IBM is the housing issue ...

There isn't a lot out there. We've been sounding the trumpet call to try to get developers to look at constructing more housing. We just, at the last council meeting, passed that last housing project out on Radford, 216 units, I believe, market-rate rental space.

You know, that's a start, but we need a lot more than that.

We're working every angle we can think of through grants and our federal and state partners to close a funding gap on our project in the Millwork District.

The City Council often votes in favor of West End annexation. How do you reconcile expansion with conservation and sustainability?

Every city needs to have the ability to grow. Most all of this annexation is voluntary, so people want to become part of the city. There are green ways of building new construction. Ultimately, you look at your existing resources, your existing city footprint.

But certainly, you've got to grow the community, but there's smart ways to do that. You don't have to do these big development lots.

Could you talk a little about how your interest piqued with the sustainable initiatives? Where did that come from?

Well, that's a simple one for me. I started thinking about sustainability when my wife and I started being blessed with grandchildren. But it really piqued when I joined the U.S. Conference of Mayors and went to the first meeting in June of '06.

I brought that information back to the council and shared it with them. In July, I got an invitation from Robert Redford to go to his Sundance Preserve with 26 other mayors, and met with climate scientists.

Quite frankly, it kind of scared me. Not for me, personally, but again, it went back to my grandchildren.

Communities that look at sustainabilty now, and really try to embrace it, will have an advantage in the future when it comes to business development, economic development and quality-of-life issues.

Some city leaders have been expressing that there's a perception of crime, and there's the real issue. What do you think?

We haven't at this point received all the data. We just had a (Dubuque Safe Community Task Force) meeting (last) week, and we formed subcommittees. One of them is a committee that will find out what the facts really are on crime.

Will this committee be offering solutions?

Yes ... I think it's really one of the best ways to approach these kinds of things. As opposed to the government saying, 'This is what we're going to do,' get the people involved that are actually living in these neighborhoods. You can't go wrong when you involve citizens as partners in anything.