Ramsey County History – Fall 2013: “Present at the Creation: The Turbulent Sixties and Seventies in St. Paul Politics”

Present at the Creation: The Turbulent Sixties and Seventies in St. Paul Politics
Author: Ruby M. Hunt

Ruby Hunt, who served on the Saint Paul City Council between 1972 and 1982 and on the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners between 1983 and 1995, recalls several key personalities, primarily Mayor Charles McCarty and council members Rosalie Butler and Milton Rosen, in a time of change in local politics. During this time, St. Paul slowly moved from a commission form of government with a weak mayor in which council members managed all city departments to a strong mayor system in which this elected official oversaw the administrative branch of city government and managed all city departments. After one failed ballot on changing the city charter to this new system, voters eventually passed the charter amendment, and it was implemented in 1972.
PDF of Hunt article