Saint Paul City Council

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Saint Paul City Council
Type
Type
Term limits
None
History
New session started
January 3, 2012 (2012-01-03)
Leadership
President
Russ Stark (DFL)
Since February 27, 2015
Structure
Seats 7
Political groups
     DFL (7)
Length of term
4 years
Elections
Instant-runoff voting
Last election
November 1, 2011
Next election
November 3, 2015
Redistricting Charter Commission
Meeting place
St Paul City Hall & Ramsey County Courthouse.jpg
Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse
Website
http://www.stpaul.gov/

The Saint Paul City Council is the governing body of the City of Saint Paul as part of a strong mayor–council government. There are 7 members from 7 wards who are elected to four-year terms. Kathy Lantry, a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), is the current president of the council. The council is completely controlled by members of the DFL with all 7 members being affiliated with the party.

Elections

In 2009, Saint Paul voters approved the use of the single transferable vote in its elections for city council and mayor, beginning with the 2011 municipal elections. However, since the city council uses single-member districts, the single transferable vote functions the same way as instant-runoff voting. The single transferable vote is also known as "instant-runoff voting," although this is a misnomer since they refer to two different systems of voting. It is also commonly known as "ranked choice voting," although there are other voting methods that involve ranking.

Members 2011-2015

As of the 2011 general elections the Saint Paul City Council includes:

Ward Name Party
1st Dai Thao DFL
2nd Dave Thune DFL
3rd Chris Tolbert DFL
4th Russ Stark DFL
5th Amy Brendmoen DFL
6th Dan Bostrom DFL
7th Kathy Lantry DFL