Celebrating 2 Women on the West St. Paul City Council

2019 saw some milestones in the West St. Paul city council. Townsquare TV took notice:

Women Of Ward 3

Meet two councilmembers who made history in West St. Paul.

Posted by Town Square Television on Thursday, February 21, 2019

For the first time in West St. Paul’s history, two women are serving on city council at the same time. We’ve got a very short list of women who have ever served on city council:

  • Devona Weatherhead, 1967-1968 (ward 1)
  • Sandra Shirley, 1991-1994 (ward 1)
  • Vivian Hart, 1999-2002 (ward 1)
  • Darlene Lewis, 2005-2012 (ward 3)
  • Jenny Halverson, 2013-2016 (ward 2)
  • Wendy Berry, 2019- (ward 3)
  • Lisa Eng-Sarne, 2019 – (ward 3)

So for comparison, something like 158 men have served on city council and only 7 women. More people named John have served on council (17) than women (and we elected a new John this year too).

More Milestones:

Let’s take a look at some more milestones in West St. Paul history, listed chronologically:

  • First woman elected to West St. Paul city council: Devona Weather head (1967)
  • First Latino appointed to West St. Paul city council: Nicholas Juarez (2005)
  • First woman elected to West St. Paul mayor: Jenny Halverson (2017)
  • First Latino elected to West St. Paul city council: Anthony Fernandez (2017)
  • First openly LGBTQ person elected to West St. Paul city council: Wendy Berry (2019)
  • First woman appointed to West St. Paul city council: Lisa Eng-Sarne (2019)

I’d love to share some more milestones, such as youngest and oldest person to serve on city council, but confirming race and gender are hard enough to confirm.

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