Club 10 Rotarians received a civics lesson from Bill Berg, a Minneapolis attorney who was a member of the Minnesota state legislature at the time of the “Minnesota Miracle.”

Patrick Sulivan and Jeremy Wells greeted members as they arrived.  The meeting was called to order by President Dan McKeownJim Field, accompanied by Bill Given on the piano, led in the singing of America.  The invocation was given by Tom Brinsko and Bill Collins introduced visiting Rotarians and guests.

ImagePresident Dan recognized Club Executive Director Sherry Howe for 25 years of service and presented her with a bouquet of flowers.  February birthdays were celebrated. 

Past President Nancy McKillips talked about the Second Century Society.  As the club was approaching its 100th birthday, a committee created the Second Century Society as a way to build a long-term financial base for our club through the encouragement of estate and deferred gifts.   Nancy announced that the first gift in the amount of more than $90,000.00 was received recently from the estate of Gary Woodford.  Gary was a long-time dedicated Rotarian and his generous gift will help ensure the club’s future.

Sarah Kolar went around the room collecting “Happy Dollar” donations to the Saint Paul Rotary Foundation.  Among those who participated was Sherry who donated $25 happy dollars for 25 happy years.

John Guthmann introduced today’s speaker, Tom Berg, author of the book Minnesota’s Miracle: Learning from the Government that Worked.   He said that too often the focus is on the Federal and State levels and not on local government.  He feels that the only government that works well is local.

In 1970 Berg was a young state legislative candidate.  Wendell Anderson was running for governor and the big issues of the day were the Viet Nam war, environmental issues, civil rights and the big issue was fiscal.  Despite the problems and the partisan politics, the Minnesota Legislature was able to make meaningful changes.   

Learning from the Government that worked… Berg emphasized “worked “ – past tense – and said we need to get back to that time.