Save the date for the St. Paul City Council's inaugural ball: It's Jan. 6 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel downtown.
The seven council members will be sworn in two days earlier. Five are returning incumbents while two new members, Chris Tolbert and Amy Brendmoen, will join them.
The event ball is open to the public. A $10 donation and a reservation are requested. A cash bar will be available, and heavy appetizers are part of the entry fee. The attire is billed as semiformal, but as Council President Kathy Lantry said, "This is St. Paul; you wear whatever you want, whenever you want."
Lantry's aide Ellen Biales is working on the details and has lined up the requisite union band -- Rich and the Resistors.
According to their website, the Richfield-based Resistors have a "gift for finding YOUR frequency. With a turbo-charged songbook ranging from rock to blues to the best party hits, the Resistors" can "turn on the juice."
Tickets will be available in mid-December.
ROCHELLE OLSON
