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Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Alyce Bolke Retirement - 10/1/1980When she hopped up on a cat- tle fence to see the site for her new home, Alyce • Bolke didn't know she was taking a step toward a new career. The kitchen of the Bolkes' home in Eagan Township wasof- ten a hub of activity; sometimes for handling town business. 'More than two decades later, the setting is more official. In her modern city clerk's office at Agan City Hall, a 15 -foot schef- flera plant strains to touch the high ceiling: THE SPRAWLING giant seems: symbolic of Mrs. Bolke's deep roots in the city's history, of her vitality and Eagan's growth. Growth. It is the story of Eagan. Mrs. Bolke saw it all. She will retire at the end of this year af- row South.: wind by Kay Harvey h is part of clerk's roots ter 19 years as Eagan city clerk and 21 years as a city emplo 'ee. Neighborliness got her. a sort. John Jensen, then township': as- sessor, lived nearby. "He had said he would take the `job if -. someone : would :dot his books," Mrs. Bolke said. SHE DECIDED to he the cause, working part time in her home. The Town Board later. sought her services as a part-time sec- retary to City Clerk Lewis Fisher. After a few months, Fisher quit. ars p averPayway By SCOTT CARLSON Staff Writer A salary plan covering 176 non-union employees in Dakota Dakota County A Town Board member made a motion at the next meeting that they appoint Mrs. Bolke as city clerk. It passed. "I went to the meeting as a secretary," said Mrs. Bolke, "and came home as town clerk., The appointment made her the first woman in Eagan govern- ment. It also, for a period of 10 years, meant she had become a true politician. "IN JULY of '62, I had to run for office," Mrs. Bolke said. She won the race, as she did every two years until 1972, when Eagan became a village and t office was no longer an electi one. Two years later, in 197 Eagan became a statutory city. Mrs. Bolke's memories Eagan then and now paint a pi Lure of contrasts, as do the old and new city hall buildings bui side by side on Pilot Knob Road. he voting was done on paper bal- ve lots. Three people, including Mrs. Bolke, ran the elections. 4, "Now we use a punch card sys- tem and it takes more than 100 of people to work on an election." c- . When she took her job with the It city, she was one of four city em- ployees. "I can remember when they' stoke up the fire in a pot-bellied stove for meetings in the old town hall," she said. • IN THOSE DAYS, there wer six city ordinances. Now they to- tal 74. d "THERE WERE two const- ables, one maintenanc_ a man and ;myself, along with the Town • Board members." The City of- Eagan now em - e ploys 68 people, in addition to 90 volunteer firer en. In 1960, Mrs. Bolke said, there were 3,300 residents of Eagan That is about one-seventh of Eagan's current population of more than 22,000. The city budget has increased from $30,000 in the early 1960's • to this year's $2,679,000. Eagan's growth, of course, was complete with growing pains. In 1965, Mrs. Bolke moved into In her early days on the job, for merit system requires courage; courage to rec- ognize effective performance and courage to deal with perfor- mance that is ineffective." Asked Commissioner Jerry - LL think the employees would get more out of that (collective bar- gaining) than they would from this (salary) plan," he speculat- ed. "I've had to grow with the job." -- Alyce Bolke an office intended strictly for her use. See Eagan, Page 25 t. 745"ei VON -Staff W . SOff,tititg; ixed wIth.jth,e1Aa.lit' le tones :inlbc 3gop,';40W1111. lye. While these 4d011er Ices 6harpywith o'gruffi-MOrtiopostfitt:onea taw*boardrnern - ra,-the)1 do blend.in.perfec trajony of to1/4y0 thie volceYbelongs attriCti*ei•J; tote a BoUie,,43651: aock,dr., e1ectedelerk, ., gds es in:itho • ,,os,O -ing -unusua1 4n .town .1a1I rcles Theotheti'li6147belongito rs. -Jamee.,.Kennedy,-:-.neW :stice of the:Teso6,,who,-41; lids to hold totittln the old hail—never tried . before -and suggests she wifl 'k )Ie to ::.pronoiMca',-Sentences 30 days'in jail or $100 fillet', necessary.,! Both.,:, Officials, re graduates St! ':Cather le's College. .thet "until thetfiled: Having woMenln town hall a departure from the ser :days ,wheiftliteebusky - irmers usuaU sat t the )%vn hall table and. handieti ie .business ',of • 1414lnitr�ad inances ?O. Puncelt-!tbe ionid;vun, west Airlines Michel': her five -Children tap age from 5 to fl; MI man (40dy). -14unda Gloria, 20; 1(ethleett, 13 .and 'Cheryl,. 5. • L r she attended -St * floes college for 04( efore taking a Set/ Nts.-Ke nedy was ,Paul, ... attended , Ail and St, pawed! ieke:H*beie--.-nhe chemistty. She W0 Minneapolis 'and-:1)ul (1- tOlotr depaititeitai vioity hotintais„ oth 'the and her I ,are active in •1 ta VFW OrganIsatk who fullyapproveso wlfe, IS in Charge oft vlew sectionin the - IA0464 of the Vete Although some teti uence has seeped,1 government, it wokld_. -- Eagan -.1 The three supervisor 03610 Arthur ": X44113 Trapp and Edviatd..! Herb 1"olzin is the 11 Martin 1?esLat#iers-.1 Teticire,,-Ahe'•co Luther- .Stalland Is 1 ney and Silas the Other While the scent of presentir the ddot 6 Ok6,';:liattiht shaving lotion W1pofl &r4:1 . uttgivAlli Yoz 'THIS WEEK Your Community Newspaper http://www.thisweek-online.c Volume 19, No. 1 a June 29, 1997 First women elected to township .offices share memories and thoughts By ERIN HEMME FROSLIE The two women bend over the yellowed newspaper clip- pings, glancing at headlines and exclaiming over the fading photos. "Who do you think this is, Alyce?" asks Helen Kennedy. "Why, is that Silas Palmer? Yes... yes, it is," replies Alyce Bolke, who says she's old enough to have forgotten more than she ever knew. She holds the clipped photo a bit closer to her wire -rimmed glasses. A moment later Kennedy picks up a clipped article with a bold headline. "This is absolutely hysteri- cal," she says. "You and I had no kind of attitude." "This was before Gloria Ste- inem," Bolke adds, shaking her head covered with short, blond hair. "This" was an article written by the St. Paul Dispatch in April 1962, shortly after Ken- nedy and Bolke became the first women to be elected to office in Eagan township. Even 35 years after they embarked oft their Maiden voyage, the two women don't consider themselves pioneers. They were just doing their jobs. Sot, lilting, feminine voices mix with the heavy Masculine tones in the white frame Eagan township hall these days...One voice belongs to personable, attfatctive Mrs. Theodore Bolke. "I dcin't think there were too (See Women, p.8A) Women 4: y (torithilifilf him 644 Many women "Wining fill' office at the time," Bolke said. "Coya Knutson VMS our" (U.S.) representative and her husband told her to go home." She paused for a moment. "My husband didn't Seem to mind me being in office." Bolke was elected as town- ship clerk, after assisting the clerk and township assessor for a couple years. in 1961 she was appointed to the cieik's position. When She fah "against a man" during that 'fall's election, she Won by g' two -to -one margin. "I always ran against Hien;" Bolke said. "Of coutte mostof tient told me `Don't worry. If 1 get elected, Alyce, I'll keep you on as my secretary; kid you can do the work.' ". "You're kidding," k tint dy said, jingling numerous silver bracelets on her right wrist. "Well, isn't that something?" "It makes me angty when I think about it now," admitted t olke. "Of course, I always won." While some eyebrows were raised when the two' women an- nounced for office, both have been well accepted. And, they don't plan any changes, no cur- tains on the windows of city hall, no rugs on the floor or flowers on the table. "We didn't have any time to _ Art, y �i . cu Iain ,' Bolke e*claimed t"We, were too busy." .. Indeed, both women were. For $50 a month, Bolke took minutes at township meetings, posted legal notices, kept one set of the treasurer's book, li- censed dbgs, issued permits and absentee ballots, answered phones and flit *arded com- plaints — alt from her kitchen. As Eagan's justice of the peace (P) ,? Wrri . 11062 until 1971, *bin (ire "stele f.egisla= ture eluiii ated the position, Kennedy held WtItt once every two weekta, if addition to work- ing full time ills a Medical technoldgist. She heard cases ranging from drunk driving to horses ruining a neighbor's kWh to conducting weddings. "Weddings Were the fun part," Kennedy laid, recollect- ing stories about the groom who asked het ti get the "show on the road" So he could watch Monday Night Football and the couple who brought an entire bus 'full of friends to observe the ceremony. Both women agree, that al- though people were surprised they ran for office, nobody was ever unfriendly about the fact. "Sometimes Helen would stay back and talk to the patrol officers before court," said Kennedy's husband, Jim. "So I'd take her briefcase and set everything dp. Of course, eve- ryone . w$uid, think 1 vva`s the JP." "Then I'd come in," said Kennedy, laughing under her breath. "1 waft we had a video- tape then. I'm sure many of them were so surprjsed." l li1ke Shia site : id think bf only one way, she was treated differently tbatii `mate clerks. "They (men) probably had to clean tip &lir iiinguage around me. As result of Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Bolke's work in the town hail, women are becoming interested in town government. At coffee parties *Melt, rather than talk about their children, garden bridge, Vi(t., ask about the meeting dig Wit be- fore. "At the time I didn't think anythirig of it," Bolke said. "Now we'd think it was sexist, right?" "We didn't think about run- ning or being in office as odd," Kennedy said. "1 have a per - conal tittltalle about it today, Alyce: t bvdbldn't think twice abut doing it Igaid.", Not that it would raise as many eyebrod s today. Before she retired in 1980, Bolke gave the oath' of office to Eagan's first female police officer, its first femaleefighter, and its first female mayor signifi- cant event's bf Which she's quite .,proud. Y . "1 think it's good," she said. "Women can do any city job."