In St. Paul’s City Council chambers they can’t be missed: four large wall panels, each roughly 4 feet wide by 35 feet tall.

The images of early and 1930s St. Paul depict black porters hauling bags for a white couple, black servants loading a riverboat, Native Americans bowing their heads before a white minister with a cross, and other images of servitude, conversion and humility.

The largest part of each panel depicts a white male — a worker, explorer or captain of industry staring down at visitors.

For 18 months, St. Paul City Council President Amy Brendmoen and Council Member Rebecca Noecker have met with their counterparts in Ramsey County to discuss what to do with the racially-tinged art in the council chambers.

Brendmoen said more than one person of color at the microphone during council hearings has commented on the artwork.

Nevertheless, the chambers are within the Ramsey County Courthouse — jointly owned by the city and county.

“The county moves slower,” said Brendmoen, noting cost concerns and a transition from one county board chair to another slowed discussions.

Council Member Jane Prince, who represents a high-minority political ward, suggested covering the panels. City Council Member Chris Tolbert urged a resolution “to make it very clear what the council feels, and not skirt around the issue: this is offensive.”

By mid-December, the city council expects to announce the creation of a task force to pick artists for another possible solution. New movable panels with more current images would stand in contrast to the existing wall art — a juxtaposition of new versus old ideals.

“Rather than just pulling a shade on the art,” said Brendmoen, “we’re trying to confront it.”

Ramsey County spokesman John Siqveland said the plan is to cover two panels at a time “without impacting the woods, the finishes, any of the historical finishes or the art itself, for several months. Then they would be switched out to cover the other two.”

The Ramsey County Historical Society has been “integral in developing this particular solution,” Siqveland said. A budget of $34,570 would come from the city and county’s building fund.

Ramsey County Board Chair Jim McDonough said four new art pieces “could do some educating” about important values.

“Our building folks have been actually talking for a year, which seems like a long time, but there were a number of options to work out,” McDonough said. “I think everybody agrees that art reflects the council values of the 1930s, when it was installed, which was a white male-dominated society.”

The art deco City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse building opened in 1932. The wall art also dates to that time. The building sits on the National Register of Historic Places.

“We’ve got to acknowledge our history — the good, the bad and the ugly — and we’ve got to learn from that,” McDonough said.