EDITORIAL: Selecting right choice for board's name

Apr. 14—Massachusetts towns from Alford and Andover to Whately and Williamstown have ditched "selectmen" in favor of "select board" and the commonwealth might soon follow suit.

Somewhere around 100 of the 292 Bay State towns have officially changed from a gathering of selectmen to select board members, adopting the gender-neutral form.

The change has caught on in some spots, with Newbury and Swampscott joining Andover and North Andover with the official select board designation in this region. But there are still many towns using the board of selectmen title, including Georgetown, Groveland, Rowley, Salisbury, Marblehead and Manchester-by-the-sea.

Those interested in doing away with sex-specific terms in government can point to the fact the state lost its last board of aldermen when Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill on Oct. 1, 2019, officially changing Melrose's governing board to a City Council. Oddly enough, the city of Woburn still has individual aldermen, but they serve on the Woburn City Council. Go figure.

The Mass. Municipal Association says "the term 'alderman' dates to the 12th century or earlier, and derives from the Old English word 'ealdorman,' or 'old man.'"

Changing the words didn't jettison the "old men" who still serve on city and town boards, but at least calling it a select board makes it clear women and men, young or old, can — and do — serve.

Now, state Sen. Will Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat, has filed a proposed state constitutional amendment that would replace each mention of "selectmen" in the Massachusetts Constitution with "select board." The word selectmen appears 17 times.

In many cases, a town wishing to make the name change must get legislative and gubernatorial approval for a home rule petition to amend the town charter. So far this session, lawmakers have filed name-change petitions for Hopkinton and Middleborough.

The Massachusetts Selectmen's Association voted a year ago to change its name to the Massachusetts Select Board Association. The group's executive board proposed that name change "to align with a trend among cities and towns to adopt gender-neutral terms for local government bodies in an effort to promote inclusivity and equality," according to a report by State House News Service.

We are all for that and hope other towns in our region — and across the state — move to "select" the right choice by moving to select boards soon.