The Board of Selectmen voted on Tuesday night to keep the board’s name the same despite some pressure from a statewide organization.

The Massachusetts Selectmen’s Association officially changed its name to the Massachusetts Selectboard Association, and asked that towns consider renaming their boards as well. 

“It’s strictly a matter of whether this board wants to make that change or not,” Alan Slavin said.

“I’m probably the only district representative that won’t have the name change, most likely.”
“We’ve been the Board of Selectmen since 1739,” Peter Teitelbaum said. “What’s interesting is if the state wanted to change this, they could. If the legislature wanted to tackle this, they could. They could require us to be a Selectboard instead of Selectmen.”

Teitelbaum added that man refers to mankind, not just the gender, and said that keeping the name is a tribute to the history of the board.

“I think what [the name change] does is become gender neutral,” Jim Munise said. “I think it’s the politically correct term now.”

The Selectmen voted against the name change, with Jim Munise abstaining.

Patrick Tropeano said that the board would not vote on this issue again while he is the chair.