Massachusetts Retires 'Aldermen' For Gender-Neutral Titles

MELROSE, MA — Somehow managing to discuss several other topics and still finish before 10 p.m., the Board of Aldermen Thursday night voted to drop their last-in-the-state title in favor of the more gender-neutral City Council. The vote, which was a bit anticlimactic in that the lone dissenting vote still favored a change, brings Melrose's governing body in line with other municipalities across Massachusetts.

Aldermen won't become City Councilors until the vote is passed in an official Board of Aldermen meeting (Thursday night was an Appropriations Committee meeting) and a month after it's signed by Gov. Charlie Baker. But the heavy lifting has been done, thanks in large part to the persistence of President of the Board Jen Lemmerman, who resurfaced the issue after it was voted down in 2016.

"With this vote, Melrose is a step closer to choosing a title that brings us up to speed with the rest of the state," Lemmerman told Patch after the vote. "Words matter, and tonight we chose a title that is more accurate, more inclusive and better reflects our community."

This time around, the order passed easily. Alderman Scott Forbes was the lone dissenting vote, and he even he condoned a change. Forbes was looking for a switch similar to Woburn, which has a city council comprised of individual aldermen (and, in Forbes's proposal, alderwoman.)

All but a few of the nearly 60 emails the aldermen received on the topic was in favor of the name change. Aldermen Peter Mortimer directly attacked the notion that the board shouldn't be spending time working on such a topic with other issues at hand, essentially reminding people that the board could indeed walk and chew gum at the same time.

"I've heard the incorrect argument in my opinion that, 'You aldermen have more important things to do,'" Mortimer said. "Well you know what? We do whatever we need to do. ... We gave both these previous orders [tonight] a full and thorough vetting. And that's what we do. We're not on the clock. "

Related

• Melrose Residents Have Their Say About Name Change
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