What's In A Name? Melrose Board Could Find Out

MELROSE, MA — A lot of things make Melrose unique in the Commonwealth. One of those things could soon be on the way out.

On the agenda for Monday night's Board of Aldermen meeting is an item that would see it eventually become the City Council's meeting, instead. Alderman Jen Lemmerman introduced an order to make the name of the city's legislative body gender-neutral, amending dozens of instances in the City Charter where "board of aldermen" and "aldermen" are changed to "city council" and "councilors."

Melrose is the only community left in Massachusetts that has a board of aldermen after Somerville switched to a city council earlier this year. Woburn still has aldermen, but they make up a city council. Several other nearby cities have made the switch in recent years, including Newton, Everett and Chelsea.

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Melrose's board has 11 aldermen - seven from one of each of the city's wards and four elected at-large. Lemmerman, who serves as its president, is one of four women. She brought up the issue in 2016, but it died in a 5-5 vote.

Lemmerman at the time argued the board's title was at best a distraction to people confused as to what an alderman does, and at worst a barrier to public engagement. Others disagreed the term bred confusion, embracing the city's Victorian-style tradition over any change to what they deemed a less-than-pressing issue.

"In the three years since I first proposed this change, support in the community for a more accurate, more inclusive name has only grown," Lemmerman said Thursday. "And while it will not change our role in any way, this change would make that role clearer to constituents who are more familiar with the term City Council and it would more appropriately reflect the various voices the city has elected to this position."

Three of the aldermen who voted against the motion - Scott Forbes, Monica Medeiros and John Tramontozzi - still sit on the board. Lemmerman, Mike Zwirko, Frank Wright and Peter Mortimer are the current aldermen who voted for it. Robert Boisselle was absent during the vote.

Mayor Gail Infurna, then an alderman, voted against it.

The item is expected to be assigned to a committee for discussion.