Upton residents approve change that's been popular recently. Why the change was made

UPTON — Instead of a board of selectmen, the town's top governing board is a select board.

The name change from "board of selectmen" to "select board" occurred once Town Meeting voters approved two articles at the Nov. 7 Special Town Meeting. Upton now joins a long list of area towns that changed to a gender-neutral name for its governing body.

The two articles were requested by the Select Board. The first proposed to change the name from "Board of Selectmen" to "Select Board" in Upton's local general and zoning bylaws. The second article seeks residents' approval to petition the Legislature to change the name.

Previously: Upton could be latest Mass. community to make this change with its board of selectmen

"It's not something new," Town Manager Joseph Laydon previously told the Daily News. "Many towns have made this change. The state agency that represents Board of Selectmen members (the Massachusetts Select Board Association) changed its own name to reflect change."

Upton's current three-member Board of Selectmen includes two women — Chair Maureen Dwinnell and Laura Hebb, the latter of whom joined after winning election in May. The third member is Brett Simas.

Select Board members did not respond to a request for comment.

More municipal boards switch to gender neutral designations

Upton is now among many Massachusetts cities and towns using gender-neutral designations for their governing bodies. Several towns near Upton — including Milford, Hopkinton, Westborough, Grafton, Mendon and Hopedale — have already made the change. In January 2021, the former Massachusetts Selectmen’s Association was renamed to become the Massachusetts Select Board Association.

Advocates for the change have flagged the use of “man” or “men” in titles as casual gender bias and have said the gender-specific term is a subtle way of discouraging women from running for the highest local office.

Most cities already had gender-neutral titles, such as "city council," when a push to remove gender from top boards began to gain momentum in 2019. Massachusetts' last "board of aldermen," in Melrose, changed to "city council" that year.

So long, selectmen: More Mass. communities are adopting gender-neutral titles

That made title changes an issue for towns, where townwide approval was needed at the centuries-old New England tradition of Town Meeting.

The movement to change the names of municipalities' governing bodies has faced opposition, citing tradition and cost.

How much does it cost to change to select board?

A 2021 Daily News survey of seven communities in which "board of selectmen" either became "select board" or "selectboard" in the previous year, or were in the process of doing so, found that expenses ranged from less than $1,000 to close to $8,000.

Costs cited by the seven communities included those associated with calling a Town Meeting or local election, changing letterhead or nameplates, and legal fees. Most town officials pegged the cost as not significant or “minimal.”

Milford changed its top governing body's name in 2021. At the time, its finance director estimated it would cost $1,000 to $2,000.

Ashland ended up with the highest estimate, about $8,000, as the change required hiring an outside company to rework the town’s bylaws, replacing “selectmen” with the newly chosen title, select board.

The Nov. 7 Special Town Meeting in Upton took place at Nipmuc Regional High School. Along with the name change, voters approved spending $110,000 for exterior improvements to two town-owned buildings — the former Holy Angels church building and the Risteen Building.

Voters also approved $114,000 to upgrade the cemetery records to move to a new computerized system and to reconcile records.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Upton approves select board name change for governing body