Poll Results: What should be the replacement name for the Board of Selectmen?

In July, we took a poll of Milton Scene readers regarding renaming the Board of Selectmen to a more gender inclusive term. 66% of Milton Scene readers voted in favor of renaming the Board of Selectmen to a more gender inclusive term. 34% of Milton Scene readers voted in favor of retaining the current name Board of Selectmen.

During the upcoming October Town Meeting, Town Meeting Members will vote on changing the name.

What should the new name be?

We took a poll of Milton Scene readers to get their thoughts on the new name for the Board of Selectmen*

Poll results:

• Executive Board of Governors: 2%
• Board of Governors: 8%
• Town Trustees: 24%
• Executive Board: 28%
• Select Board: 38%

Other suggestions:

Several poll participants offered other suggestions and comments:

“It amazes that in 2018 this should be an issue. Nantucket recently voted to rename the Board of Selectmen to Select Board in April of this year. Brookline did the same thing last November. So, I think we can all agree that although Select Board may be a bit “clunky”, it is more than time to come up with another name. Town Trustees is nice, and sounds a bit more elegant than Executive Board. But let’s stop delaying and make the change now!” – M. Baumgartner

“Board of Selectors.”

“Board of Selectpersons.”

“Town Executive Board.”

“Try to keep with a historical sounding name. Avoid executive which sounds too corporate.”

“Town Board.”

“Executive Board of the Town of Milton.”

“Board of Selectwomen.”

“The only name I don’t like is “Select Board”, but I think Board of Governors is the most concise and direct.”

“Town Council is used in at least one other town that changed from selectmen. It should be an option in this poll. Trustees and board of governors shouldn’t be options. Selectmen are not trustees.”

“Select Members.”

Several participants pointed out that we will also need to change the title of individual board members:

“It is very important to consider what to call the members of the board individually. I think Select Person would be the proper term. If the board’s name was changes to Town Trustees or Board of Trustees, the individuals would obviously be simply Trustees.”

“And for the person, selectee.”

“I guess Chairman should be changed as well. I wonder if the person that started this is going to contact the government to change Servicemen?”

And, last but not least, this gem:

“Boardy McBoarderson.”

*Disclaimer:

Miltonscene.com online polls are not intended to be a scientific sample of local opinion. Instead, they are a way for readers to share their views on the news with the Milton Scene and Milton Neighbors.

Respondents are not randomly selected, but select themselves to vote on a specific question or set of questions. In addition, while Miltonscene.com online polls are designed to allow only one vote per user, technically savvy users may find ways around this limitation. For these reasons, the polls are not presented as scientific surveys or as representative of the opinion of the general population of our readership areas, region or nation.

Duplicate votes were removed from this poll.