No this isn’t some sort of werewolf thing. Rather, Newton’s Board of Aldermen are scheduled to take up Alderman Emily Norton’s proposal to adopt the more gender-neutral title City Councillor tonight.*
Since the item was originally proposed it has been expanded to include changing School Committeeman to School Committee Member and Chairman to Chair.
*Technically, I believe the change if approved, would need to be approved by the State Legislature as well because, well, this is Massachusetts.
Makes sense to me. Long overdue.
I’ve lived here since 1975 and I still can’t get used to the number of things that have to be approved by the State Legislature. Approving a name change, really?
Yes, state approval of local charter changes is required under the ironically named “Home Rule Amendment.”
Ted – my “really?” wasn’t questioning the veracity of the comment. It was a reaction to the idiocy, not to mention waste of legislating time.
What Dan said.
Sounds good! Great idea to expand it to the school folks too!
Lots of issues to work out on a lot of fronts, but this is a good one and I hope it passes!
Remember…there are 36 Area Councillors with the possibility of 81 more if the other 9 villages decide to form Area Councils. So there could be 141 Councillors of various kinds (City and Area) if this passes!