Williamstown Removes Names from Meeting Room Door
How the door signage looked previously. That board will be the last to have their names so prominently displayed.
And that started with excluding the board members' names from the door to the first-floor meeting room.
Stephanie Boyd pointed out to the colleagues that there were three signs on the first floor of the Municipal Building where the board was referred to as the "selectmen."
Leaving aside the fact that women have served on the elected body for decades, including two of the five current members, the signage ran counter to a 2022 annual town meeting vote to amend the town charter to remove gender specific language.
Although that home rule petition to amend the charter is still languishing in Boston, the board itself has been referring to itself as the Select Board for years.
While on the subject of the door to the meeting room, Andrew Hogeland reiterated his concern that it was a waste of Town Hall staff's time to update the door every year when new members are elected to the Select Board and suggested it made sense to simply remove their names.
Likewise, other board members questioned the logic of naming the room for just one of the many town boards and committees that use it.
"Unless there's a rule that we have to have a Select Board meeting room designated in Town Hall … I'm with Jeff [Johnson], make it more welcoming," Jane Patton said.
In the end, the panel voted 5-0 to rename the room the Community Meeting Room, remove one sign referencing the "Selectmen" and change a third reference in signage to "Select Board."
By the middle of the week, the board members' names were removed and the new name was on the door of the meeting room.
And that was not the only naming issue before the board at its July 24 session.
Town Manager Robert Menicocci updated the panel on the status of naming the multimodal trail from Syndicate Road to the Spruces Park.
He said the town had received few suggestions from members of the community but that he reached out to representatives from the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, who suggested that the trail be dubbed the "Mohican Bike Trail."
The trail originally was called the Mohawk Trail by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which directed construction of the path. Historically, the Mohican people lived in land now known as Williamstown before they were forcibly removed — ultimately to their current tribal headquarters in Wisconsin.
The only objection raised by the board to the idea came from Boyd, who suggested removing the word "bike" given the fact that the trail is used by walkers and joggers as well.
Menicocci asked the board for the go-ahead to prepare a formal motion that it can act on in August so the town can move forward with plans for a naming ceremony and create signage for the trail.
Without a formal vote, the board gave him the greenlight to proceed.
In yet another piece of "naming" news, the board voted, 5-0, to name Andi Bryant to a vacant seat on the town's Housing Authority.
"It's no secret the demographic that [board] serves is the demographic I fall in," Bryant told the Select Board. "It's hard to live in this town being from a working class demographic. Because it's near and dear to me and it's a demographic I fall in, it feels like the right fit."
Johnson noted with gratitude that with Bryant's appointment to the Housing Authority, both of the unsuccessful candidates for Select Board in May's annual town election are now serving in other capacities in town government. Earlier this summer, the board appointed Paul Harsch to serve as an alternate member of the Planning Board.
