The Hopedale Board of Selectmen has vowed to take the next step to change its name to “Select Board” and will draft a warrant article for the next town meeting. 

Glenda Hazard was elected to the Board of Selectmen in December 2020 and, in January, urged the board to consider changing its official name to be more inclusive, similar to what was recently done in Milford. 

Other board members Brian Keyes and Louis Arcudi agreed.

“This is something I’ve always been a huge advocate of,” said Chairman Keyes. “We are very much in favor of doing this.” 

According to the United States Census Bureau, the majority of Hopedale’s population (51.1 percent) identifies as female. 

In 2019, a survey was issued to the town asking if they would support a name change. At the selectmen’s meeting on October 15, 2019, then-selectman Tom Wesley (whose seat Hazard later filled) reported that, of the 110 responses received at the time, 49 percent supported a name change, 36 percent strongly opposed it, and 14 percent had no opinion. 

“We actually voted 3 to 0 to make that change and I don’t remember why it didn’t get changed,” recalled 

Arcudi, who was part of the 2019 vote. 

Chairman Keyes said the intent at the time was to draft a warrant article but it might have fallen off the radar as the town focused on a potential tax override in 2020. Keyes noted there is a cost to make the change but “it is very important to do.” [end]