After decades of conducting business as a Board of Aldermen, the Town of Franklin will now be governed by a Town Council.
In an historic three-two vote, the Town of Franklin Board of Aldermen officially became a Town Council. The vote followed months of discussion by officials, many of whom wanted to make the town more gender neutral. But the change didn’t come without some pushback.
I know there’s very strong feelings on both sides of the fence… Well, we’re passed that. Yeah, we’re passed that, I feel this board is good at working things out
Franklin Mayor Bob Scott was delighted to have made the change, calling the old term ‘alderman’ obsolete.
“In the final analysis it means ‘old men’” [laughs] “It’s just time to become gender neutral when referring to our form of government.
According to town manager Summer Woodard, the term alderman appears 130 times throughout the town’s ordinance book. Making the change outright could have cost the town a couple thousand dollars, she said, however the town voted to make the change gradually, updating the book as they went, costing the town less than $100 instead.
