GREENFIELD — For the last 14 years, Greenfield has been called “The City Known as the Town of Greenfield” — but for one town councilor, the designation is a mouthful that has proven to be inconvenient and borderline embarrassing.
Town Council Vice President Isaac Mass has submitted a motion to amend the Charter of the Town of Greenfield to strike the word “town” throughout the document and replace it with the word “city.” He said the change is warranted because Greenfield has a city form of government that includes a mayor and council.
Mass said Greenfield’s current title is also confusing and presents challenges in applying for grants and other state and federal applications that have eligibility dependent on the designation.
He said recently, when the warrant for the municipal election was inadvertently left off the regular council meeting agenda, the council president was not able to simply sign the warrant as he would have been permitted to do in other large communities because the secretary of state did not recognize Greenfield as a city.
“The result was if we were not able to pull together a quorum for a special two-minute meeting, we would have had to delay the election,” Mass wrote.
He said while most people have strong views on the issue, it probably will not require a deep study.
Mass hopes the council will take up the issue next month, but said it could also be carried over to the new council that takes office in January.