Raymond F. McColough

Raymond F. McColough of Billerica Avenue was a Billerica selectman in the early 1960s and, from 1973 to 1985, the Town Moderator who presided over Town Meeting. He was elected a precinct two town meeting member when representative town meeting began in 1956 and served until 1972, and again from 1991 until his death. In March 1959 he and George E. Lewis were elected selectmen for three-year terms, and the new board organized with Stanley J. Bocko as chairman and McColough as vice chairman. When the Public Works Administrator resigned that spring, the selectmen, sitting as the Board of Public Works, took over his duties while the betterment road program and water main extensions went ahead.

Lewis and McColough were re-elected in 1962, and McColough remained vice chairman under Lewis through 1964, a period when the board met weekly and held repeated meetings with state and federal officials on plans for "an ultimate sewerage system." In 1961 he and Selectman Paul F. Newman attended the Area Redevelopment Conference in Washington, after which the Industrial Commission brought in a federal coordinator to explain how the town could seek redevelopment aid for water, sewerage and roads. In 1962 he chaired the committee appointed to study the feasibility of hiring a town counsel; the 1963 annual town meeting accepted its report and dismissed the committee. At the March 1965 election Lewis was re-elected and Russell A. Young won the other seat, ending McColough's service on the board.

He stayed active in the town's efforts to attract industry. He sat on the Industrial Commission under Arthur A. Curry from 1960 to 1984, chaired the Sewerage and Drainage Committee in 1970, and from 1974 until his death was a member of the Billerica Industrial Development Financing Authority, serving as its vice chairman in the 1980s as it approved industrial revenue bond financing for local firms.

In March 1973 McColough was elected Town Moderator, which under the new town charter also made him a town meeting member at large. For twelve years he opened the sessions, called for quorum counts, appointed tellers and a deputy moderator (in 1983, Howard J. Ralston), and at times handed the chair to his deputy before resuming it. With the chairman of the selectmen and the town clerk he signed the town's citations to championship high school teams. He sought re-election in April 1985 but lost to William G. Greene Jr., 1,472 votes to 1,330.

Raymond F. McColough died on April 11, 1993, and was remembered in the town report's memorial list and at the next town meeting. In August 1993 the Billerica Housing Authority dedicated the Raymond F. McColough House, a group home in its special needs housing program at Wyman and Boston Road with room for eight residents.

References

1. Report of the Board of Selectmen, 1959 (elected selectman with George E. Lewis; vice chairman under Stanley J. Bocko)
2. Report of the Industrial Commission, 1961 (McColough and Newman at the Area Redevelopment Conference in Washington)
3. Report of the Board of Selectmen, 1962 (re-elected; vice chairman; sewerage planning)
4. Annual town meeting, 1963 (reported for the Committee to Study Feasibility of a Town Counsel; committee dismissed)
5. Report of the Board of Selectmen, 1965 (Lewis re-elected and Russell A. Young elected to the other seat)
6. Town officers, 1970 (Raymond F. McColough, Chairman, Sewerage and Drainage Committee; Industrial Commission member)
7. Town officers, 1973 (Raymond F. McColough elected Moderator, term to March 1976)
8. Annual town election, 1985 (Moderator: William G. Greene Jr. defeats Raymond F. McColough)
9. In Memoriam, 1993 town report (died April 11, 1993; list of offices)
10. Report of the Billerica Housing Authority, 1993 (Raymond F. McColough House dedicated August 1993)