Joseph P. Meaney

Joseph P. Meaney was a Billerica plumber who served the town for more than three decades: on the School Committee from 1906 to 1912, as its first named Building Inspector from 1922 to 1930, on the Finance Committee in 1935 and 1936, and on the Select Board from 1937 to 1940. The lists of jurors of 1907 to 1909 give his occupation as plumber, and in 1909 the town paid J. P. Meaney and Co. for plumbing repairs. On June 16, 1902, he married Anna Harrington, both of them of Billerica. Their son James Francis was born on July 13, 1907, and twin sons, Frederic Joseph and Edwin Thomas, on February 11, 1910. His report as building inspector for 1929 was dated at North Billerica.

He was elected to the School Committee in 1906, defeating Edward Fenton Carley by 280 votes to 211, and sat on the three-member board with Dr. Maurice A. Buck and Fred A. Casey, each paid $60 a year. He was the committee's secretary in 1907 and signed its report as chairman in 1909, and he was re-elected that year. In 1912 he lost his seat to Charles Hurst by 293 votes to 257, carrying Precinct 2 but losing Precinct 1.

In 1920 the town adopted building regulations and provided for a building inspector to be appointed by the selectmen, and from 1922 Meaney is listed in the office. His report for 1929 counted forty-four permits for buildings and additions, three complaints investigated and forty inspections made; Roger W. Barrington followed him in 1930. In 1927 he served with Dr. Buck, George R. Warren, Edgar P. Sellew and Charles A. Ranlett on the town meeting's committee to study a school building program, which reported on the rapid growth of the school population in Pinehurst.

After two years on the Finance Committee he was elected a selectman in 1937, leading the field with 731 votes. The selectmen also served as the Board of Public Works and as fence viewers. When the board organized in 1937, under chairman Frank A. Kelley, it gave Meaney charge of Soldiers' Relief, in a year when, the selectmen reported, "business conditions and lack of employment" forced them to declare an emergency to supplement that department's funds. He served until 1940, when he ran third behind Arthur C. Barnard and Ernest T. Vocell. The town reports name only one Joseph P. Meaney in these years, and his school, building and selectman service is taken here as the career of one man; they do not record his death.

References

1. Marriages in 1902 (Town Report 1903)
2. Report of the School Committee, 1909 (signed as chairman)
3. School accounts, 1909 (J. P. Meaney and Co., plumbing)
4. Annual Town Election, 1912 (School Committee), Town Report 1913
5. Town Officers, 1922 (Building Inspector)
6. Report of the Inspector of Buildings, 1929
7. Report of the Board of Selectmen, 1937
8. Annual Town Election, 1940 (Selectmen)