George J. Simolaris Jr.

George J. Simolaris Jr. served on Billerica's Select Board from 2013 to 2019, was three times a candidate for state representative, and has been a member of the Historic District Commission. He was elected a Town Meeting member in 1987 and has served in Town Meeting for Precinct 8 over several periods since, among them 1992 to 1997, when he was first chosen by caucus and then elected with 227 votes in 1993, and again from 2012. In the September 1990 state primary he ran for representative in the General Court and received 1,134 votes in Billerica to 1,740 for Brion M. Cangiamila, and in 1992 he finished third in the race for two Select Board seats with 1,698 votes, behind Arthur L. Doyle and Ralph M. Krau.

Twenty-one years later, in April 2013, he topped the field for the Select Board with 4,649 votes, ahead of Michael S. Rosa and the defeated incumbent Robert M. Correnti. He served for several years as the board's vice chairman. In 2014 he petitioned the town meeting to apply the benefits of the net metering agreement for the town's solar installation to the costs of the water and sewer departments, an article later dismissed, and to form a committee to study changing Billerica's form of government from Town Meeting to a council with a mayor; after the Rules Committee asked him to put the second article in proper form, the substitute motion for a five-member study committee lost, 44 to 103. In June 2015 he was the guest speaker at the veterans' office's annual Flag Day ceremony.

He was re-elected in April 2016 with 3,081 votes. That year he proposed lowering the minimum lot size for hotels to five acres, an amendment the town meeting rejected, 58 to 109, before adopting the article as presented. In November 2016 he was a candidate for state representative against Marc T. Lombardo, who carried Billerica 12,583 to 8,671. As the minority vote on the board in 2018 he moved to cut $129,856 of personnel and capital additions from a supplemental budget article, which lost, 55 to 118, and in 2019 he sought a ten-year grace period from the new sewer connection penalties for residents who had recently installed new septic systems, an amendment that failed 68 to 74. A trumpet player, he played the national anthem at the opening of a town meeting in 2018 and "God Bless America" at another in 2019.

In April 2019 he finished third for two seats, with 2,486 votes, and left the board. He later joined the Historic District Commission, on which he was serving in 2023 with a term to 2027, and in November 2024 he ran again for state representative in the Twenty-Second Middlesex District against Lombardo, receiving 8,461 votes in Billerica to Lombardo's 13,303.

References

1. Billerica Town Report 1987, town officers and election: Town Meeting members, George J. Simolaris Jr.
2. Billerica Town Report 1990, state primary September 18, 1990: Representative in General Court, Brion M. Cangiamila 1,740, George Simolaris Jr. 1,134
3. Billerica Town Report 1992, annual town election April 4, 1992: Selectmen, Arthur L. Doyle 2,293, Ralph M. Krau 2,022, George J. Simolaris Jr. 1,698
4. Billerica Town Report 2013, town election April 6, 2013: Selectman, George Simolaris Jr. 4,649, Michael S. Rosa 4,361, Robert M. Correnti 2,180
5. Billerica Town Report 2014, Board of Selectmen report signed by George J. Simolaris Jr., Vice-Chairman
6. Billerica Town Report 2015, warrant: Articles 40 and 41, petitions of George Simolaris Jr. (net metering benefits; study of a Town Council with a Mayor)
7. Billerica Town Report 2015, town meeting Article 41: substitute motion for a form of government study committee lost 44 to 103
8. Billerica Town Report 2015, Veterans Services report: Selectman George Simolaris Jr. guest speaker at the Flag Day ceremony
9. Billerica Town Report 2016, town election: Selectman, Kimberly J. Conway 3,470, George Simolaris Jr. 3,081, Michael S. Rosa 2,864
10. Billerica Town Report 2016, town meeting: Selectman Simolaris moves to amend the hotel lot requirement to five acres; amendment lost 58 to 109
11. Billerica Town Report 2017, state election November 8, 2016: Representative in General Court, Marc T. Lombardo 12,583, George Simolaris Jr. 8,671
12. Billerica Town Report 2018, town meeting: Selectman Simolaris, the minority vote on the Board, moves to reduce a budget amendment; lost 55 to 118
13. Billerica Town Report 2018, town meeting: National Anthem played on the trumpet by Selectman George Simolaris Jr.
14. Billerica Town Report 2019, town meeting: Selectman Simolaris moves a grace period amendment to the sewer connection article; lost 68 to 74
15. Billerica Town Report 2019, town election April 6, 2019: Selectmen, Kimberly J. Conway 2,717, Daniel Burns 2,533, George Simolaris Jr. 2,486