Russ Raymond among Athol Selectboard candidates

ATHOL – Like father, like son.

Fifty-three-year-old Russ Raymond, son of former Athol Selectboard member Stephen Raymond, is among those running to fill the seat vacated earlier this year by Andy Sujdak.

Three other people have taken out nomination papers to get on the Sept. 8 Special Election ballot—former board member Bill Chiasson, and Jeffrey Raymond. The two Raymonds are not related.

Russ Raymond grew up in Orange but has had the chance to see much of the country before returning to his home area.

“I went to Mahar Regional High School, graduated in 1990.” said Raymond. “I graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in restaurant management.”

Raymond said he gained a love for the restaurant business when, while still in high school, he worked at the popular Homestead Restaurant on Daniel Shays Highway in Orange.

“I started as dishwasher and worked my way up to sous chef,” he said.

Russ Raymond’s restaurant career has taken him to Appleton, Wisconsin, and Honolulu, Hawaii. He and his wife returned to Athol in December 2020. They have four daughters; one in Georgia, one in Wisconsin, and two in Hawaii.

He now works in human resources at the Hannaford supermarket on the Athol-Orange line.

While Raymond said he would like to follow in his father’s footsteps, “I also want to make sure Athol evolves into the type of town that it should be. One of things that scares me a little bit about Athol is what happens if Starrett’s closes? We need business in this community and how are we going to get business to come in? I believe we need to make the infrastructure a little bit better and easier for not just businesses, but the townsfolk.”

While Athol has its share of low-income residents “there are also a lot of lower middle-class people who are struggling, and there aren’t a lot of services for them. There aren’t a lot of places they can get help, whether it’s for medical bills or even help paying their regular bills.”

Russ Raymond noted that his father was a member of the board when Market Basket and Hobby Lobby chose to locate in Athol.

“They’ve been hugely beneficial to the town,” he said. “How can we continue to be a place that attracts businesses like that?”

Russ Raymond complimented the town for being able to attract a wide away of grants in recent years.

“That helps us out a lot,” he said.

When it comes to budgeting, Russ Raymond said he wants to wait and, hopefully, join the board before making recommendations on how best to be fiscally responsible.

“There are areas where we might be able to adjust our spending,” he said. “What kinds of grants are we able to apply for. As the federal government tightens up and there’s not as much money available, like there was during Covid, it becomes much more difficult to budget. No matter what, there’s no way we can raise taxes. Everybody is already strapped. I’m a little bit worried because as property values have gone up, which is great for homeowners, what happens on the assessments for taxes? I don’t want people to worry about affording their taxes for the community or their homes.”

Raymond said he has more in common with his father than just the desire to serve on the Selectboard.

“Like my dad,” he said, “I have tremendous Christian values as well. I think that’s important in politics and in the leaders of the community as well.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.