High school project tops Johnson’s agenda for reelection as Agawam mayor

AGAWAM — Early voting has begun in Agawam, though voters will only see one name at the top of the ballot.

Christopher C. Johnson is running unopposed for another two-year term as mayor. There are seven candidates for six seats on the School Committee. The City Council race has more options, with 16 candidates vying for the 11 at-large seats.

Town Clerk Vincent F. Gioscia said despite the lack of a mayoral race this year, he expects “a similar turnout” to the 2023 election, when 27.5% of voters came to the polls to choose Johnson over Cecilia P. Calabrese. He said he expects voters will want to weigh in on the council race.

Johnson said he’s looking forward to serving another term so that he can continue the work he’s been doing in the past two years.

“We’re in the meat of the high school project,” he said. “That was my main motivating factor to come back to the mayor’s office. At this point, we’ve started the construction process, but it’s going to be a lengthy process. I really want to see that through.”

The mayor is on pace to win his second consecutive term and seventh overall. Gioscia said he is not aware of any write-in campaigns to oppose Johnson.

“I hope that people will see fit to continue to trust my leadership for another couple years,” Johnson said. “I enjoy the job very much. I care deeply about Agawam. I’m a lifelong Agawam resident.”

Agawam broke ground in June on a $231.5 million project to build a new high school on the current campus at Mill and Cooper streets, and the work is expected to last until 2028. Johnson meets regularly with the construction team and said he expects managing the project to be a big part of the mayor’s job over the next few years.

He’d also like to continue overseeing a reorganization he’s begun of some Agawam town departments. In the past few months, Johnson has moved the Planning Department into the same building as the town’s public works, engineering and code enforcement departments, which he hopes will streamline the permitting process. He’s also moved the Parks and Recreation Department and the veterans agent out of that building, and into the town’s Senior Center.

“The goal is to create more, especially night-time programming at the Senior Center so we can keep the building open longer and we can create intergenerational programming,” Johnson said.

He also said having younger adults visit the Senior Center will make them more familiar with the facility and more likely to participate in elder programs when they retire.

In the long term, parks offices may end up at Perry Lane Park, in a building that currently hosts the school district’s Early Childhood Center. The ECC is slated to move to a building on the high school campus when the new Agawam High School is completed.

Agawam is also close to opening a new police station, when renovations are complete on the former Hub Insurance and Oaks banquet hall building on Suffield Street. Another of Johnson’s priorities for the next two years is securing state funds to replace the roofs on all four of the town’s elementary schools.

He said he doesn’t want to take on too many large projects, however, as debt payments on the high school are going to bring a substantial increase to property tax rates.

“I’m trying to build up a little reserve,” Johnson said. “I’ve tried to bring some fiscal conservatism. Two budgets in a row, we limited the tax increase to 2.5%, with no adverse service impacts.”

Another point of pride, Johnson said, is that the mayor and City Council have worked together amicably during his term.

Johnson previously served as mayor throughout the 1990s, after being elected in the town’s first mayoral election in 1989. In the intervening 24 years, he worked as a lawyer and served on the City Council, including several terms as council president. He gave up his law practice when he returned to the mayor’s office following the 2023 election. He said he hopes to serve as mayor until he’s ready to retire.

“I enjoyed it, but it’s all-consuming,” he said of the law practice. As for the mayor’s office, “This is all-consuming,” too, he said.

All 11 incumbent city councilors — George Bitzas, Edward P. Borgatti, Thomas D. Hendrickson, Dino R. Mercadante, Robert E. Rossi, Anthony J. Russo, Rosemary Sandlin, Gerald F. Smith, Peter J. Smus, Anthony R. Suffriti and Maria F. Valego — are running for re-election. Calabrese, who had been a longtime councilor before her failed bid for mayor two years ago, is also in the race, along with fellow challengers Richard Borsari, Uduak A. Enyiema, Peter T. McNair and Christine Rickmon.

For School Committee, all six incumbents are on the ballot, which consists of Shelley M. Borgatti-Reed, A.J. Christopher, Dawn M. DeMatteo, Catherine McDougal, Michael D. Perry, Wendy T. Rua and challenger Heather Zielenski.

Election Day is Nov. 4, with polls open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the usual precinct polling stations. In-person early voting is available on weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For early voting, residents of all precincts vote at the Senior Center, 954 Main St., Agawam. Voting by mail is also available, with an Oct. 29 deadline to pick up mail-in ballots at the town clerk’s office in Town Hall, 36 Main St., Agawam.