Mayor Christopher Johnson gestures at U.S. Rep. Richard Neal and shares how federal legislation has helped Agawam.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
AGAWAM — U.S. Rep. Richard Neal stopped in Agawam on Aug. 18 to tour the high school building project. The site was the second stop on Neal’s Landmark Laws, Local Investments tour, which is designed to collect information about how municipalities have used federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Together, the three pieces of legislation brought $43 million to Agawam and $1.5 billion to Neal’s district.
Neal said he wanted to highlight the ways the legislation had been used by Massachusetts communities. Gesturing around him to the steel frame and concrete that will be the school’s auditorium, Neal said, “What better example?”
When completed, the school will be nearly 100% new construction. Linda Liporto of Left Field, the owner’s project manager, said there are three main phases to the project. The public facing parts of the school, including the gymnasium and auditorium, will be finished in December. At that point, those spaces in the existing school will be demolished to make way for the new academic wing. The process will then be repeated, with the existing academic classrooms demolished for the Early Childhood Center and athletic fields to be built. The final phase’s completion date is fall 2028.
“These are long-held desires that communities had that ordinarily they wouldn’t have been able to undertake. But you were able to do it. It’s visionary. The commitment you made here in Agawam, whether it’s the new high school or if you consider many of the road projects you undertook. Everywhere you go right now, there seems to be a delay or detour. That’s the infrastructure legislation — $1.2 trillion,” Neal said of the funding that was distributed nationwide. He remarked, “People talked about it forever — we did it.”
In the case of Agawam High School, the Inflation Reduction Act allowed tax credits to encourage the use of geothermal energy. The school will be among the first in Western Massachusetts to be powered completely using geothermal energy, according to Agawam Mayor Christopher Johnson. He said the Inflation Reduction Act was a “comprehensive bill that is going to mean a significant sum to the town of Agawam relative to this building. We’re going through the steps now to hopefully end up with a sizeable investment tax credit payment from the federal government when this project is done.”
Neal said, “I can’t tell you how happy I was to see the energy use coming from the tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. It’ll pay dividends … for decades to come because of the investment you’re making. We’re going to need more electricity. You’re going to be able to produce it at an achievable price here on site.”
Pivoting, Johnson said, “As far as the American Rescue Plan, Agawam used it and poured every nickel strictly into infrastructure, doing projects we would never have gotten done but for that money.” He cited two major roadway culverts on the city’s main roads. He said Neal had also secured earmarks for Agawam to help complete major projects.
Neal, who was a major author of the American Rescue Plan Act, “When you think of the needs that were assessed, that wouldn’t have been able to have taken place in the ordinary local government expenditure, the local-federal partnership.” He said the funding was an investment in the future. “It’s another reminder that, despite some of the complaints about federal expenditure, nobody’s ever sent back a check. Nobody’s ever called me to say, ‘Can I give back the money?’”
Asked why the tour was necessary, Neal said, “I’m a graduate of the school that says, ‘Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them what you told them and tell them.’ You’ve got to remind people all the time, this doesn’t just happen. It’s sometimes difficult to get people to see the other side of the mountain before you reach the top of the mountain. I do believe profoundly in reminding people what happened because they were supporters of a process through their elected representatives.”
Johnson declared, “I can tell you unequivocally, this gentleman has delivered for Agawam. He has delivered for his district.”
