Date: 4/19/2021
I, Anthony C. Bonavita hereby announce that I will not be seeking re-election to the Agawam School Committee or any other seats in the 2021 Agawam election.
As everybody knows COVID has taken its toll on the ability of the court system to conduct trials which they are hoping to start possibly in either May or June. I am a criminal defense trial attorney that handles mostly Superior Court criminal cases or criminal cases in District Court that may be indicted in Superior Court. I also do some District Court criminal cases.
I am a criminal defense attorney which is all I do right now and I have been practicing for over 42 years. All during COVID I have been taking new cases and have been busy. So, the next year or two I am going to be extremely busy due to the backlog that the court faces along with accepting new cases. That is my main reason for not running again. I have to devote all my time for the serious cases that I handle and I do not believe I will be able to be on the School Committee at the same time.
I have served under four superintendents and three different mayors. At the end of this year, I will have served 16 years on the School Committee and previously four years on the City Council. I never would say never that I wouldn’t run again for some local position after the next two years, but in the next two years I know I will not have time to do the job as an elected official.
I have spent all of the 16 years working with former superintendent Bill Sapelli and mayor Bill Sapelli. In many ways we admit that were like brothers, we sometime disagree, sometimes argue about it and most of the time agree on what we are doing. But like brothers we may argue but we still cut bread together.
I have immensely enjoyed working as an elected official. I have always been honest, giving my opinion openly without reservation. Sometimes people disagree and sometimes people agree. But I have always told what I believe so no one will be able to say that they didn’t know how I felt. We have worked very hard, all of us with many difficult issues during my 20-year career and I respect everyone I served with.
The reason why I am announcing now is to hopefully spur on new candidates to run for my vacant seat.
In conclusion I thank the citizens of Agawam who have elected me 10 different times and I am proud to say that on the School Committee I finished third in my first term, first in the next five terms and second in the last two terms. For the City Council I finished fifth in my first election and 1st in my second election. It was all based-on support that I have received from the voters of this Agawam community.
After serving to the end of this year I may be offering letters to the editor on various issues and my heart will still be involved in Agawam.
So, I thank you again to all the people I served with and to the voters of the Town of Agawam.
Anthony C. Bonavita
Agawam
