City Accepts Gift From Amazon for Health and Wellness Center

By Adam Swift

The City Council unanimously accepted a $150,000 gift from Amazon for facilities upgrades at the new Robert J. Haas Health and Wellness Center on Charger Street, although the gift didn’t totally put the mega-company back in all the councillors good graces.

Last month, the council raised concerns about Amazon’s delays in opening a new warehouse distribution center on Squire Road.

Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro asked why the city was receiving the money from Amazon.

Richard Viscay, the city’s finance director, said the city requested the funds from Amazon.

“Why did we ask them for it?” Cogliandro asked.

“Because we could use it,” said Viscay.

The donation offer from Amazon came into the city at the beginning of the year, said Viscay.

“I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth, so of course I’ll support it,” said Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino.

Serino said he did want to clarify that the money would be used for facilities improvements and not for salaries for the yet-to-be-opened health and wellness center.

“My job is to make sure the money is spent for the reasons of the gift and the acceptance, once it is accepted, it will be for facilities improvements,” said Viscay.

Councillor-at-Large Anthony Zambuto said he was sure there were no strings attached with the donation.

“However, (Amazon) doesn’t have a lot of good will with me, with them sitting on that $150 million building, and we are not getting any excise tax on their supposed new vehicles,” said Zambuto.

Viscay said he was also not pleased with Amazon’s delays in opening the Squire Road facility, but said the city should still accept the donation.

Councillor-at-Large Gerry Visconti asked Viscay when the Haas Health and Wellness Center was scheduled to open.

“I will leave that for somebody else to answer,” said Viscay. “I’m not prepared to answer that question right now, councillor.”

In April, the council met with Viscay to discuss the funding and delays in opening the center. At that time, Viscay noted that there were  a lot of problems with that building, unbeknownst to the city, that it was working with the landlord to straighten out, including the fire suppression system, mold issues, and ADA compliance.