Asbestos, Glass Have Been Reported For Years At Fairfield Sites

FAIRFIELD, CT — Officials are rushing to test Fairfield school and park property for contaminants in connection with an investigation of the town public works yard and the company contracted to run it. But records show that suspected asbestos and broken glass were reported at some of the testing sites as many as five years ago, and no tests were conducted after those early reports.

The town announced Friday that 20 sites, including nine schools, had been identified as priorities for testing after asbestos shingles were found this month along a stretch of sidewalk at Gould Manor Park. The high-priority sites all received material from the public works yard between 2013 and 2016, when contractor Julian Development was operating the facility. Reports of suspected asbestos and broken glass at Gould Manor Park and other areas in town date as far back as the second year of Julian's contract to run the yard.

Emails sent between January 2014 and May 2015 that were provided to Patch indicate that Fairfield resident Dana Kery contacted public works in January 2014 about possible asbestos and broken glass in the fill around the Gould Manor Park sidewalks. Kery's initial email resulted in an exchange about how best to address the issue. She sent another email in August of 2014 to several local officials, including First Selectman Mike Tetreau, stating the debris was still visible.

"I would like to know the source of the fill that was used, and how this can be remediated," Kery said.

Director of Public Works Joe Michelangelo, who is currently on leave in connection with the investigation, replied to that email.

"The material at Gould Manor is not acceptable," he said. "I am not sure what happened, but somehow a bad batch got into the mix. We will remove it an (sic) replace it with proper topsoil, and we will start this week."

In April 2015, Kery emailed Michelangelo, Tetreau and Superintendent of Public Works Scott Bartlett, who is also now on leave. She said that the debris was partially covered by topsoil and seed, but not removed.

"I do not see how covering half of the problem solves the problem," she said.

Later that month, Kery and Bartlett via email discussed plans to meet and review the situation. In May 2015, she sent an email thanking Bartlett for fixing the issue.

Tetreau said Tuesday that, to his knowledge, the suspected asbestos was not tested after Kery's complaint.

"It should have been tested," said Tetreau, a Democrat. "... I am not clear on why it wasn't."

Results released by the town Tuesday revealed elevated levels of arsenic and lead in soil at Gould Manor Park, while results made public last week confirmed the presence of asbestos shingles. The testing was conducted after Fairfield police and the state's attorney requested the area be evaluated by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection due to concerns that contaminated fill from the public works yard was used for a 2013-14 sidewalk project.

Kery, a Republican who is running for a seat in Representative Town Meeting District 7, said via email last week that she recently contacted police about the suspected asbestos at Gould Manor Park, although she was unsure if anyone else also notified law enforcement.

"I believed the timing of Julian beginning the contract with Town of Fairfield and the installation of the fill was possibly connected," she said.

The situation with Gould Manor Park is not the only time concerns have been raised about unsafe material on Fairfield property. In 2015, the Parks and Recreation Commission discussed the discovery that fill material on town fields contained glass, according to commission meeting minutes from spring of that year.

"DPW evidently took the fill from the wrong pile," the minutes said.

Parks and Recreation Department Director Anthony Calabrese said glass was found on five fields in 2015, all of which are on the recently released list of high-priority testing sites. At the time the glass was discovered, the fields were shut down immediately and the topsoil was removed and replaced, according to Calabrese. No contamination testing was done.

"I don't believe anybody knew that the fill pile at DPW could've been contaminated," he said.

Fairfield hired Julian Development in 2013 to run its public works yard and reduce the size of a pile of leftover project material on the property from 40,000 cubic yards. Over the course of the three-year contract, the pile more than doubled in size, and days before the contract was set to end, contamination was discovered on the property. After conservation officials said the transportation and dumping of contaminated material could have violated state or federal law, police opened an investigation.

Michelangelo, Bartlett and Julian Companies Owner Jason Julian were arrested earlier this monthand are accused of crimes including larceny, forgery and dumping. The majority of the crimes are alleged to have occurred during the years Julian Development was under contract to operate the yard on Richard White Way.

In addition to the criminal case, Fairfield has sued Julian for about $3 million in costs associated with the yard and Julian has sued the town for defamation.