Contamination Costs Add Up As Officials Transfer Millions

FAIRFIELD, CT — The price of Fairfield's contamination crisis was highlighted Tuesday, as the Board of Finance voted to set aside more than $1 million to pay for its aftermath.

The board transferred $1.8 million for expenses related to the fallout after two town employees and an ex-contractor were charged in connection with illegal dumping at the public works yard fill pile and contamination was uncovered at sites all over town.

"Right now the most pressing and unknown need is the fill pile," said Chair Tom Flynn, a Republican.

Costs are adding up as the town works with consultant Tighe and Bond to test public sites for contaminants, with $256,000 spent on testing 60 locations. Remediation for Gould Manor Park alone will be nearly $120,000, interim public works superintendent Brian Carey said, referencing the first town site reported to be potentially contaminated earlier in the year.

Test results released in August revealed asbestos shingles, as well as arsenic and lead levels above the residential standard, in the soil along a stretch of sidewalk at the park. To remediate the site, the town will pay to transport 400 tons of material to a facility in upstate New York and then replace the fill, Carey said. The work at the park is expected to take seven to 10 days. The fill under the sidewalk may need to be remediated when the sidewalk is next replaced, he said.

In total, the town anticipates spending $719,000 on remediation of contaminated public sites, Carey said.

The $1.8 million set aside by the Board of Finance came from funds allocated for the 2019 surplus contribution, library and police budgets, among other things, according to information provided to the board. It will be used to pay for testing, remediation and other related expenses, according to Chief Fiscal Officer Bob Mayer. Of those funds, $800,000 is available to be spent immediately, while another $1 million would need to go back to the board for approval before it could be used.

The board also transferred an additional $2.7 million for unknown expenses or tax mitigation, which would require approval by both the board and the Representative Town Meeting to be used. Mayer said during a phone call Wednesday that even without the fill use issues, he would have requested about $4 million of the $4.5 million in total transfers be made.

All members present voted in favor of the transfers. Vice Chair James Brown, a Republican, and Secretary Mary LeClerc, also a Republican, were not in attendance.

Fairfield hired contractor Julian Development in 2013 to operate its public works yard and reduce the size of a pile of unused project material by 40,000 cubic yards. But over the next three years, the pile more than doubled in size, and days before the agreement was set to end, PCBs and lead were 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 in 2017. Former director of public works Joe Michelangelo, former superintendent of public works Scott Bartlett and Julian Companies Owner Jason Julian were charged this summer with crimes including larceny, forgery and dumping.

Of the 60 areas in Fairfield evaluated for contamination, eight sites tested at levels above residential standards, the town announced Friday. Results are pending for another two areas.

In addition to the criminal case, Fairfield has sued Julian for millions in damages and Julian has sued the town for defamation.