Fairfield Chief Shares New Details On Contamination Probe

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield's police chief publicly discussed Wednesday the investigation that resulted in the arrest of two town employees and a contractor in connection with illegal dumping, saying his concerns about police findings led him to contact town officials.

"There was some troubling material in this and I had deep, deep concerns about what had taken place," Chief of Police Christopher Lyddy told the town's Board of Police Commissioners.

The Wednesday meeting followed an eventful summer in Fairfield, during which time public works officials were charged with crimes including larceny, forgery and dumping, and sites all over town were tested after receiving potentially contaminated material from the public works yard between 2013 and 2016. During those years, the facility was operated by contractor Julian Development.

After conservation officials said the transportation and dumping of contaminated material could have violated state or federal law, police opened an investigation in 2017. So far, 10 of 20 sites on a priority testing list released by the town have been found to contain contaminants, such as arsenic, asbestos, lead and PCBs.

Informing town officials

Lyddy told the board that he spoke with First Selectman Mike Tetreau about the investigation in December 2018. At that time, Tetreau knew the investigation was taking place and who the subject of the probe was, but did not want to be perceived as tampering with the investigation, Lyddy said, adding that he then brought a draft police report to town Human Resources Director Emmet Hibson.

The draft Hibson received focused solely on former public works superintendent Scott Bartlett, Hibson indicated to selectmen at a meeting last week. Lyddy, too, said that until July 2019 the investigation was centered on one town employee. In addition to Bartlett, former public works director Joe Michelangelo and Julian Companies Owner Jason Julian face charges. Bartlett was terminated last month and Michelangelo was fired earlier this week.

Lyddy said that in December 2018 he had questions about if certain people should be working for the town and went to Tetreau, and then Hibson, because he thought it was the right thing to do.

"I'm confident that I shared enough information where people could make informed decisions regarding practices and whether people should be performing their jobs at that time," Lyddy said.

The focus of the investigation was always the fill pile at the public works yard, Lyddy said, but he added that even at the end of the investigation, he did not anticipate the widespread contamination that has since been uncovered.

"We had concerns that stuff went out, but we didn't really know where stuff went," he said.

After receiving the draft, Hibson discussed the document with Lyddy and met with Det. Sgt. Fred Hine to request police interview two town employees, before shredding his copy of the draft in February at Lyddy's request, Lyddy said.

Origins of the investigation

Before Lyddy addressed the board, police commissioner Jamie Millington, who requested that the chief speak and who is also chair of the Fairfield Republican Town Committee, recounted conversations he had with former Chief Gary MacNamara, who oversaw the department when the investigation began.

MacNamara told Millington he opened the probe after it was requested by the Representative Town Meeting's public works subcommittee, and that former town meeting member and current police commissioner Ronald Pine, a Republican, sought the investigation into possible fraud involving Julian following the subcommittee vote.

Tetreau concurred that the investigation was necessary and received updates from MacNamara about the investigation, although MacNamara told Millington he did not recall the specific content of the updates.

Tetreau, a Democrat, told selectmen last week that he was not given updates about the investigation, and did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment late Wednesday night.

"Now we have a situation of who's right and who's wrong," Selectman Christopher Tymniak, a Republican, said after the meeting.

Tymniak attended Wednesday's meeting and asked Lyddy several questions on behalf of himself and fellow Republican Selectman Ed Bateson after Lyddy declined to appear before the Board of Selectmen last week.

Lyddy received a letter in August from the state's attorney's office reminding him to "maintain the integrity of the criminal investigation/prosecution, and to prevent undue influence and interference," according to the letter, which was obtained by Patch. The letter also said that "members of the Police Department are being questioned or pressured to undergo inquiry regarding the pending criminal prosecution," and requested the names of anyone asking about the case.

"I am relieved that the chief was able to speak the truth tonight," Millington said in a prepared statement after Wednesday's meeting. "... The chief spoke with such deep compassion tonight that he made every effort to inform the Administration to enable them to do the right thing."

Fairfield hired Julian in 2013 to run its public works yard and reduce the size of a pile of leftover project material on the property by 40,000 cubic yards. Over the course of Julian's three-year agreement, the pile more than doubled in size, and days before the agreement was set to end, contamination was discovered on the property. In addition to the criminal case, Fairfield has sued Julian for millions in damages and Julian has sued the town for defamation.

Tymniak said after the Wednesday meeting that selectmen will request Hibson again appear before the board.