Fairfield Hires DPW Supt. After Predecessor Charged With Felonies

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield has hired a superintendent of public works after the previous person to hold the job was charged with financial and environmental crimes in connection with mismanagement of the town fill pile. Incoming Interim Superintendent of Public Works Douglas Novak started in the role Monday, the town announced.

Novak has worked as the director of public works in Ansonia and as interim director of permitting and land use in Milford. He also spent 24 years employed by the Connecticut Department of Transportation and is a past president of Connecticut State Employee Association Chapter 88.

"Mr. Novak's years of experience and depth of knowledge will be helpful in serving our community's needs and I'm hopeful will complement the good men and women who work in the Public Works Department," First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said in a town news release.

Novak and his wife live in Milford.

"I'm looking forward to working with the dedicated men and women in the Town's Public Works Department as well as providing a high level of quality service for the residents of Fairfield," Novak said in the news release.

Novak's hiring follows months of controversy surrounding the Public Works Department that began in August when former superintendent of public works Scott Bartlett, former public works director Joe Michelangelo and Julian Companies Owner Jason Julian — a former town contractor — were arrested. The trio is charged with crimes including forgery, larceny and dumping. Court proceedings are underway and each of the three men have pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial.

Bartlett and Michelangelo were fired from their town jobs in the weeks following their arrests and Fairfield Conservation Director Brian Carey has been temporarily overseeing the Public Works Department as its interim superintendent. The town is still seeking a new director of public works to head the department.

The issues that led to the contamination controversy started when Fairfield hired Julian Development in 2013 to operate the fill pile and reduce the amount of unused project material in the pile 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, contaminants 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.

The same week as the August arrests, asbestos at a Fairfield park was reported to police. Later that month, the town began announcing more sites for testing that could potentially contain contaminants connected to the pile. Fairfield has since tested more than 70 locations across town and uncovered contaminants at several of the sites, although the majority were found not to be contaminated.