Fairfield Officials Seek Audit As Fill Pile Costs Pass $1 Million

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield's Board of Finance ended a more-than-four-hour meeting Monday by requesting an independent audit of the public works department after a wide-ranging discussion of the investigation into illegal dumping at the town public works yard and the company hired to run the facility.

The finance board voted unanimously to ask the Board of Selectmen to hire PKF O'Connor Davies LLP at a cost of up to $20,000 to review internal controls and financial policies and procedures at public works between July 2016 and July 2019. The vote followed recent arrests within the department, contamination testing at sites across town in connection with the investigation, and multiple lawsuits between the town and a former contractor.

Before the audit was approved, board members questioned Chief Fiscal Officer Bob Mayer about financial misconduct within public works. The finance department discovered in 2016 that contractor Julian Development was not paying its rent of $9,000 per year, and that public works was accepting credit memos in place of rent, according to a memo to the board. This discovery occurred after a finance employee in 2013 told former public works superintendent Scott Bartlett not to accept materials in lieu of rent. Julian Development also improperly billed nearly $7,000 to the town, according to the memo.

"There was no thought that anybody was doing anything illegally," Mayer said, when asked why the finance department did not explore the credit memo issue more thoroughly when it was discovered in 2016.

An audit motivated by the concerns with Julian led to updated internal controls, Mayer said, adding that 10 policies were put in place in the purchasing department in 2016 after Julian's bond was not checked when the company was hired in 2013. Mayer also said no contract was issued when Julian took over operation of the public works yard, which is why the finance department didn't realize sooner that rent was going unpaid.

The board also Monday discussed the mounting costs associated with the public works yard. Including contamination testing, legal fees and construction expenses, issues involving Julian and the yard will cost the town more than $1.1 million. Human Resources Director Emmet Hibson told the board the town could file an insurance claim for testing connected to the dumping of contaminants at the yard. The cost for testing 20 high-priority sites that received material from the yard between 2013 and 2016, plus testing for all other school fields and playgrounds not on the priority list, is estimated at $200,000. That projection does not include additional testing sites, which are anticipated, or remediation costs.

Hibson also noted a state statute could allow for the modification or revocation of the pensions for town employees charged in the case if they are convicted or plead guilty. Bartlett and Director of Public Works Joe Michelangelo, and well as Julian Companies Owner Jason Julian, are accused of crimes including larceny, forgery and dumping. The majority of the crimes are alleged to have occurred during the years Julian was under contract to operate the yard on Richard White Way. Bartlett was recently fired from his town job and Michelangelo was placed on leave.

Fairfield hired Julian not only to run its public works yard, but to reduce the size of a pile of leftover project material on the property from 40,000 cubic yards. Over the course of Julian's three-year agreement with the town, the pile more than doubled in size, and days before the agreement 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.

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