Fairfield Selectmen Decry HR Director, Town Attorney, Tetreau

FAIRFIELD, CT — Two Fairfield selectmen are criticizing the town's human resources director, attorney and first selectman for their handling of a draft police report and other matters regarding an investigation that resulted in the arrests of two town employees and a former contractor. In the weeks since the defendants were charged in connection with illegal dumping at the Fairfield public works yard, contaminants have been uncovered at public sites all over town.

Selectmen Christopher Tymniak and Ed Bateson issued a news release this week, as well as correspondence in which Chief of Police Christopher Lyddy addressed whether language from the final affidavits about the possibility of contamination at public places appeared in the draft report.

"... it is abundantly clear that the 'draft report' provided to HR Director Emmit (sic) Hibson contained allegations that went above and beyond mere personnel concerns," the news release said.

The draft report included language that was "similar in context" to a section of the affidavits that discussed how the amount and location remained unknown for potentially contaminated material removed from the public works yard and used for town projects, according to the chief.

"I do not remember those words there," Emmet Hibson said Thursday of the draft report.

If police had concerns about contaminants being taken to public sites, they would have contacted the health, conservation or public works departments, he said, not human resources.

Lyddy gave Hibson the draft report in December 2018, after attempting to bring it to First Selectman Mike Tetreau, who refused to review the report, citing concerns about interference. Hibson told the Board of Selectmen at a meeting Sept. 18 that when he read the draft report he did not feel it contained issues that needed to be immediately addressed and he was not aware of anything regarding potentially contaminated material being brought to public spaces.

In their news release, the selectmen, who are both Republicans, called Hibson's statements at the meeting "false and misleading."

"It almost seems like it's a witch hunt against me right now, quite frankly," Hibson said Thursday, noting that at the time he reviewed the draft report, the chief indicated a warrant would be issued in a matter of weeks, as opposed to the more than six months that passed before the arrests were made.

In the news release, Tymniak and Bateson also referenced a "stonewall tactic" employed by Town Attorney Stanton Lesser at the Sept. 18 meeting when Tymniak began to read from the affidavits.

At the meeting, Lesser interjected as Tymniak read, and said that Tymniak was assuming the contents of the affidavits were true. Lesser said the documents were designed to persuade a judge to issue a warrant and were incomplete.

"Attorney Lesser was giving his opinion on the nature of affidavits," Tetreau said Thursday. "... Selectman Tymniak has a copy of the affidavit, so I don't know where the stonewall description would come from."

When Tymniak asked the chief during the meeting if he stood by the investigation as reported by Detective Sgt. Fred Hine, who signed the affidavits, Lyddy said Hine "did an amazing job."

The selectmen also in the news release accused Tetreau of failing to address public health concerns regarding contaminants until local media reported the possibility of contamination at Gould Manor Park, which later tested positive for elevated arsenic and lead levels, as well as asbestos shingles.

Tetreau countered that no one knew there was potentially contaminated material from the public works yard at Fairfield's parks and schools until he asked the health department to investigate where fill from the yard was used.

"It's disappointing they're playing politics with public safety," Tetreau said Thursday.

Emails obtained by Patch have shown Tetreau received emails about potential contamination at Gould Manor Park in 2014. In a phone call Friday, Tetreau emphasized that he was also copied on an email in 2015 stating the issue had been resolved.

The town 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 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. After conservation officials said the transportation and dumping of contaminated material could have violated state or federal law, police opened an investigation in 2017.

Sites throughout town have been tested after receiving potentially contaminated material from the public works yard during the years of the contract. In August, 10 of 20 sites on a priority testing list released by the town were found to contain contaminants.

Also in August, Bartlett, former public works director Joe Michelangelo and Julian Companies Owner Jason Julian were arrested on charges including larceny, forgery and dumping.

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