New List Names 20 Fairfield Sites That Got Fill Pile Material

FAIRFIELD, CT — The town of Fairfield has released a list of 20 additional locations that received fill material from the public works yard during the three years that the facility was managed by Julian Development, the company at the center of an investigation into illegal dumping at the yard. The new list follows an initial list of 20 priority testing sites that was announced last month, days after asbestos was reported at a local park and two town employees and a Julian official were charged in connection with the case.

The newly named public sites received fill from the yard between summer 2013 and December 2016, First Selectman Mike Tetreau said Friday in a message to residents. In most cases, the fill was used for projects where the material may have been acceptable under state guidelines and pose no health risk, such as curb repairs and sidewalk, road, path and drainage projects, according to Tetreau.

Fairfield will work with specialist Tighe & Bond, Tetreau said, with guidance from state authorities on whether and how to test the sites. Sites may not require testing in cases where the fill was used under asphalt or concrete, or the material was not part of the larger fill pile, according to a town document.

"I want to reiterate that my first priority is your safety, and the safety of everyone who uses our parks and fields," Tetreau said in the message.

The new list was compiled based on invoices from Julian and input from the conservation, engineering and public works departments. Included on the list are Penfield Pavilion, Southport Beach, Ye Yacht Yard, Lake Mohegan, the H. Smith Richardson Golf Course, the Bigelow Center for Senior Activities and the Joseph Elias Fire Training Center. Lake Mohegan also appeared on the initial list of priority testing sites. To view the full new list, visit the town website.

Ten of the initial priority sites have been confirmed to contain contaminants such as asbestos, arsenic, lead and PCBs. The town is working with Tighe & Bond and state officials to remediate the locations. The priority list included nine school properties, three of which tested positive for contamination. After the priority list was released, the Fairfield school district decided to close and test all district playscapes and fields, the majority of which have since reopened.

Officials announced Tuesday that the town had identified additional school locations where material from the public works yard was used, including paved areas where the risk is contained, as well as a site near the Osborn Hill Elementary School baseball field that received material in 2016 and will be cordoned off for further assessment. Those locations are included on the site list announced Friday.

Fairfield hired Julian in 2013 to run 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 arrested last month and 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. Both Michelangelo and Bartlett have been fired from their town jobs since the arrests.

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

For more information about town test results, visit www.fairfieldct.org/filluseissues. For updates on school district testing, go to fpsct.net/fields.