Public Works Director Charged In Julian Case Has Been Fired

FAIRFIELD, CT —Fairfield's embattled public works director has been fired. Joe Michelangelo was terminated Friday, First Selectman Mike Tetreau confirmed Monday, about a month after Michelangelo was arrested on charges related to an investigation of contamination at the town public works yard and Julian Development, the company hired to run the facility.

"These are management issues," Tetreau said of the reason for Michelangelo's firing. "These are separate from any criminal charges."

In the criminal case, Michelangelo is charged with forgery, illegal dumping, illegal discharge and handling waste without a permit. During a July 8 arbitration hearing, he discussed taking pavers from and intended for the public works yard and using them to install a sidewalk and driveway at his own home. Prior to his termination, Michelangelo had been placed on leave.

Also charged in the criminal case are Jason Julian, owner of Julian Companies, and former superintendent of public works Scott Bartlett, who was fired nearly three weeks ago.

Tetreau said it took the town longer to fire Michelangelo than it did Bartlett because Bartlett was an at-will employee while Michelangelo was a department head protected by the town charter, meaning he could only be terminated for cause after the town developed charges against him. Fairfield was required to give Michelangelo notice, the right to a hearing with Tetreau and the opportunity to respond to the charges before firing him, Tetreau, a Democrat, said.

Selectman Christopher Tymniak, a Republican, took issue with the pace of Michelangelo's termination.

"The timeline should have been weeks ago, if not a month," he said.

Michelangelo's attorney, Eugene Riccio, said the criminal charges limited how Michelangelo could respond to the town's charges against him as an employee.

"Because of the pending criminal charges, Mr. Michelangelo was not able to defend himself against these accusations by the town of Fairfield," Riccio said. "He will not have the same limitations when it comes time to defend himself against the criminal charges"

Michelangelo has not yet entered a plea in the criminal case. His next court date is Sept. 18.

With Michelangelo fired, the town is moving forward with hiring a new director of public works. Director of Conservation Brian Carey has been serving as the interim superintendent of public works and overseeing the department for the past month.

"I hope that we can find a very, very good public works director to come in and pick up the pieces," Tymniak said, noting he feels the town should have posted an opening for an interim director in August.

Fairfield hired Julian Development 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.

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

Contaminants have been found at 10 of 20 priority testing sites that received material from the public works yard between 2013 and 2016, when Julian was operating the facility. Additional locations will be identified for testing as the town continues to review its records.