Meeting For Victims Of Fairfield Contamination Case Set By State

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield residents who feel they may have been affected by the actions of those charged in connection with illegal dumping at the town public works yard are encouraged to attend a meeting Wednesday being coordinated by the state Division of Criminal Justice.

“The purpose of the meeting is for our office to provide an update and answer any questions about the criminal court process and timing of this process," state officials said in a notice about the meeting. "We will also provide information on your rights as victims or impacted persons, and the methods in place for making sure your concerns are being heard throughout the process."

Similar victim outreach typically occurs through a victim's advocate courthouse office, but given the number of people who may be interested, officials decided to hold an evening meeting in town. The event will take place at 7 p.m. on the Sacred Heart University campus, with the exact room location to be determined. Senior Assistant State's Attorney Tamberlyn Conopask will attend.

Officials at the meeting will not answer specific questions about the investigation, nor will they tolerate discussion of political agendas, according to the notice.

The meeting follows an eventful summer in Fairfield. In August, two town employees and an official with Julian Development — the company that operated the public works yard when contaminants were found at the facility — were arrested. Former director of public works Joe Michelangelo, former superintendent of public works Scott Bartlett and Julian Companies Owner Jason Julian are accused of crimes including larceny, forgery and dumping.

Both Michelangelo and Bartlett have since been fired from their town jobs. All three defendants are scheduled to appear Wednesday in court.

Around the same time as the arrests, asbestos was reported at a local park, and not long after that, the town released a list of 20 priority contamination testing sites that received fill material from the public works yard when it was operated by Julian between 2013 and 2016. Of those sites, 10 have been confirmed to contain contaminants such as asbestos, arsenic, lead and PCBs.

The town is working with a specialist and state officials to remediate the locations. 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. The town announced a second list Friday of sites that received fill from the yard during the time Julian ran it.

Fairfield hired Julian in 2013 to operate 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.