'We Don't Have Any More Money': $800K Transferred For Remediation

FAIRFIELD, CT — Six months after two public works employees were charged with financial and environmental crimes related to the management of the town fill pile and contaminated fill was uncovered at public sites, the cost of Fairfield's corruption crisis remains unclear.

The Board of Finance voted unanimously earlier in February to transfer $800,000 from the town's debt service fund to cover ongoing remediation expenses. The money represents the final portion of $1.8 million the board set aside last year to pay for remediation. While the last allocated remediation funds have been transferred, the final cleanup costs are unknown.

"Right now we're moving very quickly," acting public works manager Brian Carey told the board Feb. 5.

Carey explained that seven sites were going out to bid for remediation, 11 more were in various stages of investigation, and consultant Weston & Sampson had been hired to address violation notices from the state and federal government regarding PCB contamination and lack of permitting at the fill pile itself.

With the $800,000 transfer approved, the board likely won't see another remediation funding request for a few months, Carey said. However, the town will start testing at the pile and put together a plan for the site within the coming weeks, according to First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick, who said costs associated with the pile are uncertain.

"We don't have a lot of time to come up with a plan to cover what's coming next," board Chair James Brown said. "... We don't have any more money."

Kupchick suggested bonds, surplus dollars and insurance as potential funding sources.

"If it's a giant number we're going to have to look everywhere," she said.

The fill pile remediation plan will require approval from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Brown said the town should aim to have a short-term plan to pay for any new contamination-related costs by the board's next meeting on March 11.

Since the board's February meeting, Fairfield has reported new contamination exceedances at the Penfield Pavilion area, Southport Beach, Hillside Road and Perry Street. Additionally, the ballfields were closed at Gould Manor Park, where contaminants associated with the fill pile were reported to police in August. The contamination related to the pile is cleaned up at the park, but other historical contaminants were discovered and are undergoing testing, according to Kupchick's weekly newsletter from Feb. 7.

Fairfield's contamination crisis dominated headlines and public meetings for months in town after charges were brought in the summer of 2019 against two ex-public works officials and a former Fairfield contractor. Since then, a third ex-town employee has been charged and more than 80 areas in Fairfield have been tested for contamination. The vast majority have been deemed safe, but some sites were found to contain asbestos, arsenic and additional contaminants.

For more information about testing and remediation, visit www.fairfieldct.org/filluseissues.