Fairfield's Years-Long Fill Pile Saga Continues With New Arrests

FAIRFIELD, CT — This week marks a new chapter in Fairfield’s years-long saga of contamination, cleanup and accusations of corruption surrounding the town fill pile.

New charges were announced Thursday against current and former Fairfield employees, just days after officials approved more than $1 million for remediation and investigation of the pile and sites affected by its contamination.

Those charged include Brian Carey, conservation director and interim head of public works; Emmet Hibson, former human resources director; Robert J. Grabarek, an environmental contractor hired by the town; and Scott Bartlett, the former public works superintendent, who has been arrested three times since summer 2019, according to police.

All four men are charged with illegal disposal of PCBs and conspiracy in connection with the construction of the fill pile berm in 2018, police said. Carey and Bartlett are also accused of illegal disposal of solid waste, receiving solid waste without a permit and an additional conspiracy charge after they allowed contaminated material dredged from Owen Fish Pond to be dumped at the fill pile while the berm was being built, according to police.

Carey, Hibson, Grabarek and Bartlett were all arrested Wednesday or Thursday and released on a promise to appear in court Dec. 4, police said.

Former Fairfield public works director Joe Michelangelo is expected Friday to surrender on new charges, his attorney, Eugene Riccio, confirmed.

Bartlett’s attorney, Fred Paoletti, declined to weigh in on the latest charges. Carey, Hibson and Grabarek did not return calls Thursday seeking comment.

The new cases are being prosecuted by the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney’s Environmental Crimes Unit. Director of Communications Alaine Griffin declined to comment on whether any additional arrests or charges were expected, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.

“We’d like to thank the Office of the Chief’s State’s Attorney, their staff and their Environmental Crime Unit for their expertise and guidance during this long and difficult investigation.” Fairfield Chief of Police Christopher Lyddy said in a department news release.

The investigation began in 2017, but its origins go back even further.

The pile

The charges announced Thursday are far from the first in the fill pile scandal.

In summer 2019, Bartlett, Michelangelo and contractor Jason Julian, of Julian Development, were arrested and accused of participating in a conspiracy to illegally run a dump for contaminated material at the fill pile and allow fraudulent billing, court records have shown. The trio has pleaded not guilty and requested jury trials.

Fairfield hired Julian Development in 2013 to operate the fill pile and reduce the amount of unused project material on the site 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, contaminants 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 charges against Bartlett, Julian and Michelangelo, Fairfield’s former chief fiscal officer, Bob Mayer, was accused in winter 2020 of stealing a file related to the fill pile case and two folders on the Penfield Pavilion building project.

Also during winter 2020, Bartlett was charged in connection with accusations that he stole thousands of dollars from a mentally disabled woman whose affairs he was appointed to manage following the death of her father.

In summer 2019, around the same time Bartlett, Julian and Michelangelo were initially charged, asbestos at a local park was reported to police in connection with the use of town fill. More than 80 areas in Fairfield have since been tested for contamination.

The vast majority of those sites have been deemed safe, but some locations were found to contain asbestos, arsenic and other contaminants, and are undergoing expensive remediation.

The cost

Town officials this week began the approval process to issue $1.48 million in bonds to pay for investigation and cleanup at several sites connected to the pile. In 2019, $1.8 million was allocated for pile-related expenses, and in 2017, the town paid $280,000 for an initial remediation, police said.

Fairfield’s town attorney has estimated the cost of remediation for the site at up to $10 million, but because town officials accepted a fraudulent performance bond from Julian Development, Fairfield has no recourse to seek financial restitution, according to police.

In May, the town filed a legal complaint against Grabarek’s company, Osprey Environmental Engineering LLC, seeking damages and alleging 13 counts, including negligence, breach of contract and ultra-hazardous activities. The lawsuit focused on the company’s advice that Fairfield use contaminated material to build a berm at the fill pile without state permission.

A similar case was made by police this week against Carey, Hibson, Grabarek and Bartlett. All four officials authorized the use of PCB-contaminated material in the berm’s construction, a violation of state law, police said.

The future

Carey was placed on administrative leave Tuesday, pending an internal investigation by the town into the criminal charges, according to First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick.

That leaves both the conservation and public works departments without a director. Kupchick said she met Thursday with department heads, public works middle managers and conservation staff.

Kupchick has contacted retired public works professionals about serving the town on an interim basis and noted that Doug Novak remains on staff as public works superintendent.

“He’s prepared to step up and do whatever’s needed,” she said.

Kupchick also in a prepared statement Thursday pledged to remain accountable to Fairfield residents.

“As I shared with residents when I was sworn in to lead the town of Fairfield, I will continue to do everything within my power to regain the public’s faith and trust in our town government, which was damaged in the wake of the fill-pile contamination and public corruption,” she said.