On July 31st, 2019 and August 1st, 2019 Dana Kery contacted the Fairfield Police and State’s Attorney Office regarding concerns over fill from a 2013 side-walk project adjacent to the playing fields and playground/picnic area at Gould Manor Park. This was in reaction to reports of illegal dumping that had surfaced in the local news.
By the August 7th Board of Selectman’s meeting, the situation was unfolding rapidly with the Fairfield Police, Fairfield Health Department and the CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) onsite. Simultaneously, the day prior, arrest warrants with extensive affidavits had been issued for two Town Department of Public Works (DPW) managers and a co-owner of the construction company that ran the ‘Fill Pile.’
It was with this backdrop, during the Board of Selectman’s meeting, that First Selectman Tetreau was questioned as to whether the issue unfolding at Gould Manor Park was a years old issue or if this had just come to Mr. Tetreau’s attention:
Selectman Bateson: “Is this something we were notified about several years ago and just never acted on or is this something that has just come to your attention?”
First Selectman Tetreau: “It has just come to my attention.”
Selectman Bateson: “Okay, so you never have been made aware that there was anything going on or that this happened years ago?”
First Selectman Tetreau: “Again, this was fill put in along this edge of the sidewalk – uh, so…no. I heard about it -aaaah…yesterday for the first time.”
But of course, we know this is not true, as Dana had traded 19 emails over a period of more than 15 months (from 2014 to 2015) with Town DPW officials regarding the Gould Manor Park issue. Of those 19 emails 11 were copied to First Selectman Tetreau between August 2014 and May 2015.
The emails the First Selectman was copied on in 2014 made it clear a claim of a hazardous material (ASBESTOS) was being made and that the fill used at Gould Manor came from the town.
Months later, in April of 2015, Dana once again contacted Town DPW officials, copying First Selectman Tetreau, and asked if covering the hazardous materials was proper remediation:
New Emails are Revealed…
What’s more, new emails were unearthed yesterday that clarify that First Selectman Tetreau was in communication with the DPW team on similar fill complaints emanating from the Parks and Recreation Department at the same time the Gould Manor fill was being questioned circa April of 2015. Photo’s and emails clearly indicate that glass and asbestos tiles were present on multiple playing fields.
Unbelievably, the Town’s Director of Public Works even indicated to First Selectman Tetreau that “This is largely the same thing that occurred with topsoil at Gould Manor that Dana Kerry (sic) pointed out.”
First Selectman Tetreau’s response indicates that he views this as a “very significant issue” and that he (correctly) indicates to the Director of DPW “we need to understand what happened and stop any re-occurrence”
A week later we find another interaction between First Selectman Tetreau and his Director of DPW. This is the result of a parent complaint that fill problems exist at five sites: Burroughs2, Oldfield, McKinley, Jennings & Fairfield Woods.
First Selectman Tetreau again (correctly) followed up with his staff asking for an update and eluding to the fact that it had been communicated previously that this problem was resolved. The Director of the DPW responded that the complaint was well founded, the issue was resolved and the discrepancy was a matter of timing on the receipt of messages. The First Selectman then replied and thanked his DPW Director for the update.
What is unsettling here is that the priority was getting the fields “ready for the weekend” but there was no mention of what that would entail and no apparent curiosity from First Selectman Tetreau – despite pictures of glass and asbestos being present on multiple playing fields throughout the town. Was the Fairfield Health Department or CT DEEP consulted on the proper remediation of these hazardous materials in 2015? Did First Selectman Tetreau follow-up with his staff to ensure the fields were PROPERLY re-mediated and safe for use? Wouldn’t the multiple complaints over many months from Dana, including one that concerned IMPROPER REMEDIATION AT GOULD MANOR THE SAME WEEK AS MULTIPLE SOCCER FIELD COMPLAINTS peak First Selectman Tetreau’s curiosity enough to follow-up on what he termed a “very significant issue?”
These and a dozen more questions come to mind but the key question here is this: How is it – with all the clear evidence of the First Selectman’s first hand knowledge of fill issues in 2014 & 2015 – that Mr. Tetreau could sit before Board of Selectman and state that the Fill Issue in our parks had “just come to his attention” and “I heard about it (sic) yesterday (August 6th, 2019) for the first time.”
To say this claim strains credulity would require a Grand Canyon sized leap of faith. If we are to believe Mr. Tetreau’s claims we are to believe that, despite receiving, being copied on – and engaged in – multiple emails about dangerous fill, fill on children’s playing fields, fill that contained asbestos, and fill that was clearly coming from the Town’s fill pile throughout 2014 and 2015 – Mr. Tetreau had NO KNOWLEDGE of the fill problem on fields prior to August 6th, 2019.
Mr. Tetreau claims in an official Facebook post (from August 7, 2019) that, he himself, had asked the police to initiate an investigation into issues regarding the Fill Pile more than two years prior. To believe this would mean that Mr. Tetreau – a Princeton grad – asked the Police to investigate illegal activities at the Fill Pile but conveniently forgot about multiple complaints of contaminated fill being spread around the towns playing fields approximately 12 – 18 months prior.
The combination of Mr. Tetreau’s temerity and mendacity should disqualify him from having any role in resolving the problem his negligence has thrust upon our community. Mr. Tetreau has made it clear that he is not an honest broker and should step aside to allow the remaining members of the Board of Selectmen to engage a qualified, independent environmental management expert to rebuild the public trust while re-mediating Fairfield’s contaminated sites.
Dana & Tim Kery