In Wake Of Anonymous Allegations—

Town Provides Paperwork To Update State On FFH Work

By Kendra Bobowick

The letter from the state asked for copies of surveys; it asked for testing. It did not ask, however, for a halt to work Fairfield Hills campus.

Signed by Department of Environmental Protection Sanitary Engineer Ross Bunnell, the correspondence dated September 19 summarized the conclusions of a meeting last month between representatives of the state environmental and health departments and local officials on the progress and prospects for work at Fairfield Hills. The letter was also a formal request by the state engineer “for certain documents.” The letter left Newtown with 30 days to provide necessary paperwork to the state on various environmental issues, and asked, “Please reply summarizing the actions you have taken regarding the above matters…”

“[The letter] is straight-forward. I think there are people who will be disappointed by that,” said Newtown Public Works Director Fred Hurley.

This week the letter began to circulate among town officials. A lot of people wanted to know what it said, from the town attorney to the legislative council chairman.

Overall, it contained no surprises, Mr Hurley explained. “It was a shopping list of the documents they were looking for.” Information has already begun flowing to the state. Mr Hurley left messages this week inquiring if various departments had everything they wanted. “There are a number of items and various people to sending things,” he said, naming Henry LaLiberte with TRC Environmental, Russell Bartley, president of RW Bartley & Associates, the town remediation and waste engineers, project managers, and more. As First Selectman Joe Borst described, “The work was voluminous.”

Mr Hurley added, “That’s a lot, but it catches things up.”

Some pointed questions about environmental remediation work at the campus started this particular paper chase. Did the state have concerns that work was done improperly? Using one example, Mr Hurley noted the underground tunnels criss-crossing the campus; some would have to be demolished to make room for an underground utility loop. “No work has been done on tunnels yet, but they got a call that we did X, Y, and Z,” Mr Hurley said. “Say you’re the state. You make a call [to Newtown].” Mr Hurley said. “So, if people don’t wish Fairfield Hills luck, they get in touch with the state.”

Early in September Mr Hurley realized something was wrong. “There was [an anonymous] charge that soil around Greenwich House was contaminated,” he said. What began as anonymous phone calls to the state led to the eventual meeting. “They needed to be brought up to speed,” Mr Hurley explained. Last month’s meeting aimed to get all pertinent parties together and share the proper information, which “wasn’t happening,” but is now, as the information the state requested is en route. Mr Borst confirmed this week, “There are replies going on all the time.”

So what is the reason for the state investigation?

Mr Bunnell, the DEP engineer, said this week that “investigation is a loaded word,” adding, “by definition, we’re fact gathering.” The process, he said, is standard procedure in response to calls from citizens alleging wrongdoing on private and municipal projects anywhere in the state. Several of those calls came from Newtown late last summer, he said.

That fact-gathering process, Mr Bunnell said, is playing out in a very cooperative manner between the town and his department this week as local officials finish supplying a punch list of documentation requested in a September 19 letter to First Selectman Joe Borst. He said the DEP will not know if that fact gathering requires any further action until his office has reviewed the more than a thousand pages of documentation it has already received in response to the September 19 letter.

Bridgeport Hall &

Greenwich House

Of interest are projects to renovate Bridgeport Hall and the pending demolition of Greenwich House. This week as Newtown Youth Academy Director Keith Miller walked the site and pointed to the nearly 80-year-old Greenwich standing between the new academy and the partially renovated Bridgeport Hall that will house municipal and education offices, he understood that a meeting in Hartford would take place to talk about how to proceed with taking down the building. Academy owner Peter D’Amico has contracted with the town to conduct the demolition work, per renegotiations to terms of his lease on the former state hospital campus.

Mr Bunnell, who had attended September’s meeting, spoke this week about what the letter said about the planned demolition of Greenwich House. Overall he said, “Some surveys and testing are needed before demolition starts.” Regarding possible lead-based paint, fluorescents, batteries, ceramic wall and ceiling tiles, and more, he said, “They must look for and possibly identify and remove [materials] before taking the building down.” Mr Bunnell noted that Newtown crews needed to “refresh” earlier surveys. Some results for ceiling plaster “didn’t agree with one another.” Do work crews need to abate, or were they false positives, he wondered. Possibly, nothing needs to be removed. As Mr Miller and Mr Hurley understand, a meeting this week will address this inconsistency.

“It’s my understanding they’ll go over technical information as far as what they can and can’t do with the plaster,” Mr Hurley said.

As the site of a new town hall, Bridgeport Hall has been the center of 11th-hour debate regarding the prudence of relocating town department offices. “Several things” needed to happen regarding Bridgeport Hall, Mr Bunnell said. “We need to make sure all the building testing was done, particularly with asbestos.” At a certain amount, contractors need to notify the DEP. “So, we’re looking for the information since we know some asbestos was removed.” Also at issue are the education offices. Although they are only administrative offices, Mr Bunnell wrote that he needs to know if certain laws regarding the Board of Education and asbestos apply.

Also, two small portions of the Bridgeport Hall had been removed in past months. “We wanted documentation of that work and that disposal was done properly.” Lastly, the letter requests feedback. “Please reply by summarizing the actions you have taken and providing the documents requested.” As Mr Hurley had said, he has been in touch with the state this week to inquire if they have received all the information they need.

Mr Bunnell noted that a conclusion to the paper chase was within reach. “Once we have documents, we could need a follow-up meeting,” he said, or possibly the meeting will not be necessary. Regarding the amounts of information, Mr Hurley made clear that everything had been provided to the state in the past, but changes in personnel in Hartford created confusion.