Greenwich employee put on leave
Charged in Fairfield contaminated soil conspiracy
GREENWICH — A town employee has been placed on administrative leave after he was charged last week in connection with an alleged criminal conspiracy in Fairfield to improperly dispose of contaminated soil.
Emmet Hibson, who began work over the summer as Greenwich’s collective bargaining specialist, was one of several town of Fairfield officials charged Thursday in connection with the alleged scam. On Monday, First Selectman Fred Camillo issued a statement announcing Hibson was put on leave “pending adjudication of the charges we learned about on Nov. 19.”
“While these allegations do not reflect the values of our town and our employees, we will allow the judicial system to take its course and based upon that outcome, determine if additional action is warranted,” Camillo’s statement said.
According to his arrest warrant, Hibson, who was the town of Fairfield’s director of human resources at the time, conspired with other Fairfield officials and the head of a Clinton environmental cleanup company to illegally dispose of hundreds of yards of highly contaminated soil while at the same time telling Fairfield residents and employees who were working with the fill that everything was safe.
Hibson, of New Haven, was charged with illegal disposal of PCBs and conspiracy to commit illegal disposal of PCBs.
Hibson has been a town of Greenwich employee since April 27. He was fired from his position in Fairfield in January.
Hibson did not return a message left on his town voicemail and a
message to his attorney was not returned either.
He is the town of Greenwich’s collective bargaining specialist, a position which makes him the town’s representative during negotiations with the labor unions representing town employees. He would also represent the town before the state labor board in any prohibited labor practice proceedings.
Camillo did not offer any additional details but, in his Monday statement, he defended the town’s hiring practices.
“We have conducted a thorough review of Mr. Hibson’s hiring and have confirmed that the town of Greenwich conducted the hiring and interviewing process in the normal course,” Camillo said. “Our Human Resources Department followed the same rigorous and thorough protocols that have been universally applied to all prospective candidates seeking employment with the town of Greenwich and we will continue to do so. Beyond that, it has been the town’s long-standing practice not to discuss ongoing personnel issues. As additional relevant information is made available to the town, we will then determine next steps and appropriate action.”
In addition to Hibson, Scott Bartlett, Fairfield’s former public works superintendent, Brian Carey, Fairfield’s interim public works director who was placed on administrative leave last week by the town, and Joseph Michelangelo, Fairfield’s former director of public works, have all been charged in the case, as has Robert Grabarek, the owner of a private company called Osprey Environmental.
All were released on promises to appear in court on Dec. 4.
The arrests were the result of a three-year investigation by detectives of the Fairfield Police Department and members of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.
According to court records, the case began after citizens complained about a growing pile of debris next to Fairfield’s public works garage, which was being managed by a company called Julian Development. The company had been hired to reduce the size of the pile and make sure nothing hazardous had been dumped there but investigators charged that instead it began dumping truckload after truckload at the site of contaminated material from their construction sites.
Bartlett was previously charged with accepting bribes from company owner Jason Julian to look the other way when the dump trucks arrived at the site, allegedly conspiring to allow the dumping with Michelangelo.
In 2016, the town hired Grabarek’s company to clean up the site and construct a berm of clean material around the area to present the spread of contaminates. But, the arrest affidavits state, under pressure from then-First Selectman Michael Tetreau to “get it done,” Grabarek — under supervision from Hibson, Carey, Bartlett and Michelangelo — instead built the berm from the most contaminated material at the site.
The affidavits state that town employees were ordered to work long hours constructing the berm. When some of the employees complained they were concerned that the material they were handling was contaminated, they were told it was no more dangerous “Then the fish you eat from Long Island Sound.”
The affidavits state that the berm contains high levels of PCBs, arsenic and other highly dangerous minerals.
“Michelangelo, Bartlett and Carey, under the direction of Tetreau and Hibson, continually represented their decision and actions as saving the town money,” the affidavits state. “They represented to the town citizens and the Board of Finance that the material in the berm was not contaminated.”
While the berm was being constructed, the affidavits state, investigators also learned that Bartlett and the other town officials had authorized contaminated material, which the town had dredged from the Owen Fish Pond, to be dumped at the town DPW site.