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Metro Station, Elections Drove Fairfield in 2011

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – With 2012 less than a week away, we at The Daily Fairfield are taking a look back at some of the big stories that drove Fairfield in 2011.

There is little doubt what the two most uttered words in Fairfield were in 2011: Metro Center. The town’s third train station officially opened Dec. 5 — but not until after a rollercoaster of a year.

The station got its name in April, with the Board of Selectmen choosing Fairfield Metro as the official moniker. But the fate of the Fairfield Metro station was in jeopardy by late June, when First Selectman Michael Tetreau announced that costs for the construction project were far outpacing projections.

After a summer filled with special committees and tense meetings, Fairfield agreed to spend the $7.5 million needed to finish the job. A silver lining appeared at the end of the year, with $3 million coming back from the state.

The train station controversy also drove one of 2011’s other big stories: a changing of the guard in Town Hall. Five-term First Selectman Kenneth Flatto announced in April that he would leave the job he had held for the last 10 years to take a job in the state government. Flatto bid farewell to Sullivan Independence Hall in May — but not before taking a ride around his favorite spots with our camera crew.

Flatto’s resignation sparked a monthlong battle at the Board of Selectmen over his replacement. In the end, Tetreau won the job after a special vote by his fellow Democrats. Tetreau would then beat out Robert Bellitto Jr. and Hugh Dolan to keep the job in November. Voters at the polls on Election Day called his handling of the Metro Center situation one of their top reasons for keeping Tetreau on the job.

Voters also stressed Tetreau’s response to another of Fairfield’s biggest news stories: the weather. It was a wild year for precipitation in Fairfield, starting with a string of snowstorms that buried Fairfield under feet of the white stuff. Snow would return at the end of the year, of course, but much earlier than expected. The unusual October snow knocked out power for much of the town and the state.

But Fairfielders were used to the electricity-free lifestyle at that point. After all, thousands spent a week without power in late August, when Hurricane Irene blew through Connecticut. Though Irene was just a tropical storm by the time she hit Fairfield, she flooded the beach area and destroyed homes along Fairfield’s coast.

But Nov. 8 was actually the second time Fairfielders headed to the polls in 2011. The first came in June, when a group of parents organizes a townwide referendum to increase funding for the schools. The referendum won a majority but failed to get enough support to avoid cuts to foreign language programs.

By November, the two town boards most involved — the Board of Education and the Representative Town Meeting — saw major changes. Democrats picked up more seats on the RTM, though not enough to completely take control from the Republicans. And the school board saw the most turnover of any of body in Fairfield, with four of the nine seats changing hands Nov. 8.

It was a big year for Fairfield’s public safety workers, too. In September, a serial arsonist struck five Fairfield houses. Two days later, Fairfield police had a suspect in custody. Not long afterward, the same neighborhood saw a daring home invasion, but by the end of the year police made an arrest in that crime as well.

But the biggest police story of 2011 related to a crime that occurred in 2005. Christopher Dimeo was found guilty in the murder of Fairfield jewelry store owners Tim and Kim Donnelly in February. He was sentenced to life in prison two months later.

That’s just a small sampling of the news in and around Fairfield in 2011, but it’s by no means an exhaustive list. Tell us what you think was Fairfield’s top news story in the comments below, or vote in our poll here. Let us know what stands out to you about 2011.

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