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A wall in Kate Slininger's apartment at Cargill Falls Mill in Putnam, CT is unsealed. This causes debris to constantly crumble near her son's bed.
A wall in Katy Slininger's apartment at Cargill Falls Mill in Putnam, pictured in 2023, was unsealed. This caused debris to constantly crumble near her son's bed. Credit: Shahrzad Rasekh / ct mirror

The federal government has reached a settlement requiring the management company that oversaw an apartment complex in Putnam to pay a nearly $360,000 fine for failing to warn tenants about lead paint risks.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that the Konover Residential Company, a subsidiary of the Simon Konover Company, will have to pay a fine and give residents information about the dangers of lead and provide each leaseholder copies of reports about lead at the apartment. The settlement follows years of legal filings, complaints to state and federal agencies, rent strikes and protests at the Cargill Falls Mill in Putnam.

The old mill was renovated and opened as apartments in 2020. In 2023, after several children at the complex were found to have elevated lead levels in their blood, tenants formed a union and pushed for better conditions.

The project at the old mill was completed with several funding streams from the state and federal government. But lead dust remained in several apartments.

The EPA in 2024 ordered the apartment owner, Historic Cargill Falls Mill, LLC, to remediate the lead. That investigation determined that the lead posed an “imminent and substantial endangerment to tenants.”

Monday’s settlement was with the Konover management company over alleged violations of the Lead Disclosure Rule.

The agency found that for 11 units, the company didn’t provide tenants with the required lead hazard information pamphlet, didn’t put a lead warning statement in the lease, didn’t give tenants known information about lead-based paint and didn’t provide records or reports about lead in the apartments.

The Konover company did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

“EPA’s lead-based paint disclosure requirements are essential to protecting the health of New England communities, especially children who are most vulnerable to lead exposure,” EPA New England Regional Administrator Mark Sanborn said in a Monday press release. “This settlement demonstrates EPA’s commitment to enforcing federal lead disclosure laws, promoting compliance and ensuring tenants receive the information they need to protect themselves and their families from lead hazards.” 

Ginny, winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, is a member of CT Mirror’s investigative team and previously served as the outlet's housing and children’s issues reporter. Ginny grew up in Arkansas and graduated from the University of Arkansas’ Lemke School of Journalism in 2017. She began her career at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette where she covered housing, homelessness, juvenile justice, and investigations. Along the way Ginny was awarded a 2019 Data Fellowship through the Annenberg Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern California. She moved to Connecticut in 2021 and covered housing for Hearst CT.