The owner of Fairfield Day Care warns of family displacement and begs Town to renew the lease.

FAIRFIELD: Fearing higher expenses for taxpayers and displaced families, the proprietor of a long-standing private day care is pleading with the municipality to extend his lease.The proprietor of A Child's Garden, Michael Miklus, claimed to have known for a long time that Fairfield intended to eventually break his contract at the Bigelow Center for Senior Activities in order to provide space for a town-run business. On Monday, however, Miklus expressed shock that the parents in his community—rather than those in the town—had told him that the 2024–25 academic year would probably be his last.He admitted, "I was as surprised as anybody."Miklus encouraged Fairfield officials to prioritize the need for child care and rental income over an undetermined school board plan for the Early Childhood Center, citing an online petition that has amassed over 1,400 signatures in just four days.The popular preschool, which has been run by a family since 1981, occupies 10,000 square feet annually and is attended by over 25 teachers, 160 students, and 100 families on a waiting list. Miklus stated that he and his spouse have managed the business for the previous twenty years, with about ten of those years being leased on an annual basis.

His aunt left the business to him.Miklus claims that during his yearly meeting with the municipality, First Selectman Bill Gerber and his team announced that they would extend the lease until May 2025. Although Gerber maintained that Miklus was told that the town would not be extending the lease further at that meeting, the business owner claimed it was actually the school board that informed Fairfield parents two months later.The proprietor of the company asserted that two months later, the school board notified the Fairfield parents, notwithstanding Gerber's insistence that Miklus was informed at that meeting that the town would not be renewing the lease.