Synagro had cause to rush Detroit council

DETROIT, July 14 (UPI) -- Synagro Technologies Inc. of Houston had a $1 million incentive to bribe Detroit City Council members to approve a sludge-hauling contract, documents suggest.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the deal after filming council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr.'s former chief of staff, John Clark, allegedly taking money from James Rosendall, a Synagro vice president, The Detroit News reported Monday.

The deal included the purchase of Minergy, a Wisconsin company that was trying to get out of its sludge-hauling contract with the city. In order to sweeten the deal, We Energy, which owned Minergy, said it would accept $2 million for any deal approved by the end of 2007. After that, the price would have gone up to $3 million.

"We wanted them to have a premium to get it out of our hands," Barry McNulty, a spokesman for We Energy told the News.

The city council approved the deal with a 5-4 vote in November.

The contract offered Synagro $187 a ton to haul the city's sludge, $22 million more per year than Minergy's deal, which was set at $139 a ton.

The FBI has contacted several city council members, the News reported.