Compost Deal OK'D By Council is Under Federal Scrutiny, Too: It Switched Course in Controversy

Posted on: Friday, 4 July 2008, 09:00 CDT By Tina Lam and Ben Schmitt, Detroit Free Press Jul. 4--Federal officials are probing another Detroit City Council vote on a controversial waste project in southwest Detroit, sources have told the Free Press. The land for the composting plant is owned by James Rosendall, the Grand Rapids man said to be cooperating with the FBI in a wider probe involving a contract the council approved with Synagro Technologies, a Houston firm, for a waste sludge operation last November. Earlier in the year, the council voted to approve an agreement for a composting facility in the Delray neighborhood, across the street from the city's sewer plant. The council had initially voted down the agreement 5-4, but it passed after the vote was reconsidered. The agreement, which outlined the plant's commitments... [read full story]