Trash haul

Erin Neff

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2000 | 11:47 a.m.

The give and take between Silver State Disposal Services and the city of Las Vegas continued Wednesday with one councilman doing all of the taking.

Even as the City Council agreed to a fourth delay on a sludge-hauling contract, Councilman Michael McDonald grabbed all $5.5 million of the trash giant's previous donation for a park in his ward.

The move came even as public scrutiny mounts over McDonald's connections to Silver State, in part sparked by a planned Ethics Commission hearing next week to examine those potential conflicts of interest.

McDonald, the city's mayor pro tem, made no mention of his friendships with Silver State executives when he motioned to spend all of the money for a 35- to 40-acre park at Buffalo Drive and Oakey Boulevard in his Ward 1.

The park in question was not one of those highlighted on a 10-project priority list staff gave the council for discussion purposes.

"That park was not even set for the drawing board for another 10 years," McDonald said.

The entire amount of Silver State's "contribution" to the city stemmed from last July's approval of an exclusive extension to the company's trash-hauling contract. That contract kills any potential competition until 2021 and is worth an estimated $1.5 billion to Silver State.

When that item came before the council, Silver State offered to donate $5.5 million to build a transfer station, or for use any way the city deemed fit.

Some argued the money was akin to a bribe. But park-strapped city officials welcomed the donation as a community-friendly gesture.

After that vote McDonald was publicly questioned for failing to disclose a number of relationships with Silver State's executives.

McDonald is a friend of Silver State President Steve Kalish and of the company's general counsel Robert Groesbeck. McDonald also dates Silver State employee Jennifer Simich and received more than $38,000 from the company's related entities for his re-election campaign last year.

Kalish also threw a fund-raiser for McDonald last year at his bar, Paddy's Pub.

McDonald's failure to disclose these relationships prior to that vote led his political foe Steve Miller to file an ethics complaint. The state Ethics Commission dismissed Miller's case during a hearing in November at which only McDonald and his attorney Louis Palazzo attended.

Miller filed a second request for a state Ethics Commission opinion after reading Palazzo's account of what transpired at that hearing. Miller claims McDonald lied to the commission about his relationship with Simich.

Simich and McDonald have been dating for about a year, although McDonald claims the two did not have a romantic relationship at the time of the Silver State vote. A second ethics hearing on that matter is set for Jan. 27.

McDonald brushed aside questions about why all of Silver State's donation went to his ward.

"The criticism is not coming from the mothers and fathers who have to drive across town to use parks," McDonald said.

During Wednesday's meeting Groesbeck also denounced the criticism.

"There's been some criticism of that contribution, but people love to criticize," Groesbeck said.

Prior to the meeting several residents said they considered the timing of both Silver State-related votes suspect. One even said placing the park donation on the same agenda as an unrelated sludge deal was "a bribe."

City Manager Virginia Valentine said she was not sure why Silver State asked to delay the vote on the sludge contract.

"I thought this was all cleared up," Valentine said.

In an interview after the meeting, Groesbeck said he requested the delay because he wanted to carefully read the language in the amended agreement.

"There are very minor issues," Groesbeck said. "I just want to make sure all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed."

The agreement calls for Silver State to remove sludge from the city's Water Pollution Control Facility for five years. The contract has one option to renew for five years under the same terms.

The proposed contract sets removal costs at $15 a ton, or roughly $1.5 million in the first year of the deal.

Silver State has agreed to continue hauling the city's sludge on a month-to-month basis, even though its contract to provide that service expired last November.