Fred Barbara's $100 mil. deal
And just how much of that Barbara would get largely depended on City Hall.
Barbara got $58.5 million upfront when he sold three companies -- Fred Barbara Trucking, Envirotech Inc. and Shred-All Recycling Systems Inc. -- to a garbage company called American Disposal in 1997.
Barbara could have gotten another $50 million over the next nine years if American Disposal got additional business -- including the city of Chicago's recycling contract. Of that, $30 million was directly linked to the city's recycling program and the disposal of Chicago's residential garbage, according to a 1998 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
A year after Barbara struck the deal, American Disposal was bought by Allied Waste -- which took over Chicago's recycling program in 2002. But whether Barbara got any of the $50 million isn't clear. Allied officials would not comment. Barbara didn't return calls.
Under his deal, Barbara could get the $50 million under these circumstances:
*$5 million if the city switched its Blue Bag recycling program to American Disposal.
*Up to $15 million, depending on the amount of garbage generated each day in the first six months of the city contract.
*As much as $10 million more, depending on the amount of garbage generated each day in the first 18 months of the contract.
*Up to $5 million if American Disposal took over a recycling facility another company was operating for the city.
*$10 million if American Disposal got to expand the Envirotech garbage dump in Downstate Morris that it bought from Barbara -- a deal that happened in 1998.
*$5 million if American Disposal began operating a garbage transfer station in DuPage County. This apparently hasn't happened.
The deal also called for Barbara to get monthly payments based on the amount of trash city garbage trucks dump at the Shred-All transfer station that he sold to American Disposal, according to the SEC filing. At the time Barbara struck that deal, city garbage trucks didn't dump at Shred-All. They do now.
Barbara now gets $500,000 a year as an operations analyst for Allied, according to city records. Allied explained that payment in a statement last year: "His prior experience in the sorting, recycling and transportation industry assists Allied to run a cost-efficient operation.''
Barbara's second wife, Lisa Humbert, also had a deal with Allied. Her trucking company, Karen's Kartage, worked for Allied until January 2004, the company said last year. Karen's Kartage was suspended from the city's Hired Truck Program in February 2004, after Barbara told the Chicago Sun-Times his brother ran the company, not his wife, as she'd told the city.
Allied Waste has five contracts with the city. It sorts garbage for recycled materials, hauls garbage to dumps and supplies "roll-off" boxes for city construction projects, a program the city started two years ago to cut back on the use of private trucks. The city has paid Allied more than $192 million since 2003.
Allied has employed a lobbyist, Daniel Katalinic, now linked to the hiring scandal at City Hall. He no longer works for Allied, the company said in a statement last year.
Katalinic is a retired official from the Department of Streets and Sanitation, which oversees Allied's contracts. He has pleaded guilty to helping rig the city hiring system so political workers could get city jobs and promotions. He also admitted taking $15,000 in bribes from companies in the Hired Truck Program.
