(freep) Convicted Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers has resigned effective July 6. A member of Conyers’ staff handed the two-sentence resignation letter at 11:52 a.m. to Deputy City Clerk Vivian Hudson in the Clerk’s Office on the second floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. Conyers’ resignation comes after her Friday guilty plea in U.S. District Court to a felony charge of accepting a bribe in exchange for a yes vote on the .2 billion Synagro Technologies sewage sludge recycling contract and other unspecified actions while a member of one of the city’s pension boards. It also ends perhaps the most turbulent tenure for a council member in memory. The resignation also came after a morning where pressure mounted heavily on Conyers to resign. At 9:20 a.m., six of the council’s other eight members said at a news conference they would pursue forfeiture proceedings under the City Charter to oust her if she did not quit. And then state Attorney General Mike Cox announced he would take action Tuesday to oust Conyers by enforcing state law that says any office becomes vacant upon the officer’s “conviction of any infamous crime, or of any offense involving a violation of his oath of office.” At 2:29 p.m., council sergeants removed Conyers’ photo from the hallway leading to council chambers and moved each of the other council members’ photos one slot to the right. Conyers’ memorandum to Janice M. Winfrey, City Clerk reads: “Effective, Monday, July 6, 2009, I hereby resign from my position as Council President Pro-Tempore of the Detroit City Council. My staff will be available until December 31, 2009 to assist in the offices of my colleagues.” (BBN: Monica Conyers, 44, is the wife of longtime Congressman John Conyers, 80)

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