Democracy’s thin line in Hamtramck is being chipped away

City Councilmember Anam Miah has a right to be upset.
In last week’s issue we reported on his outcry over the city manager reformatting the city council agenda.
The council has traditionally set the format of the agenda at the beginning of each year, and had even tentatively set up the format for this year. But that was stripped away two council meetings ago much to the surprise of Miah.
City Manager Katrina Powell insists she has the right to set up the agenda how she sees fit under the city charter and final directives set down by the former emergency manager.
She may be correct to a point, but it does leave one wondering just what is the purpose of the city council then?
Or as Miah put it: “This is a city council meeting, not a city manager meeting.”
At this week’s council meeting Powell redid the agenda format to include some things Miah had made an issue about.
But it still seems the council is being marginalized. Powell has gone so far as to not allow department heads to talk to the mayor or council. Instead, all inquiries must go through her.
The mayor and council didn’t have their hands tied like this when the city was under the control of the emergency manager.
Councilmember Robert Zwolak best described this situation in an interview with The Review, calling it a “gag order.”
It’s absurd to think our elected officials, who were elected by the people to represent them, cannot talk with department heads who are paid by our tax dollars. Last time we checked Hamtramck still had a democratic form of government.
Maybe it’s time to check again.
In many ways Hamtramck is at a crossroads. The city just came out of the control of an emergency manager and is now back with a city manager. The city has survived and beaten a financial crisis, and it is looking like it’s on the right path for at least the near future.
So why the constraints placed on our elected officials? It seems like Hamtramck is being punished.
While we agree it’s important for the new city manager to proceed without interference, we are still a democracy.
When we start chipping away our rights, that’s when it becomes a slippery slope.