Search for next city manager focuses on eight candidates

It is now up to the city council and the mayor now decide which candidate, if any, to choose for city manager. Interim City Manager Max Garbarino is among those candidates. File photo

 

By Charles Sercombe
The applications are in, and the number of candidates being considered, so far, for Hamtramck city manager is eight.
And none but one candidate have anything near the qualifications and experience the city is looking for. And that person is the city’s current interim city manager Max Garbarino.
Over 130 applications were submitted by last Tuesday’s deadline.
Garbarino said that most of the applicants were weeded out by the city’s Human Resource Department because they had even fewer qualifications than those being considered.
The job posting for the position called for a candidate to have at least three years experience as a city manager or assistant city manager in a city with a population of at least 10,000 people.
Garbarino has been interim city manager since last June and, prior to that, he had been Director of Community Safety and Services since 2020, and before that he was police chief of Hamtramck.
As Director of Community Safety and Services, one of his duties was to assist the city manager. Garbarino has three years of experience in these combined roles – which meets the minimum requirement.
The Review received the applications being considered at this moment, and that number could increase in the coming week or two, through a Freedom of Information Act request.
There is one Hamtramck resident who applied: Lynn Blasey, who is a member of the city’s Arts and Culture Commission, and who has also volunteered for a number of local activities.
Asm “Kamal” Rahman also applied; he has run for mayor in Hamtramck in the past, and also in the last election in 2021. He now says he lives in Detroit.
Here is the list of candidates:
Muhammed Muhyedeem’s (Detroit), latest job was Senior Public Policy and Strategy Manager for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington, D.C. He said he left the job in December of 2022.
Lynn Blasey, of Hamtramck, is a Coordinator for the College of Creative Studies.
Anthony Howard, of Detroit, is Area Supervisor for Magna Automotive Seating.
Asm Rahman, of Detroit, is the Departmental Fiscal Manager for the City of Detroit.
Sabrina Kirtz, of Bloomfield Hills, is the Human Resources Manager for the City of Pontiac.
Willard Jackson, of Detroit, is Senior Sales Manager at Infinity.
James Williams IV, of Detroit, is Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer for the City of Benton Harbor.
Max Garbarino, of Sterling Heights, is Hamtramck Interim City Manager and past Director of Community Safety and Services and former police chief of Hamtramck.
Some members of the city council, as well as the mayor, have spoken out in the past months that they prefer to hire Garbarino because he is familiar with the city and its residents.
Posted Jan. 27, 2023

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