Timing to hire assistant city manager is suspicious at best

Pardon us if it seems like deju vu all over again (apologies to Yogi Berra) with regard to the city council’s move to hire an assistant city manager.
It begs the question, “Why?”
Why does the city need this position? And why do this when the city manager, who is on paid suspension, didn’t have any say in creating this position?
Well, the answer to that last one is that it appears the council is gearing up to fire the city manager and usher in a replacement by creating this assistant city manager position.
The council does indeed have a right to fire city managers they don’t like or can’t work with. But the motive behind this seems suspect at best, or retaliatory at worst, for City Manager Max Garbarino looking into and investigating serious allegations of wrongdoing by the police chief.
(The chief, Jamiel Altaheri, denies all allegations.)
The council is creating this assistant city manager position at a cost to the city of $84,000 per year, plus benefits.
That’s a cost that has not previously been budgeted for, and which comes at a time when the city just ended its parking meter contract that will, at this point, result in the loss of $200,000 in revenue per year.
So far, there is no proposal to hire a new parking meter company, or come up with some other way to offset that financial hit.
And, on top of that, Wayne County is no longer going to pay the city $1.2 million, or so, per year for using its jail here in town, because the county has consolidated prisoners into a newly-built jail in Detroit.
To put it plainly, now is not the time to suspend the city manager. Hamtramck will soon find itself in a serious financial hole unless the city is under steady and competent guidance.
Posted July 25, 2025