City Hall Insider … 10/14/25

By Charles Sercombe
The city council met on Oct. 14, and all councilmembers were in attendance.
During public comment, The Islamic Center on Jos. Campau asked the council to have the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival move its main stage one or two blocks away from their building.
(The Center had complained that amplified music from the stage interrupted their services.)
The Center said that Councilmembers Mohammed Hassan and Abu Musa had assured them that the issue had been resolved. But festival organizers told the Center that they were not told to move the stage.
The Center stressed that it is not against the festival. “We never say ‘no,’” a spokesman said.

Attorney Mark Koroi advised city officials “keep an eye” on any election fraud for the November General Election.
“We don’t want to see that in our election,” he said. “We want to see a clean election. … I know everybody here is going to honor that, and we have full compliance with Michigan law with all the absentee ballots and election day activities.”
He added: “People are watching.”

Bill Meyer said that, at a prior council meeting, “some folks” tried to “steal” a resolution to kill the Yemen Mural at Jos. Campau and Goodson.
“So I’m here tonight to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Meyer said.
He urged the council to not “sneak stuff on the agenda,” and reminded the council about their pledge for “transparency.”
Meyer also took issue with allowing a retail building to be constructed in a lot next to the mural that will block it from view.
He asked what would benefit the city more: a “world class piece of art” or a building the city can collect taxes on and someone be able to get an income from?
“Is it greed we’re talking about? Is this about making money?” Meyer said.
He said the developer of the proposed retail outlet can build somewhere else.
“Let’s give the city a work of art that it really loves and that has been here awhile,” Meyer said.
A resident thanked President Trump for helping to negotiate a peace deal between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza.
“I just hope and pray that this lasts,” the man said.

Former State Rep. Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck) said he’s been involved in the discussion to save the Yemen Mural. He said there is a need for the mural, and that it makes visiting Hamtramck “attractive for people who come and visit our very dynamic city, for lack of a better word.”
He continued, saying the city needs to take a “holistic approach” to development.
That, Aiyash said, makes “the most sense for economic output, for tourism, for people coming into a city, especially at a time where we’ve received a lot of negative headlines over the last several years.”
He reminded the council that he is “heading” the discussion of saving the mural, and that any discussion about it that does not involve him “is a disservice to the actual project.”
As for the mayor saying that the Trump administration is considering his request for massive financial assistance to the city, Aiyash added that, if that effort does pay off, “I would be the first person to help” in creating a statue of the mayor.
And as for state funding for the city, Aiyash said the new state budget dedicated financial assistance for road repairs. He urged the council to think of long-range plans for road repairs here.
Mayor Amer Ghalib said that he just got a call from the Trump administration about funneling money to the city, and that “they are taking it very serious, and it’s moving forward.”

Moving on to business, the council agreed to hire a new interim city manager, Alexander Lagrou.
Councilmember Hassan said the current interim city manager needs to get back to his full-time job with the city as finance director and concentrate on those duties.
Councilmember Muhith Mahmood questioned hiring someone else.
“I don’t know why we’re playing musical chairs,” he said.
Mahmood said he would rather seek a permanent city manager.
Mayor Amer Ghalib said he’s more concerned about the transparency of this hiring.
In the vote to hire Lagrou, only Councilmember Mahmood objected.
There was no mention of what Lagrou’s salary will be.
In other business, the council OK’d two contracts, one regarding the replacement of lead water lines and another for sewer repairs.
The sewer repair resolution was for engineering services. It is estimated that repairing several damaged sewers will cost up to $1 million.
Mayor Ghalib questioned why the city continues to rely on Hennessey Engineers for its services.
“That’s why we can’t negotiate — because there’s no competition from anybody else,” he said. “We always get the bills. We never question them. We never review them. We never evaluate them. We just pay.”
(It’s the city council’s job to review and authorize the payment for all bills for services.)
In another matter, the council agreed to accept a grant for $552,000 that will fund improvements to the lighting and scoreboard at the historic Hamtramck Baseball Stadium.

The separation agreement of former police chief Jamiel Altaheri was approved, which will allow him to resign, and be given five months’ of severance payment.
In exchange, Altaheri agreed to drop his lawsuit against the city.
In the vote to approve the agreement, both Councilmembers Mahmood and Khalil Refai abstained. They did not explain their reasons for abstaining in the vote.
(Abstaining in a vote is usually, primarily, reserved for those with conflicts of interest.)

In the mayor’s report, Ghalib said the most “significant” event of the past two weeks was that President Trump called him and stressed his support of Ghalib to become ambassador to Kuwait.
Trump nominated Ghalib for the position, and at this point Ghalib was still waiting for his confirmation hearing with the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Commission.
(Since this council meeting, he did have that hearing, where he was questioned heavily about past comments and social media activities that some senators deemed antisemitic. Ghalib denied he was antisemitic. The Senate has yet to vote on his confirmation.)
As for Ghalib’s call with Trump, he said the president “was showing his support for my nomination, because there’s some serious attempts to blocking my hearing and it’s going to happen soon.”
As for the recent peace deal reached between Israel and Hamas, Ghalib said he hopes it will be a “lasting deal. We all want to see peace in the Middle East to stop the killing and end the war.”
“This is going to be a historic thing for the region,” Ghalib said. “It’s something we demanded and requested over the past two years.”
(Since that deal was announced, Israel has continued to bomb Gaza and fight with Hamas militants.)
Ghalib also spoke more about the possible financial help from the Trump administration for the city. He said he asked for hundreds of millions of dollars.
“If we even get half of what we requested, it’s going to be significant for the city – especially the pension obligations. … I hope we can accomplish that before I leave. “
Ghalib then joked: “And then Abe (Aiyash) will build a statue of me as he promised.”
Mayor Pro Tem Musa said, of the possible financial help: “This community will never forget it.”
Posted Nov. 21, 2025