City Hall Insider … 11/25/25

By Charles Sercombe
The city council met on Nov. 25, and all councilmembers, except for Khalil Refai, were in attendance.
Isabel Allaway, Hamtramck’s Community Economic Department Manager, gave an overview of how her department will market city-owned land to developers.
The strategy, Allaway said, is to seek developments “that align with city goals.”
That strategy hinges on developments that will produce income for the city and provide services that residents need.
Councilmember Muhith Mahmood questioned if the city has too many requirements.
“Don’t you think we make it harder for people to invest to the city?” he asked. “Sometimes people complain and when we do something, we have to go through too much in this entire city.”
Allaway said that is a “good concern.”
“We want people to take advantage of the development properties that are available,” she said. “This (strategy) offers more of a benefits negotiation process.”
Some development projects might also be matched with tax incentives, Allaway said.
The development plan, she said, “makes Hamtramck look, I think, more competitive and professional as a part of the development landscape.”
She stressed that a plan is needed because the city has a limited amount of land available for development.
“We have to be really wise about what we do choose to do with it,” Allaway said.

During public comment, Nural Islam said there are Hamtramck police officers who are targeting residents, conducting illegal investigations, recording citizens’ phone calls without prior consent, and trafficking residents without “judicial authorization.”
He urged the city to conduct an independent investigation.
Cheryl Hall complained that the city’s code enforcement needs to be stepped up. She said some residences are allowed to be in violation of codes.
“We all should be treated equally,” Hall said. “What are we getting for our tax dollars?”
Attorney Mark Koroi said he approves of the council’s plan to create a civilian oversight commission for the police department. He said he helped set up one in Ann Arbor and it has proved to be effective.
Ibrahim Aljahim accused some police officers of “going after some council candidates. I don’t think that’s their job.”
He did not elaborate on what officers are allegedly investigating.
(In 2024, Aljahim was convicted second-degree sexual assault involving a mentally disabled person.)
Mayor Amer Ghalib said the reasons the council is interested in an oversight commission for the police department are to improve community relations, and also to offer guidance.

Moving on to council business, the council approved a grant for $3,750 from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The grant will be used to purchase 100 trees, which will then be planted throughout the city.
The task of digitizing the city’s thousands of documents was given a helping hand with the approval of spending an additional $15,000 for a company to make the transfers.
To date, the following has been achieved:
• High-Volume Black & White Scans: 204,786 images
• Files Processed: 7,193
• Large-Format Plans: 2,845 images
• Receipts / Small Documents: 3,869 images
The city had initially allocated $27,000 for the project.

The council OK’d the purchase of a used Ford F-150 for the Community Economic Development Department. The truck will be used by the department to assist in various clean-up projects in the city, and when it is needed to haul supplies.
The cost of the truck is $22,379.
The council also OK’d spending $21,000 to help secure the city’s internet system from being attacked.
A lengthy discussion was held on whether to go for a loan of about $600,000 to further remove lead water lines. The loan would mean an increase in monthly water bills – an increase that would last for 30 years.
However, there is also a chance the city could get grants that would mean the loan would not be needed.
Mayor Ghalib said “people are complaining like crazy” over increases in water bills.
He questioned whether this loan is an essential need.
“Is it that urgent?” he asked.
Ghalib also said he told the interim city manager to remove all “unnecessary costs” on water bills.
“We need to reduce the water bills as soon as possible,” Ghalib said.
Ghalib also repeated an offer that President Trump’s administration made to him to allocate millions of dollars for the city’s many infrastructure repairs – which would include the water and sewer system.
“They are working on it seriously,” he said. “So, I’m not going to stop following up even after my term ends. We’re going to keep asking. So if we get that money, it’s going to be a relief on the residents.”
(Ghalib’s term in office ends on Dec. 31 of this year. He did not seek re-election, but instead is waiting to get a job with the Trump administration.)
Ghalib noted that many residents are complaining about rising costs.
“I know a lot of people are struggling because of the inflation, the economy,” he said. “They’re struggling buying groceries and stuff. We don’t want to make them responsible to fix our infrastructure.”
Despite the concern over possibly increasing water bills, the council approved having the city start the loan process.

In a follow-up, the council discussed whether to allow the former owner of a house at 3381 Doremus, who lost ownership due to a tax foreclosure, to be allowed to purchase the house back from the city.
Isabel Allaway, manager of the city Community Economic Development Department, said the former owner owns multiple houses.
She said he did not keep up with his various property tax bills. After losing the house on Doremus, Allay said the former owner continued to collect rent from those living there.
“Which we consider dishonest, if not fraudulent,” she said. “So I have concerns about making any award of this home back to that owner. I think the most fair thing to do, as I recommended at the last meeting, is to auction the house to the general public.”
Mayor Ghalib asked: “Did he (the former owner) think that the city forgot about the tax or what?”
Councilmember Mohammed Hassan said that, if the owner agrees to pay the city a “reasonable” amount of money for the property, “I don’t have any issue to give it back to him.”
Councilmember Mohammed Alsomiri, who brought up this request to the council at a prior meeting, said Wayne County kept sending tax bills to an old address of the former owner.
Allaway countered, saying it was the former owner’s responsibility “to make sure the taxes were paid on the home. He knows that the tax is due. He owns a lot of properties.”
She also added that the former owner, Mohammed Alzam Zamin, told her he lives in New York. Alsomiri insisted that he lives at the Doremus house.
Allaway reminded the council that the former owner had been collecting rent at the house despite no longer owning it.
Despite being told all of that, the council agreed to sell the house back to the former owner.
In another similar matter, the council discussed whether to sell back properties at 11405, 11409 and 11415 Conant, which involves a single building and a lot, back to the former owner, Shaker Sadeak, who also lost the building in a tax foreclosure.
The property in question is the former site of the restaurant Kabob House, which was also a former funeral home. The property was heavily damaged in a fire a few years ago.
The matter was brought up by Councilmember Muhtasin Sadman.
(Sadman was connected to the property when a business there submitted articles of incorporation to the state.)
City Attorney Odey Meroueh said that, since the council agreed to sell back the Doremus property, the same deal has to be offered to this former owner.
Councilmember Hassan noted that this property is part commercial but added that the former owner lives in an apartment upstairs and considers it his principle residence despite the fire damage.
The council, including Sadman, unanimously voted to sell the property back to the former owner.
In the last piece of business, the council agreed to allocate $14,300 to install a new broadcasting system for the council chambers after numerous problems had recently occurred because of outdated equipment.

Mayor Ghalib gave a lengthy report, noting that he has only one more meeting to chair before his term ends in December.
He said it’s “exciting” that his term is ending. As for the future, Ghalib said he will continue to focus on “uniting our community. I’ve been calling for unity. No matter what your background is … we all belong to this community and we should care about each other despite all the differences in our community between different groups. We are a good community. We are a peaceful community. We don’t have any kind of violence even though our differences can be extreme sometimes, but we care about each other.”
Ghalib continued: “We condemn any kind of violence, not only in our community but also in other communities, like what happened in Dearborn. That’s unacceptable. We can’t have outsiders to come and instigate violence and spread hate in our community.”
(It was not immediately clear what incident Ghalib was referring to in Dearborn. There have been several incidents of outsiders coming to Dearborn protesting Islam and promoting Christianity. One such protester threatened to blow up a mosque. In the most recent incident, Jake Lang, a right-wing activist from Florida who also participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capital building, held an anti-Muslim rally in the city where he tried to burn a Koran.)
Ghalib said this kind of violence is “condemned in all languages, and we stand in solidarity with everyone in our community no matter what your background is and what your religion is, whether you are Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddha, Buddhist, whatever.”
“We are one community,” Ghalib said. “Two or three years ago, when the media from outside of our community was attacking us and spreading hate and division in our community, I called these people opportunistic parasites because they only flourish and shine with the nasty things and hatred and violence. So we reject these kind of people and we again call for unity to care about each other.
“We will continue to have that as our main goal and main mission whether we are elected officials or not.”
As for his future of possibly working in the Trump administration, Ghalib said he hopes to find out what position he will be offered and “where I’ll end up, whether here locally or overseas or in (Washington) D.C. But I’m sure I will be somewhere where I can utilize my skills and my relationships to continue serving this community.
“I think we have a bright future for the city. I can see that we’ll continue to thrive. The city’s infrastructure will be fixed, hopefully. …”
Ghalib also encouraged residents to seek serving as an elected official.
“It’s hard to find good, qualified people,” he said. “Our city is small but we have complicated issues in our city. It’s not easy to be in the spotlight and put your life as an open book in front of everyone. That’s not easy for an elected official — especially when you run to serve in a voluntary position. You are not compensated for the service that you provide, and that’s a plus and it’s not an easy thing to do.”
(The mayor’s position currently pays $6,499 a year and councilmembers are currently paid $3,249 each year. The council’s mayor pro tem is paid $4,874.)
Mayor Pro Tem Abu Musa followed up, and said that councilmembers “try our best, from our knowledge, to serve the community and we put – especially I put — Hamtramck first.”
(According to an internal city investigation, it is alleged that Musa and Councilmember Mahmood are not actually residents of the city. It is alleged that Musa lives in Warren with his family, and that Mahmood lives in Troy also with his family. Both deny the allegation of being non-residents of Hamtramck.)
During public comment, attorney Mark Koroi said that there was “large scale” voter fraud in the city. He said that there were 1,000 city income tax bills sent to people, but 200 came back from people who said they don’t live here. However, Koroi said, those 200 people voted here.
“They’re living outside the city, but voting in our elections,” Koroi said.
Mayor-elect Adam Alharbi said the council has to be careful about voting on issues that will raise water bills for households. He said resident are not pleased with increasing water bills.
“Throughout the campaign I’ve listened to people and they complain about how much the water bill is increasing every time,” Alharbi said.
Posted Jan. 2, 2025