Mayor accused of interfering in city manager search

Emails that The Review obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that Mayor Adam Alharbi sped up the hiring process of City Manager Adel Al-Adlani (above).

By Charles Sercombe
It appears the city’s newly-hired city manager had a helping hand getting the position.
And that assistance came from Mayor Adam Alharbi, according to emails he sent to the city’s director of the Human Resources Department.
The Review obtained emails between Alharbi and the HR Department via a Freedom of Information Act request. The director of Human Resources, Mashana Burton, accused the mayor of trying to steer the hiring of the city manager toward Adel Al-Adlani.
“The only person(s) being interviewed (are) the applicant you like from Dearborn and Alex (Lagrou), who is already interim city manager. Currently, we have 8 applicants with great resumes, and no sub-committee member has reviewed them,” Burton said, in one email exchange with Mayor Alharbi.
Alharbi responded, saying: “I think you should stay out of politics and follow the hiring process.”
Alharbi defended his role in the selection process, telling The Review that “email chains obtained through FOIA requests can easily be misinterpreted or misunderstood when viewed without the context of the larger, ongoing discussions happening at the time.”
In another email, Councilmember Hassan, who chaired a council sub-committee tasked with overseeing the hiring of a city manager, complained about the mayor rushing the interview process, saying on Feb. 4 that the sub-committee had yet to meet.
“Please let the process finish, then we will let the council and mayor call for an interview,” Hassan said.
The Review reached out to Hassan for comment, but he did not respond.
Despite that plea from Hassan to slow down, the council voted to hire Al-Adlani just six days later, on Feb. 10.
On Feb. 6, Mayor Alharbi, in an email to Burton, said that the search for a city manager was over, despite having only interviewed one candidate for the job – Al-Adlani.
“We will not be holding additional interviews, as we need to avoid further delays in city business,” Alharbi said.
But other interviews did take place, despite what Alharbi initially said.
The city’s then interim city manager, Lagrou, was later interviewed. He had been on the job for only a few months.
Another candidate was also eventually interviewed, a night shift superintendent in the New York City Sanitation Department.
The applicant with the most experience was the city manager of Royal Oak Twp.
That candidate was given a one-day notice to be interviewed, but she was unable to adjust her schedule in time, according to sources.
Alharbi and Al-Adlani have one thing in common: Both are Yemeni-Americans. Adel Al-Adlani, and the candidate from New York City are Yemeni-Americans.

(An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that only Ad-Adlani is Yemeni-American. The Review apologizes for the error.)

Alharbi told The Review that, while it appeared he was pushing the matter, “my insistence on a robust process might be perceived as stepping over a line, my goal was actually to prevent favoritism toward the incumbent and move away from the status quo. Ultimately, when all candidates sat down at the table, it became clear to everyone involved that Mr. Al-Adlani was the most qualified individual for the job.”
The “incumbent” in question was Hamtramck’s interim city manager Alex Lagrou, who was apparently favored by the council sub-committee.
The city whittled down over two dozen applicants for the job to a final four.
Al-Adlani has a doctorate degree in public administration. He came from Dearborn, where he worked for the mayor’s administration in the economic development department.
The council spent only six weeks in its search for a city manager. When it came to a vote before council a few weeks ago, Councilmember Nayeem Choudhury objected to being “rushed” into a decision.
The previous city manager was Max Garbarino, who also had no prior experience being a city manager. He was fired for his handling of the matter of former police chief Jamiel Altaheri.
Altaheri eventually reached an agreement with the city to leave his position voluntarily.
Garbarino has since filed a lawsuit against the city. He is now City Manager and Zoning Administrator for the Village of Lexington, which is located in Sanilac County.
Posted March 13, 2026