Mayor orders city manager out of council meeting:’I don’t feel safe’

Hamtramck City Manager Max Garbarino

By Charles Sercombe
In a possible violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act, Mayor Amer Ghalib demanded that City Manager Max Garbarino, who is on paid suspension, be kicked out of Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Ghalib reasoned that “it is improper for Max to be here today because if the police chief wants to come now there would be an issue. … You are on paid administrative leave. You are not supposed to be here.”
The mayor asked for Deputy City Police Chief Andy Mileski to escort Garbarino out of the council chambers. Garbarino was sitting where the public is seated, and not at his desk where as city manager he sits.
Before Garbarino exited, he asked to respond, but the mayor said, “No.”
On his way out, Garbarino said, “lawsuits.”
Garbarino was placed on paid administrative leave by the city council two weeks ago pending an investigation into allegations leveled by Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri.
The chief’s allegations were before Garbarino placed him on leave.
Garbarino put Chief Altaheri on paid leave pending an investigation, possibly by the FBI, into alleged wrongdoing, some of which was recorded by a department investigator.
After Garbarino was suspended, he filed a lawsuit against the mayor, city council and police chief under the state’s Whistleblower’s Protection Act.
As for the state’s Open Meeting Act (MCL: 15.263), it specifically says:
“All persons must be permitted to attend any meeting except as otherwise provided in this act.”
And also, “A person must not be excluded from a meeting otherwise open to the public except for a breach of the peace actually committed at the meeting.”
Those violating the Open Meetings Act can be charged with a misdemeanor and pay a fine of $500.
Garbarino told The Review that he was there to “watch” the meeting, and respond if someone “trash-talked” him.
Garbarino was not causing a disturbance.
Later in the meeting Ghalib accused Garbarino of being there to “intimidate” the council.
It also came to Ghalib’s attention that Garbarino was in the hallway next to the council chambers, and he asked Deputy Police Chief Mileski to escort Garbarino out of city hall.
The mayor said that with Garbarino in city hall, “I do not feel safe now. … God knows what he’s trying to do here.”
Councilmember Mohammed Alsomiri said that Garbarino should not even be allowed in the city.
Near the end of the meeting, Ghalib said, “Nobody is allowed in city hall because there is an investigation going on,” and that by being here it “would cause bias to the investigation.”
There is no court order barring either Garbarino or the police chief from being in city hall, nor did their suspensions include that stipulation.
In the meantime, four of the councilmembers, Mohammed Hassan, Abu Musa, Mohammed Alsomiri and Muhtasin Sadman, are currently being considered for prosecution for election law violations, specifically ballot harvesting in the 2021 election.
The Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing the matter after the state Attorney General’s Office requested a special prosecutor to take over the case.
Agents in the Attorney General’s Office did the initial investigation.
Former Councilmember, and current council candidate, Nayeem Choudhury as well as resident Tyrone Slappey are included in possibly being charged with alleged election law violation.
Councilmembers Abu Musa and Muhith Mahmood are also being investigated by the state police for allegedly lying about being residents of the city.
Ghalib also stressed that he and councilmembers are “the elected body that decides what goes on in the city – not the outsiders.”
Mayor Ghalib is not seeking re-election and he may have to resign before his term ends at the end of December because he is waiting for confirmation to be the next ambassador to Kuwait by the U.S. Senate.
President Trump nominated him to the position.
Updated June 11, 2025