City Hall Insider … 1/14/25

By Charles Sercombe
The city council met on Jan. 14, and all councilmembers were in attendance.
The council gave former City Councilmember Joe Strzalka a certificate of appreciation for his ongoing effort of collecting litter in his neighborhood.

The city’s code enforcement department gave an update on its activities from 2022 to 2024.
City Manager Max Garbarino said the “biggest takeaway is that the code (department) is doing quite a good job in getting the city cleaner with the cooperation of our residents.”
Garbarino continued: “It should be noted that tickets are actually coming down, the enforcements are going up, but they actually wrote less tickets. … That means the community is responding positively and actually complying. …”
Public Works Department Director John DeAngelis said that while the enforcement actions “seems heavy” for now, that’s because in the past there has been a lack of enforcement.
In 2024, there have been over 16,000 enforcements with almost 4,000 tickets issued.
Over 3,000 tickets were dismissed during 2022 to 2024.
Mayor Amer Ghalib noted that there have been “errors that happen frequently,” such as residents receiving tickets for properties not belonging to them, or for minor infractions.
“This city is old, the houses are old, we can’t ask for perfection,” he said.
A code enforcer said the strategy is to start with small violations and then build up to addressing large issues.
City Manager Garbarino said the city gives residents plenty of time to comply with violations, and that the code department constantly trains its code inspectors to cut down on errors.

Moving on, Councilmember Mohammed Hassan asked to add a resolution that would replace Councilmember Abu Musa as mayor pro tem with Councilmember Khalil Refai.
Councilmember Musa asked if he can sue the city for taking such an action without “proper cause.”
City Attorney Odey Meroueh said he couldn’t comment on that.
A majority of the council agreed to add the resolution to the meeting’s agenda.
The council also agreed to add Hassan’s resolution to consider suspending City Manager Garbarino for one week with pay.
Garbarino objected, saying he would rather discuss personnel issues in closed session.
Councilmember Musa also received approval to add a resolution to remove Councilmember Hassan from the council because he is “corrupt” and facing possible allegations of election law violations.
Mayor Ghalib remarked: “This meeting is full of surprises.”

During public comment, a resident, who spoke in Arabic, said there are people who are knocking on his door at night and then leaving. He said the police will not help him in this matter.
Shaker Sakead cautioned the council in what they say and the actions they take because what happens here “goes outside” of the community.
He said both Hassan and Musa are acting “childish,” and questioned why they are “negative to each other.”
“It’s very embarrassing to the community,” Sakead said.
Lynn Blasey said that the council’s late additions to the council agenda violates the spirit of the state’s Open Meetings Act because the public isn’t given advance time to review the matters and be able to voice their concerns.
“Last-minute additions are unnecessary,” Blasey said.
An email from a resident complained about drivers who speed, and that also some school bus drivers are guilty of this.
The resident also questioned why the police chief travels so much. He said his absence from the city “demoralizes” the police department.
Another person who emailed said they were concerned over allegations that Councilmember Musa gets rid of ticket violations in exchange for votes.

The council then went into a discussion on whether to pass a resolution to remove Musa as mayor pro tem.
Councilmember Hassan, who made the proposal, said he has nothing “personal” against Musa, but that Musa is getting paid by taxpayers but sleeps during meetings.
Musa countered, accusing Hassan of being a “corrupt individual” who buys voter ballots.
“He rigged the election,” Musa said.
Musa insisted on someone showing him a photo of him sleeping during a council meeting.
“I need to get an expert, whether I’m sleeping or not,” Musa said.
He then “vowed” to get justice.
The council then voted to remove Musa as mayor pro tem, with Councilmember Musa and Muhtasin Sadman objecting, and Councilmember Khalil Refai abstained in the vote.

A discussion was next held on whether to suspend City Manager Garbarino for one week with pay.
Councilmember Hassan accused Garbarino of not coming to work on time and not addressing the issue of code inspectors “misticketing” residents.
Garbarino said that he could not “make heads or tails” over Hassan’s job review of him.
Hassan’s review, he said, “was so contradicting. … Most of it was garbage. I really could not understand it, let alone follow it.”
Hassan failed to get a motion of support to suspend Garbarino.
In new business, the council approved a plan for a developer to build a multi-unit building at 2604 Trowbridge.
The council agreed to continue an arrangement with the state Treasury Department to coordinate the city’s various grants. The state gave the city $40,000 to pay for the service.

The council also agreed to allocate over $27,000 to hire a company to scan and digitize various engineering and planning documents.
The council also agreed to contract with two local non-profit organizations, Piast Institute and Passenger Recovery, to counsel those suffering from opioid addiction.
The organizations will be paid through a state program that is being funded by a $1.6 billion opioid settlement.
Andy Mileski, the Deputy Police Chief, said the treatment “helps in more ways than you know.”
He said reducing opioid addiction also leads to a reduction in crime, such as home break-ins.
Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri praised the work of Passenger Recovery, saying it has helped many in the community.
“I’ve seen people from Yemen, Bangladesh, Polish, everyone” in the community be treated.
“The opioid crisis is very serious, and it’s touched every member in this diverse community,” Altaheri said.

A lengthy discussion was held on planning an alley repaving project for the coming year. It was agreed to form a sub-committee to decide which alleys to include.
In public discussion, a resident complained about a number of drivers who cover their license plates.
Posted Jan. 31, 2025

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