City Hall insider … 3/11/25

By Charles Sercombe
The city council met on March 11, and all councilmembers were in attendance.
During public comment, Ibrahim Aljahim congratulated Mayor Amer Ghalib on being nominated by President Trump to be the next ambassador to Kuwait.
If Ghalib is confirmed in that role by the U.S. Senate, he has said that he would not be able to run for re-election this year.
“We hope you stay here, we’ll miss your leadership,” Aljahim said.
He continued: “You’ve done a great job. The community is behind you. Hopefully the next (mayoral) candidate will be the right person – a person with a degree, a person who lives in the City of Hamtramck, a person who gives back to the community, a person with experience.”
Aljahim also said that he expects a dozen or so candidates to run for city council.
“I will guarantee you half do not live in the City of Hamtramck,” he said.
Aljahim said President Trump will send FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate the residency of candidates “if you ask. … We’re sick and tired of people coming to the city running for office that do not live in the city. We’re just tired.”

Lynn Blasey questioned what the projected cost-savings will be by the city eliminating two voting precincts, as proposed by the city clerk.
City Clerk Rana Faraj said there will be one less precinct in the community center and one less in the Hamtramck Senior Plaza. She stressed that this won’t inconvenience voters because more people are now voting via absentee ballot.
“It won’t be as congested, and it’s feasible,” Faraj said.
Although she did not provide a dollar figure on savings, she said, in a note to council, that “Consolidation is expected to result in cost savings due to fewer necessary election equipment purchases, warranty fees, and reduced staffing on Election Day.”

In other new business, the council OK’d a contract with Hennessey Engineers to oversee the engineering and bid process to repave the parking lot next to the Hamtramck Stadium.
The ongoing improvement of the park is being paid for by a $2 million state grant.
The city expects to seek bids for the repaving in July.
The council also agreed to accept nearly $9,000 from the state for election security actions the city has already completed.
In another ongoing improvement project, the city will go forward with spending over $500,000 from the city’s Water and Sewer fund to upgrade sewer service on Goodson St. adjacent to Veterans Park.
This work starts in July.

A lengthy discussion was held on cracking down on litter in front of houses and businesses. Councilmember Mohammed Alsomiri said the city has a litter problem, and that there needs to be more code enforcement.
City Manager Max Garbarino said code enforcers have been active, but “quite frankly, as quickly as we issue them (violations) people complain. We are constantly, constantly issuing warnings and tickets just about every day.”
Garbarino added that often “it’s a lot of the same offenders.”
And he stressed that “businesses should take ownership of their property – whether they think it’s (litter) theirs or not.”

In the mayor’s report, Ghalib talked about his decision-making process in accepting President Trump’s offer to become the next ambassador to Kuwait.
He said he initially wanted to take on a role as an advisor to the administration dealing with Arab and Muslim Americans, but then, as he learned more about the duties, he declined the job offer because it would have been “overwhelming.”
Instead, he accepted being nominated as ambassador to Kuwait. (Ghalib has yet to be confirmed to that position by the U.S. Senate.)
He said that, if confirmed as Kuwait’s ambassador, he would obviously not seek another term as mayor.
“It’s going to be a new chapter in my journey,” he said. “It’s going to be exciting. Hoping I’ll be confirmed by the Senate. … At this point I will not be able to run again for the mayor – unless I’m not confirmed by the Senate.”
Ghalib went on to say that, because of Hamtramck’s support of Trump, “We put Hamtramck on the map – this 2.1 square miles that nobody knew about.”
As for the upcoming election, Ghalib urged women to seek office.
“We should have fair representation for the whole community,” Ghalib said. “We should make this council as diverse as possible.”
The current city council is comprised of all Muslim men.
The mayor then went on to blast the media, and reports about his past statements on social media. He said the articles have been biased against him.
“You can tell when you read them. … The only thing left out is cussing me out in those articles, which is not professional,” Ghalib said. “But I want to send a message to those people – you know, the radical media.”
Ghalib added: “I think what happened in the past, pressuring our community, to shift to the other side is something made disrespecting, disrespectful of our community and to our choices and not respecting our political views when we disagree with each other.”
He did not explain what exactly had “happened in the past,” nor what he meant by saying there was pressure to “our community,” nor what community he was referring to.

When it came to Mayor Pro Tem Khalil Refai’s turn to speak, he said he wished Ghalib was going to be appointed as ambassador to Saudi Arabia in order “to help me with my wife’s case, maybe you know, a faster process.”
He did not explain what the issue is with his wife.
During public comment, two men criticized Councilmember Mohammed Hassan for making threats, and for not being able to take criticism.
“You’re not above anybody,” said one man. “You’re running a circus show.”
Posted April 18, 2025