City Hall Insider … 8/12/25

By Charles Sercombe
The city council met on Aug. 12, and all councilmembers were in attendance except for Mohammed Hassan.
A presentation was made by the city’s summer interns.
Some of their activities included spreading the word of the city’s tree planting program, combating littering, and helping maintain the yards of disabled and elderly residents.
Student employees in the 2025 GM Student Corps program also made a presentation of their activities.

During public comment, an email from a person named Nicholas was read out loud. The person said that the two councilmembers who are under investigation should be suspended.
(Councilmembers Mohammed Hassan and Muhtasin Sadman have been charged with election fraud, stemming from the 2023 election. Both have denied the accusations.)
The person who wrote the email said that, since City Manager Max Garbarino was placed on paid suspension during an internal investigation, the mayor and city council need to follow their own “precedent.”
“You now need to honor your precedent, and relieve them of their duties until this is resolved,” the person said. “If other members of the council are also under investigation, they need to be put on leave as well.”
In total, at least four of the six councilmembers are under investigation, including two for being non-residents.

In another email, a resident complained about the behavior of an officer who confronted him after he changed a tire on his vehicle in front of his house.
The resident said the officer was aggressive and pulled a taser on him.
“There are officers in Hamtramck who lack respect for residents,” the resident said.
Another person urged the council to consider a resolution to stop the city’s practice of automatically mailing absentee ballots to voters.
(The city only sends out absentee applications to those who requested them in the past, and also automatically mails out absentee ballots only to voters who signed up get them for all elections.)
The person said the city needs to take this action in order to “restore confidence in our electoral process.”
As for the councilmembers accused of election fraud, he said this has “shaken the public trust” in elections.

Ibrahim Aljahim requested the “status of the Hamtramck Review newspaper.”
He said the paper has a “relationship with former City Manager Max Garbarino.”
He said the newspaper has “received thousands of dollars since he (Garbarino) has been here. … This newspaper has a history of attacking our mayor, city council and anyone who criticized Max and his business partner Dave Adamczyk.”
(Editor’s note: The Review is the city’s paper of record, and publishes city legal notices. The city manager has never personally given nor directed money to the newspaper. Also, at the time that Aljahim made these accusations, Garbarino was still city manager but on paid administrative leave.)
Aljahim went on to say that The Review falsely reported that the FBI is conducting an investigation, but he did not say what investigation was in question.
He said Garbarino is “spreading lies to hide his dirty games.”

Tom Habitz of the Hamtramck Parks Conservancy said there is now “stepped-up” enforcement of littering in Veterans Park. He said hundreds of pieces of litter are being picked up daily in the park.
The effort to combat litter, he said, “is draining the city of resources.”

Dianne Frkan, who was a candidate for city council in the recent primary election, said that, while campaigning, she got to know residents in the Col. Hamtramck Housing project.
Frkan said residents there say the city has “basically forgotten about (them). They are our neighbors, and they are also residents of the city.”
Bill Meyer said recent media reports on Hamtramck make it look like “Hamtramck is full of crooks and that we’re falling apart….They’re covering only the negative stuff,” and that the media is also conducting a “witch hunt over a few leaders.”
He also noted that most of the local media is “white-owned” and “writing negatively about a mostly non-white city.”
Meyer continued, saying the media “mostly interviews white officials from the past who have a history of problems themselves and complain about non-white leaders.”
Switching subjects, Meyer questioned whether the media is interested in “one of the country’s greatest murals.”
He was referring to a mural about the Yemeni community that is on the side of a building at Jos. Campau and Goodson.
Meyer said the mural is being threatened with getting “covered up” by the construction of a new building in a lot next to the mural.
Later in the meeting, a discussion was held on the proposed construction of the building.
The developer agreed to continue discussions on how to save the mural, which includes replicating it on the new building that will be built.

A lengthy discussion was held on a proposed upgrade to city hall’s computer system. The new system will cost the city $149,835, and the city will also spend an additional $82,000 from a grant.
Two improvement projects were approved for Veterans Memorial Park, one to repave a parking lot and another to repave a road leading to the parking lot.
The total cost is over $2 million — paid partly through a grant and a state road repair fund.
In his report, Mayor Ghalib called for an end to “divisive politics going on in the city and predetermined targeting of each other, including the media, that we talked about in the beginning of the meeting.
“You should be a unifying voice for the whole community, not just one side of the community and constantly targeting the other side.”
Councilmember Muhith Mahmood thanked voters for supporting him in the primary election.
“Your voice was heard,” he said.

In public comment, Bill Meyer said that a certain councilmember, who he did not identify, attempted a “coup” at a recent meeting.
He said this councilmember attempted to get support to replace the current mayor pro tem, Khalil Refai, with himself.
“It was an undemocratic, selfish move to replace the legally-appointed mayor pro tem from his position,” Meyer said. “When it became obvious to this councilman who tried to do this that he wouldn’t get the votes to pass the resolution to make him mayor pro tem, he walked out of the meeting and prevented the city from carrying on its business.”
Meyer added: “This is disgraceful behavior. … Let’s stop this sort of personal self-interest and not try to wipe each other out of positions.”
Posted Sept. 19, 2025