City Hall insider … 8/13/24
By Charles Sercombe
The city council met on Aug. 13, and all councilmembers were in attendance.
The GM Youth Corp. made a presentation, and talked about the various projects they worked on. This year, the following students participated: Saqib Ahmed, Mahfuzur Rahman, Habiba Chowdhury, Arnela Begic, Priyonti Roy, Mohima Akhtar, and MD Asfaq Chowdhury.
During public comment, Wayne County’s Community Liaison introduced herself.
A representative from the city’s parking meter company said that, unlike what a resident had claimed, the parking meter cameras do not take photos of people. He said the cameras only focus on license plates and vehicles.
A homeowner complained about the increase in his property tax, saying it went from $1,600 a year ago when he bought the property to $6,000 this year.
City Manager Max Garbarino stated that, contrary to what the homeowner said, his house is valued at $220,000 dollars, not $138,000.
Several people asked the city to install speed humps in the west Conant alley, from Trowbridge to Belmont, because of drivers speeding there.
The alley runs behind the United Community Center on Conant.
After a lengthy discussion, the council adopted a new contract with the city’s firefighters’ union.
City Manager Garbarino said the salary increase in the new contract will require an adjustment to the city’s budget.
“We’ll adjust accordingly moving forward,” he said. “This brings us back to better industry standards for what firemen should be at (financially) with their peers in metro Detroit.”
The union got a 6 percent salary increase, plus other benefits, that will require the city to budget an extra $300,000 per year.
Andrew Oleksiak said that, contrary to previous contract negotiations, this latest negotiation was a “real conversation” with the city administration. He said that the former mayor (Karen Majewski) had been meeting “Behind our (firefighters) backs to outsource” fire services to Detroit.
“When stuff like that happens, there’s no way we’re going to be cooperative,” Oleksiak said.
He added that the department will now perform medical runs when the city’s private ambulance service is not immediately available.
Mayor Amer Ghalib said that, when he first took office, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan had a “secret visit” with him to talk about contracting with the Detroit Fire Department.
Ghalib said he asked what the savings would be for Hamtramck, and was told it could be anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000.
He said that was “not worth” agreeing to, and that “I rejected” the offer.
He cautioned that, if the city has a budget problem in the future, the budget will have to be “solved” to avoid being a “burden on the city.”
“Hopefully, we can afford that down the road for many years,” Ghalib said.
Councilmember Mahmood Muhith questioned whether the city can afford this contract, saying the salary increase is “aggressive.”
In another matter, the city agreed to hire Abdur Rahman as city treasurer.
(Rahman later turned down the offer, said City Manager Garbarino.)
The council agreed to a site plan for the construction of a new building on a lot on Conant, between Dorothy and Oliver.
“That area around there sorely needs this development,” Garbarino said.
Moving on, the council agreed to the terms of the state to maintain the city’s historic baseball field and stadium as a historic site for at least the next 20 years.
This was part of a grant agreement with the state. The Hamtramck Parks Conservancy will maintain the structure and field.
The council agreed to repave more alleys at a cost of $1 million. The alleys in question are on Goodson, running north and south from Jos. Campau to Lumpkin.
In another matter, the council agreed to purchase five vehicles for the Police Department, costing about $400,000 total for both the purchase and for outfitting the vehicles with police gear and cameras.
After some discussion, Councilmember Mohammed Alsomiri was re-appointed to the Planning Commission as a representative of the city council.
The city’s engineer, John Hennessey, said that it looks like the rebuilding of Caniff from Jos. Campau to Conant will begin in early October.
During public comment at the end of the meeting, Ibrahim Aljahim complained that, most of the time, there is at least one city official who is not in city hall.
“Ninety-five percent of the time someone is missing,” he said.
Regarding the report of alleged ballot harvesting by two councilmembers, Aljahim blamed the former mayor and former city clerk for “working against the community.”
Posted Sept. 20, 2024
