City Hall Insider … 9/9/24

By Charles Sercombe
The city council met on Sept. 9, and all councilmembers were in attendance.
A proclamation thanking the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival Committee and the parade organizers was read. It said, in part:
“The City of Hamtramck extends its deepest gratitude and appreciation to Konrad Maziarz, Shannon Lowell, and the entire team of volunteers for their hard work, passion, and dedication in organizing the Labor Day Festival.
“Their commitment has helped preserve and elevate this beloved tradition, ensuring it continues to thrive for future generations.”
During public comment, Ibrahim Aljahim also praised the festival, calling it the best one in 40 years.
He also supported a proposed new contract to police officers.
“Safety is the most important thing,” Aljahim said.

The council later approved a new police contract, which calls for a 15 percent pay raise, costing the city over $200,000 extra each year for the next five years.
City Manager Max Garbarino said the new contract now gives “significant control of the department” to the police chief.
As for the pay raise, Garbarino said it is “desperately needed, to bring the police department back in line with the surrounding communities.”
The officers’ union president, Christopher Fey, said that, in recent years, the city has been investing in the department to make it more modern.
The department, Fey said, is now “more integrated with the community.”
Speaking about the city’s new police chief, Jamiel Altaheri, who recently retired from the New York Police Department, Fey said:
“It’s nice to have an outside view that has otherwise been pretty closed off.”
Mayor Amer Ghalib said the most pressing public safety issue is car thefts, which he said are happening almost every night.
Ghalib said there are still concerns about how officers recently handled suspects involved in a vehicle theft, where the officers failed to make an arrest.
He said there needs to be “more effort to control this. … We need to see significant improvement.”
Fey agreed, saying: “You should not hold yourself to a lower standard. You should hold us (officers) to the highest of standards.”
Councilmember Mohammed Hassan questioned why the contract is for five years where, in previous years, there were three-year contracts.
Hassan also said there are many complaints from the public about the department’s service. He noted that he saw three patrol cars parked together for 15 minutes. He said that officers should have been patrolling the city.
Finance Director Syed Aamir Ahsan said the five-year contract gives the city stability, as well as time to plan finances.
It was also noted that the pay raise will stabilize the department and prevent the high turnover it has experienced in recent years.
The council eventually OK’d the contract.

Moving on, the council approved the city’s new insurance policy, costing $480,000, which represents a savings of over $100,000 from the previous one.
The council accepted a grant from the Michigan Department of Treasury, worth $803,988. The grant will be used to help the city finance its pension fund.
The council moved forward on proposed changes to the city’s zoning ordinance. The final approval will be at the Oct. 8 council meeting.
The proposal allows for changes in LED lighting for businesses, and allows businesses to install signs that project from their buildings.
An agreement was made with the city’s Parks Conservancy that it will bear a cost of $200,000 so the city can purchase property on Council St., where a new building will be constructed to house the city’s Department of Public Services. This would allow the city’s police reserves to use the old Public Services area as a storage garage.
The Conservancy, in turn, will get to use an office in the new building.

In a different property purchase, the council OK’d selling a city-owned lot on Doremus for development. The purchaser is planning to expand his house to include a car port.
In a second attempt to allow the DPS to purchase a vehicle, the council agreed to the expense. The vehicle cost over $100,000, and it will be paid for through the department’s water fund.
Mayor Ghalib said he was concerned about how much money the city has been spending in recent years.
“You have to be careful on all the spending,” he said.
A lengthy discussion was held on possibly hiring an engineer instead of using a contractor. Councilmember Khalil Refai asked the city manager to come up with a proposal on how much that would cost.
Refai said the city’s current contractor is doing a “crappy job.”
He also complained about the condition of Caniff between Jos. Campau and Conant.
City Manager Garbarino once again explained that the city had planned to repave that portion of the street this past summer but the state delayed the project.
It is now scheduled to go forward sometime in October.
Ghalib said that repaving Caniff is the “most pressing issue” in the city.
Posted Oct. 4, 2024