Councilman mulls over run for mayor

City Councilmember Mohammed Hassan

By Charles Sercombe
It’s decision time for City Councilmember Mohammed Hassan.
On a Facebook posting, Hassan, using the name Kamrul Hassan, said he will let the community know by Feb. 21 whether he plans to seek the mayor’s position in this year’s election.
In his Facebook post, Hassan said (this is verbatim):
“Dear Hamtramck residents, my all the friends and my supporters Salam and Adav. I will lets you know by February 21 about the mayor election of this year. Am I running for mayor or not? Thanks for supporting all the times. Friends of Mohammed Hassan.”
There’s a twist, however, for Hassan.
In order to run for mayor, he must resign from city council, and do so by no later than Feb. 22.
That’s because of a city charter requirement that says that councilmembers who are not in the last year of their term and who want to seek election as mayor must resign no later than 60 days prior to the deadline for candidates to file for office.
That filing deadline is April 22.
Hassan’s flirting with running for mayor comes at a time when his relationship with Mayor Amer Ghalib has fractured.
Hassan taunted Ghalib at a recent city council meeting with not only running for mayor, but beating him, which led to a terse Ghalib response:
“You will lose,” Ghalib told Hassan.
But there is a question of whether Ghalib will seek another term. Although this is his first term in office, he is contemplating a possible position in President Trump’s administration, and he also hasn’t made up his mind about whether to run for office again.
“I’m not sure yet. I haven’t decided,” Ghalib said at a recent city council meeting. “I may put my name on the ballot. Until now, nothing is confirmed, but I will update you as soon as possible.”
Ghalib lamented that attracting quality candidates for office is a challenge.
“It’s very hard to find people with integrity and commitment who want to run for public position,” he said.
Part of that challenge, Ghalib said, is because the city does not pay elected officials enough money, which further alienates potential candidates from seeking office.
Voters here previously rejected a city charter proposal to give the mayor and council a raise. That proposal came from Hassan.
If voters had approved the proposal, councilmembers’ yearly stipend would have gone from $3,186 a year to $7,965.
The mayor pro tem’s increase would have gone from $4,779 to $9,558 per year. And for the mayor, the current salary of $6,372 a year would have shot up to $11,151.
The total cost of that proposal would have been $60,534 per year.
Posted Feb. 14, 2025