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Hamtramck City Hall (Deadline Detroit photo)
The city of Hamtramck is in turmoil. The city council recently fired the city manager, and the police chief and an officer—both currently on administrative leave for alleged misconduct—are also expected to be dismissed.
This situation stems from the city council’s decision to hire the law firm Miller Johnson, which produced a report detailing alleged misconduct by the officials. The report recommended that all three city employees be terminated.
In the case of City Manager Max Garbarino, the report criticized him for not responding quickly enough to alleged misconduct by Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri and Police Officer Dave Adamczyk. It also faulted him for bringing a gun to a council meeting in June while he was on administrative leave.
The allegations against Chief Altaheri include driving a city-issued vehicle after consuming alcohol and pressuring officers to assist him in a custody dispute involving the mother of his 2-year-old son. The investigation also found at least five 911 calls to Altaheri’s home over the course of five months, and that he pressured responding officers to falsify a police report to support his custody case.
In an editorial posted last Friday, The Hamtramck Review wrote:
What sticks out to us this week is the absurd cost to taxpayers to foot the bill for a legal firm to conduct an investigation into the three.
Specifically, the price tag is already over $300,000 and will likely end up costing us closer to $500,000. Instead of trusting City Manager Max Garbarino, who was cited for what we think are minor missteps in the handling of an investigation into the police chief, the mayor and council sought out a high-priced legal firm to conduct an internal investigation.
As you would assume, all three city officials involved in the investigation have strong objections to the report’s findings – something that will surely play out in the courts, again likely at taxpayers’ further expense.
The money spent so far on the investigation is just one part of what else is happening. On top of the cost of this internal investigation, the mayor and council also recently decided not to renew the city’s contract with a parking meter company, a decision that will end up in the loss of $200,000 a year in revenue for the city.
Admittedly, the parking meter system was a failure, but the mayor and council didn’t bother to find an alternative system.
The editorial goes on to say:
We pity property owners here because it’s looking more and more likely they’ll end up footing the city’s bills through increases in property taxes.
