Abdel-Hal, Baydoun receive 3 votes each
By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — The process to appoint a new city council member in Dearborn Heights was delayed until January after candidates Zouher Abdel-Hak and Mo Baydoun received 3 votes each in a council vote Dec. 22.
Earlier this month, four candidates, Abdel-Hak, Baydoun, Nancy Bryer and William Zurenko interviewed for the seat during a special meeting. All four candidates were considered for the vacant position created when Lisa Hicks-Clayton was elected city treasurer.
Councilmen Bill Bazzi, Ray Muscat and Tom Wencel voted for Abdel-Hak while Council Chairwoman Denise Malinowski-Maxwell, Robert Constan and Dave Abdallah voted for Baydoun.
The council voted the same exact way at its Dec. 8 meeting.
The council will vote again at its next meeting, which should take place in January.
Abdel-Hak was appointed interim treasurer when former Treasurer John Riley II resigned in June. He currently owns a jewelry business in Dearborn, but plans to retire in the next few months.
He also served on the city’s zoning board and housing commission in addition to regularly attending city council meetings since 2003.
Baydoun ran for an open seat on the city council in 2017. He is a small business owner of two businesses in the city. He has 12 years of experience, volunteering and working on different campaigns or being involved with the Amity Foundation and Wayne County Sheriff’s Police Reserves.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected])