By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — Four candidates have put their names in the hat for the mayoral election happening this year.
Mayor Bill Bazzi, resident Anthony Camilleri, former Mayor Chief-of-Staff Krystina Laslo and City Council Chairwoan Denise Malinowski-Maxwell have declared their intentions to run for mayor.
The filing date to enter the mayoral race is 4 p.m. April 20. A primary election will be held Aug. 3 to narrow the field to the top two vote getters followed by a Nov. 2 general election.
Voters will be deciding who should be serving two mayoral terms with one from the Nov. 2 election to Dec. 31, which is the remainder of the term of Mayor Daniel Paletko who died in December.
All four candidates applied for the mayoral vacancy following Paletko’s death. Bazzi was appointed by the City Council to serve until November.
After high school, Bazzi joined the U.S. Marines Corps where he retired as a gunnery sergeant after 21 years and earned his bachelor’s degree in professional aeronautics and engineering.
He earned a master’s degree in aeronautical science and engineering, both from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
Bazzi then worked for Boeing Corp. from 1990 to 1998 before going to work at Ford Motor Co. product development engineer which is his current job.
He is also the commander of the Dearborn Allied War Veterans Council and president of Ford Motor Co.’s Veterans Network. Bazzi served as a councilman for the past three years in Dearborn Heights.
Malinowski-Maxwell was elected to the city council in 2017 and has served as the council chair since 2018. Following Paletko’s death she filled in as mayor pro-term until Bazzi was appointed.
She is a longtime Dearborn Heights resident graduating from Crestwood High School, Henry Ford Community College and then Madonna University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business management.
Malinowski-Maxwell is retired from AT&T where she worked from 1978 to 2003 and simultaneously as a licensed real estate agent from 1993 to 2012.
Laslo served as chief of staff for 17 years until she was fired Jan. 27. She has lived in Dearborn Heights all but two years of her life.
Laslo has knowledge of city operations, mayor’s office functions and experience working with department heads as a result of her time as chief of staff.
She is certified by the state of Michigan to be appointed by the state to lead any community in need.
Laslo also worked with Paletko as a community liaison when he served in the state House of Representatives. She has business degrees from HFCC and University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Camilleri currently owns his own business, and has been a businessman for 34 years. He owned a limousine service until 1985 followed by a landscaping business.
Living in Dearborn Heights for 49 years, Camilleri graduated from Crestwood High School in 1977 followed by UM-D.
In 2017, he ran for mayor as a write-in.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)