By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — Dearborn Heights residents will be voting in two separate city council races on the Nov. 2 general election ballot. The partial term ends in Dec. 31, 2023 and has Councilman Mo Baydoun and former Councilman Ned Apigian vying for the one spot.
In the full four-year term there are current Councilmen Zouher Abdel-Hak, Bob Constan, and Tom Wencel vying for one of four seats along with Hassan Ahmad, Rachel LaPointe and Nancy Bryer.
Currently, Baydoun is also a Clover Mortgage state license loan officer and Apigian is a self employed Michigan state licensed architect, profession community planner and a residential builder.
Abdel-Hak is the co-owner of NJ Diamond fine jewelry retail and manufacturing, Ahmad is an associate real estate broker, Constan is a licensed attorney who owns and operates a private law practice, and LaPointe is an activist and stay-at-home parent.
Each candidate was asked three questions with a 100- to 120-word limit for each. Responses over the word limit may be edited. Bryer did not respond by press time.
1. How will you work to prioritize the needs of residents and address their concerns?
Abdel-Hak: As a city council member, I have to work with my colleagues and the administration to prioritize the most urgent and the most concerning issues to the residents, then allocate enough resources to meet those needs, and look also for grants from all sources. Because we are responsible for the money allocations, we make sure the money is spent wisely when we approve the contracts, and monitor the budget monthly for any over spending or shortages.
Ahmad: When elected, I would represent the entire city and its residents, not just one particular area. I am committed to ensuring all resident’s voices and concerns are heard, acknowledged and addressed. In order to bridge any divide that may exist, there needs to be effective bridge building done among leadership and making sure the residents of our city are the priority before other affiliations. In order for the city council to work as a unified team, their main goal should be to advance the city and its residents. I believe we should focus on creating a flourishing community that welcomes diversity, remains transparent and accessible, and creates a safe and sound infrastructure and greater community where all will prosper.
Apigian: To prioritize the individual needs of residents is not the important issue. The major issue is how to collectively prioritize issues that affect us all equally that the council has control of, not the mayor, or his administrative staff. These three simple solutions requires adequate budgeting, which is one of the very few issue it has control of. If these (3) problems are fixed then the residents would have no issues to prioritize. They are hire and train adequate staff and purchase any and all necessary equipment to do the job once, quickly and correctly. When your broken water is fixed in hours instead of days, you will have nothing to call or prioritize about.
Baydoun: In order for city government to effectively incorporate the concerns of its residents, elected officials must take the time to be available and accessible to their constituents. I can proudly say that I have always kept myself available and have personally returned hundreds of calls to concerned residents. In this way, and others, I plan to always put forward the concerns of my fellow neighbors.
Constan: I make myself available for residents to contact me for help with issues with the city of Dearborn Heights. The door at my law office on Ford Road in Dearborn Heights is always open. Residents have problems getting their trash picked up or their street shoveled. I return residents phone calls, then contact the appropriate city department. I have been contacted by many residents who have large, overgrown dead or dying trees on their property. I am proposing changes to our city ordinances to allow homeowners to remove overgrown, dead trees. Also important is strong police protection, especially in our neighborhoods where drivers speed through the neighborhood in loud cars all day and night. This must be stopped.
LaPointe: The first priority is listening. Establishing more ways for residents to voice their needs will help the entire council see what our priorities need to be. Then it’s all about evaluating needs versus wants and making sure that all residents have equitable access to core services. Throughout any project, the city needs to provide regular updates on progress, including spending, to provide transparency and accountability. No approved project should be followed up with a question like “Whatever happened to that?” When projects are completed, they need to be celebrated. And then we start the process over, taking our lists of needs and seeing if we need to update them and listening to hear if there are new things to address.
Wencel: I will strictly monitor budgeted funds from tax dollars to make sure that all the money is spent wisely and efficiently. By doing so we will spend money that will allow us to provide more services to our residents such as senior programs and facilities, youth programs, parks and recreation facilities. We need stronger enforcement of our ordinance along with the ability to quickly and legally force violations to be corrected. Flooding has been an issue for over half a century in Dearborn Heights, especially the south end. Recently it’s become an issue throughout the entire city. Before we control the flooding we must first determine the reasons why we are flooding.
2. What improvements or changes would you like to see happen within the city?
Abdel-Hak: Have enough staff in every department, improve our parks and facilities and ADA compliance across the city properties, new fire station to replace Beech Daly station, raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour or better, provide the police and fire with all the equipments needed, improve our roads and infrastructure, build retention basins along the Ecorse Creek, better use of the Warren golf course to bring more revenue, amendments to charter on several items, seeking more grants. go back to 5 working days at city hall.
Ahmad: My goal is to work hand and hand with my fellow council members and maintain a great working relationship and an open dialogue with every single department in the city. I am here to create bridges amongst various departments such as the mayor’s office, the police, fire and economic development departments, senior services to name a few. It is imperative to put our political and personal differences aside and serve the public that has entrusted us to do so. I am cognizant of the great responsibilities that I will be entrusted to hold and the time and effort that I must put forth to serve. As a parent, I am ready to fight for my children and every child who lives in the city. As a son, I am willing to go the extra mile to ensure our senior citizens are treated with dignity and respect. As a resident of this city, I want to ensure that the residents’ needs are met to the best of our ability.
Apigian: The first and most important change that has to be made is that the city charter has to be changed with the adoption of a charter commission. The ordinance department method of operation needs an updated. I propose the following changes in the process, which happens now with the public calling in with violations. On trash day all debris is not to be out before 6 p.m. the day before and retrieved by 8 p.m. on the collection day. The violation is photographed, e-mailed to the ordinance office which sends a warning violation; any subsequent violations a fine will be assessed and added to their property tax bill. Also, the notifying citizen get a quarter of the fine deducted from their property tax bill.
Baydoun: Our city must make investments into new infrastructure to safeguard from future flooding and natural disasters. Additionally, the city must take steps to hold city contractors accountable and replace the current provider for trash removal services.
Constan: Dearborn Heights received $25,914,797 this year from the Federal Government American Rescue Plan. This money should be used to repair our roads and to improve our sewer system to prevent flooding. For example, the Ecorse Creek is forced to flow through narrow metal culverts in two sections under older bridges. The culverts become clogged with debris, causing the creek to back up. The American Rescue Plan money can be used to rebuild the bridges and to remove the old metal culverts. The money can also be used to repair our city buildings in Dearborn Heights.
LaPointe: There is so much room for growth in our city. Building up our neighborhood groups so that we can build the entire community is a big priority for me. Beautifying the city with better walking paths along the creek or art installations is another high priority. But first we need to get a handle on maintaining our city. In the theater, the stage manager has a book that contains all the information needed to run the show in case they couldn’t be there to manage it. Our city does not have this sort of “handbook” and watching the challenges faced by the administration in the last 9 months has shown me that we desperately need to get things organized better.
Wencel: The changes I plan on working towards in my next 4 year term is to completely revamped our Ordinance Department. We have some fine individuals currently working in our ordinance department but we need to hire more. I have a problem with the city writing a ticket for tall grass and being able to send a contractor in after a few weeks if the violation is not corrected but we do not have the ability to clear up a blight issue in the same timely manner. Instead some blight issues can take up to six months or years to rectify. This has to stop. If we have to involve the police in writing ordinance violations and enforcing them, like some cities, so be it, if that’s what it takes.
3. Why are you seeking re(election)? Why should people vote for you?
Abdel-Hak: I attended the council meetings for 17 consecutive years, gained great insight on all aspects of city government functions, advocated for the residents on every important issue, monitored the budget and taxes and stopped the $6.8 million over levy on CSO in 2015, pushed for the forensic audit, highly educated, motivated and served on zoning, and housing boards, appointed interim treasurer for 5 months, and presently appointed to city council since Jan. 26, 2021, submitted many important and co-authored several resolutions, pushed for creating a public studio in the city to educate the public, I hope my long experience have earned your vote.
Ahmad: I am seeking election for my family and all Dearborn Heights families. Community service is something that has been instilled in me at a very young age. My bid for city council is the ideal opportunity to invest my experience, time and efforts to help advance our city and families. I strongly believe that my educational background, extensive work experience and relationships with diverse communities, strong ethics and passion for public service make me the right candidate for this office; which I take very seriously and have tremendous respect for. I’m committed to seeing our city continue to grow and prosper. I hope to win your vote on or before Nov. 2.
Apigian: First, I have been elected to the council twice before, I have experience; I know what the council does and cannot do, not what I think it does, like most of the other candidates. I know what it should not do and what it might be able to do. As important as my previous experience on the council is my unique design and physical planning education and background separates me from the other candidates. I am by training a synthesizer of very large complicated programs into simplified understandable parts that are reassembled into an understandable entity. If I can plan and design a city and several hospitals I am very suited to solve the problems of Dearborn Heights.
Baydoun: I am running to retain my seat on city council because I believe that I could provide a fresh perspective, enthusiasm and outside-the-box thinking to our city council. I am asking people to consider my background as a small business owner and community volunteer when they cast their vote. I have been working hard going door-to-door to introduce myself to residents personally. I want everyone to know that I will continue to be a hardworking, transparent, and accessible council member for all residents.
Constan: I am a lifelong resident of Dearborn Heights. I have the experience, education, and record of community service necessary to serve as a productive member of city council. I have a 100 percent perfect attendance and voting record while serving on the City Council. While serving as the 16th District State Representative I authored four bills that were signed into law. I am most proud of the high blood alcohol level legislation that provides for stiffer penalties for a driver who drives with a blood alcohol level of .17 or above. The law allows certain offenders to drive after their car is fitted with an ignition interlock system that prevents anyone from starting the car if they have been drinking.
LaPointe: In the last few years, as my kids have started growing up I have reflected on how I can best serve others and how I can help our community be the best it can be. I want to be an example to my children of a servant leader who is there to listen, who is there to help, who is there because they care about others and are willing to do what it takes to make the world better for each person. I believe that my strengths are what we need on the city council right now. I’m a positive and empathetic person, who is also realistic and research driven. I look forward to serving the city.
Wencel: The Wencel family has been in Dearborn Heights for over 80 years. I truly love Dearborn Heights. I don’t plan on ever leaving this great city. I’ve been putting my heart and soul into this city since I was 14 years old when I started a volunteer group of kids to help our senior citizens with yard work. We are currently building a second-floor addition on our house at the corner of Tulane and Lehigh to accommodate our 5 grandchildren Cara 13, Paige 9, Jenna 8, Cayden (the only boy) 6 and Nina 4.This is our forever home. I will fight to ensure that Dearborn Heights is a safe and clean city to raise my children and all the children in this great city. I will stand up for all the residents of Dearborn Heights, on the city council or not like I have my entire life.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)