Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud (left) and Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi answer questions from the audience at A Tale of Our Cities.
By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — Mayor Bill Bazzi spoke of progress and challenges within in the city at his first Tale of Our Cities Jan. 25.
The annual Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon was canceled in 2021 due to COVID-19, but was held at Dearborn Hills Golf Course this year. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud also spoke on the future of his community.
“When I was appointed it was a lot of things,” Bazzi said, referencing how he was appointed mayor after Daniel Paletko died in office in December 2020. “The mayor passed and took his knowledge with him, so coming into the office it was chaotic. We had documents 6 feet high, it was hard for me to find my desk, so I had to go through a lot of these documents.”
In his speech, Bazzi went on to mention the challenges with COVID-19 and ongoing flooding issues where 1,600 homes and multiple businesses were affected by the floods.
“One of the biggest challenges that we had besides COVID is the flooding around the Ecorse Creek,” he said. “A lot of homes around the creek flood every year. I talked with a 60-year resident of Dearborn Heights — so he’s heard a lot of stories — and people who come up and say, ‘What are you going to do about the flooding?’ So when I came in, we had several meetings with the state, federal and Wayne County to talked about things we need to do for the flooding. So, the flooding affects not just Dearborn Heights but a lot of communities.”
Work has been done to resolve the creek issues, including hiring City Engineer Ali Dib, and hiring a grant writer to obtain grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to purchase homes near Ecorse Creek that experience flooding problems.
Bazzi said Dib has spent 30 years with the county and also the Metropolitan Airport. Dib discovered that maps were missing for sections of the city’s sewer system, and dye tests helped uncover missing sections.
Bazzi said that the city is planning to create a retention basin to make sure the water is taken away from the residents on Currier, the area that gets hit the most.
“Some people’s homes, where their backyard goes into the creek,” Bazzi said. “The garage is tilting into the creek and losing some of the property from erosion.”
Bazzi went on to thank Wayne County officials and members of Congress for their recent help during the Ecorse Creek cleanup, which the city will host again in the summer. He said the partnership with Wayne County could result in allocating money to try to clean up the creek.
In terms of personnel, Bazzi spoke about the work that was needed to be done when he first became mayor and how he addressed that.
“One of the first things that I did was meet with all my directors at the time and wanted to make sure they all knew — having zero tolerance for anything, any harassments or bullying,” he said. “I wanted to have my door open for anybody so if anybody has been to my office they know my door is always open. If I’m not in a meeting anybody can come and talk to me.”
Another change the city has made is fixing the concerns residents and businesses have with getting permits from the Building Department.
“Obviously we have a new building director on site and on the ground talking to residents who might have issues pulling permits, and also talking to businesses,” Bazzi said. “We had a lot of concerns in the past with businesses not being able to get licenses, and we made it user friendly by removing a lot of red tape and obstacles.”
Bazzi closed by saying he is looking forward to a great year and that the city has a lot of work to still do, which includes help from the new city council.
“I want to compliment our new city council,” he said. “I was part of them for three years, I served with them, and I’m looking forward to serving with them again as the mayor,” Bazzi said. “I know their heart is always in the right place. We have a lot of work to do.”
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)