The Dearborn Heights City Council voted on Jan. 14 to direct the city attorney to draft an ordinance establishing a Veterans Affairs Commission and return the proposed ordinance to the council for consideration at the Jan. 28 meeting.

Councilman Tom Wenzel introduced the motion and said the commission is intended to centralize veteran services and provide a single advisory body for programs and memorials. “I would like the council to approve a resolution to create a Dearborn Heights Veterans Affairs Commission,” Wenzel said during the meeting.

The vote followed repeated public comments from residents and veterans’ advocates who told the council they want a standing commission to coordinate services, outreach and city-level support. Aideen Jones, the founder of Love A Michigan Vet Project, told the council she had worked on an organized veterans commission since April and urged collaboration rather than competition: “I was the one who originally proposed the idea of creating this commission,” she said, asking the council to coordinate with groups already serving veterans.

Council members said they heard sustained requests from constituents for city-level veteran support, including assistance with housing, benefits and outreach to at-risk veterans. Several speakers during public comment described individual veterans’ needs and urged faster action.

Because the ordinance is the required legal step before a city commission can be formally created, the council amended the motion to authorize the city’s corporation counsel, Gary Miyake, to complete a draft ordinance. The amendment set a timeline: the draft ordinance must be submitted to council staff by Jan. 21 so it can be placed on the Jan. 28 agenda.

The council’s direction does not itself create the commission or appoint members; it asks administration and legal staff to prepare the ordinance text for council review. The meeting also recorded multiple residents volunteering to serve on a future commission and asked administration to accept applications through the city’s boards-and-commissions process.

Council members and residents said the goal is to create a commission that will work with veterans-service organizations already operating in the area and to avoid duplicating programs. The council’s next review of the ordinance draft will determine membership rules, authority, and any recommended city support for the commission.

If the ordinance is brought back on Jan. 28 and approved, the council will then follow the city’s appointment process for the new commission.