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Dearborn Heights council moves into closed session on legal opinion and POAM negotiations
Summary
At a special Dearborn Heights City Council meeting called at 5:30 p.m., the council voted to enter closed session to consider a legal opinion from special counsel Gary Miyake and to discuss POAM union negotiations; the council returned to open session at 6:21 p.m. and adjourned one minute later.
The Dearborn Heights City Council voted on a motion to go into closed session at a special meeting called to order at 5:30 p.m., the council chair announced.
Councilman Constance moved "that we, go into closed session to discuss the matters you just mentioned," referring to an opinion letter from special legal counsel Gary Miyake and ongoing negotiations with the POAM union; Councilwoman Breyer seconded the motion. The clerk then conducted a roll-call vote. Recorded affirmative responses came from Hassan Ahmad, Moe Beydoun, Nancy Bridal, Robert Constant, Denise Malinowski Maxwell, Hassan Saab and Tom Winslow; the motion carried and the council entered closed session shortly after 5:32 p.m.
The transcript includes a momentary misstatement during agenda approval in which a speaker referenced the "Des Moines City Council" and a meeting date of 10/14/2025; the meeting record identifies the governing body throughout the transcript as Dearborn Heights, and the reference to Des Moines appears to be a verbal error in the record.
When the council returned to open session at 6:21 p.m., a council speaker summarized the closed session with a brief public statement: "We were just in a closed session. We had an update on our contract negotiations and gave instruction to our, labor negotiations, about the state of the city and going forward." The statement did not provide the substance of the legal opinion or the details of the instructions given in closed session; by law, those deliberations are not recorded in open session.
Before entering closed session the council approved the special-meeting agenda by voice vote after a motion from Councilman Hassan Saab and a second from Councilman Constant. Tim Wenzel was recorded as absent earlier in the roll call; the clerk later recorded Tom Winslow as present.
Councilman Hassan Ahmad moved to return the meeting to open session at 6:21 p.m.; that motion was seconded by Councilwoman Denise Malinowski Maxwell and passed by voice vote. The council then voted to adjourn at 6:22 p.m., a motion made by Ahmad and seconded by Hassan Saab.
The actions recorded in open session consisted solely of procedural motions and the announcement that a closed-session discussion occurred; the transcript does not include any council vote on or disclosure of the content of the legal opinion or specific negotiation positions. The council did note that staff and negotiators (identified in the record as chief of staff Hernandez, human resources director Fisher, interim comptroller Mahdi Badoon and attorney Zachary Haulman) were authorized to participate in the closed-session discussion.
The council is expected to continue with its next scheduled meeting following adjournment. No public comments or hearings were recorded during this special meeting.
