at the helm Chaldean is
at the helm Chaldean is new manager of Marysville By Joyce Wiswell With high unemployment and plunging house values, Michigan’s economic woes continue to dog its municipalities. And now Gov. Rick Snyder is proposing reducing cities’ revenuesharing income, another big blow. But rather than be discouraged by this state of affairs, Jason (Ghassan) Hami is excited about his new job as city manager of Marysville. “I’ve always liked challenges and this is an interesting challenge – how do you keep the municipality afloat and in good shape?” he said. “It’s a major, major challenge, but right now I feel very optimistic that if anyone can do it, I can.” Decades of experience in both the public and private sector contribute to Hami’s confidence. He was raised in Telkaif, where his father, Jamil, was the school principal. Hami attended Jesuit schools and felt an affinity for the United States even before the Baathists started changing Iraq in the early 1970s. “The writing was on the wall for me that politically I did not belong in that society,” he said, so at age 24 he struck out for America. Hami initially stayed in Detroit’s Chaldean community on Eight Mile, but soon landed a job in Battle Creek as an engineer. He credits that move across the state to making him feel a true part of his new country. “I was extremely lucky to land that job. I went by myself and it was a fantastic opportunity to become part of the melting pot, not just stay in the Chaldean community and be sheltered by it,” he said. “I became as Americanized as I could right away.” After four years, Hami returned to Southeast Michigan and went to work for the city of Trenton as a civil engineer. He was up for a promotion to city engineer but the position mandated U.S. citizenship. Hami had already applied but the process usually takes more than five years. Thanks to the intervention of Congressman John Dingell, whose son was a friend, Hami was fast-tracked and was able to take the oath of citizenship on his five-year anniversary in the U.S. He became an American — and Trenton’s city engineer — on the same day in April 1980. “That is a day I will never forget,” he said. “I led the Pledge of Allegiance at Trenton’s council meeting that night.” Several years later, Hami teamed up with Mike Koza in real estate development, but when the economy started heading south in the late 1980s, he headed for the corporate world. He spent 13 years with Kmart, eventually becoming director of site development and engineering and helping to build 200 to 300 new stores a year. He left Kmart shortly after it “I have never felt discriminated against and this recent promotion is proof.” – Jason (Ghassan) Hami filed for bankruptcy in 2002, joining Marysville as an engineer on a parttime basis. It was the perfect arrangement at the time, he recalled. “They could not afford me full time and I wanted to rest after all that time with Kmart,” Hami said. In 2007, Hami joined the city full-time as city engineer, and then eventually became the director of public works as well. When city manager Jack Schumacher announced his retirement after 27 years, Hami was asked to consider the job. He was appointed by unanimous decision of the city council in late February. Though it has an operating budget deficit of .5 million, Marysville is actually in better condition than many other Michigan burgs, Hami said. Set along the St. Clair River just south of Port Huron, it is a scenic spot with just over 10,000 residents. Hami is overseeing the million rebuilding of the city’s water treatment plants, negotiating with the city’s unions on concessions and working on a project to restore the city’s shoreline. He’s also meeting with other city managers in the area to explore ways to join services and cut costs – another Snyder initiative. “These are unchartered territories,” he said. “To be a part of that is going to be fun.” Hami said his ethnicity has never hurt his career. “I feel the uniqueness of my accent always works in my favor because people become interested,” he said. “I am sure there is some prejudice, but it has not been an obstacle in my career. It is actually the opposite – it has helped me stand out a little.” 28 CHALDEAN NEWS MAY 2011
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