Newly appointed Dearborn Heights Director of Ordinance and Animal Control Usef Nasrallah (fifth from left) is sworn in by City Clerk Lynne Senia (second from left) during the May 12 City Council meeting, while Mayor Mo Baydoun (left) records the moment for posterity.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – Usef Nasrallah was sworn in May 12 as the city’s new director of Ordinance and Animal Control, a position closely aligned with Mayor Mo Baydoun’s goals for the city.
Baydoun said that key positions like Nasrallah’s are less like a 9-to-5 job and more like a Monday to Sunday job that will be a key part of the city’s evolving culture.
“He is somebody where like his wife will send a message to me and be like, ‘Can you tell my husband to stop working, it’s Saturday morning and we are all trying to go kayaking,’” he said. “It’s pretty cool to go kayaking, but she said, ‘We want to spend some time with the family, and he doesn’t give up.’”
Baydoun said that anecdote captures the kind of person he appointed to be the city’s new ordinance director, and Nasrallah delivers qualities that he said the city has been missing for a long time.
He said Nasrallah recently hired two new ordinance officers, ages 18 and 19, and told the mayor that “he wanted to empower the youth” and hopes they will look back at their young start after 30 years of service to the city.
Newly appointed Dearborn Heights Director of Ordinance and Animal Control Usef Nasrallah (ninth from left) shares a special moment with family members following his swearing in during the May 12 City Council meeting.
Baydoun said Nasrallah, who has a twin brother, is very family-oriented, and thanked his family for letting him commit so much time to the city in recent days.
“Usef, I know these turkey chases and dog chases and chicken chases and all sort of different animal chases that you’ve been out on the hunt throughout the week doesn’t go unnoticed,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that we had a true swearing-in for Director Nasrallah because Usef deserves that.”
City Clerk Lynne Senia swore in Nasrallah with his mother, wife and daughter at his side.
Nasrallah thanked his extended family for attending his swearing-in and for their support.
He said as a resident of the city, he was happy to take the position when the mayor offered it.
“It’s a city that I believe in and I want to continue to live in a city that I want to raise my family in,” Nasrallah said. “I want to thank the mayor for believing in me, even when people doubted and put doubts in his ears, and these are the things that thrill me and keep me going.”
Nasrallah committed to being available to everyone, and said he can be reached at 313-753-4430, and said if he doesn’t answer immediately, he will call them back.