By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – Mohammed Mawla has been appointed by the city council to fill the position left vacant when Councilmember Hassan Ahmad was appointed to replace David Knezek on the Wayne County Commission.
Mawla was appointed by the city council in a 4-to-2 vote during its Oct. 13 meeting. By city charter, his term will expire Nov. 2, 2027.
Ahmad’s position on the Dearborn Heights city council would have run through Dec. 31, 2029, after he was re-elected in November 2025.
Knezek resigned from the Wayne County Commission after being named president of Henry Ford College in Dearborn.
Mawla, an Iraqi American who immigrated to the U.S. in 1995, is married and has a daughter. He was born in a refugee camp in 1992 in Saudi Arabia.
For the past 15 years he has owned and operated Visual Lion, a video production and creative agency based in Metro Detroit.
He previously served as the special assistant to the director of the Department of Defense Office for Small Business Programs.
Mawla said public safety is important to him, and he volunteers with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy sheriff reserve member of CERT, the Community Emergency Response Team.
He said when he thinks about public service, he is thinking about the kind of community that is being built for the next generation.
Mawla said his past work experience taught him that government does not have to solve every problem by itself.
“Sometimes leadership means knowing where the resources are, bringing the right people together, and making sure our community benefits,” he said.
Mawla said some of the local issues that are important to him include the flooding along the Ecorse Creek, responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, and understanding not only what something costs the city today, but what it will cost it years from now.
“We need to support our police officers, firefighters and first responders, and I want Dearborn Heights to be a city where entrepreneurs and small businesses can have an opportunity to grow,” he said.
Mawla said communication with residents builds trust, and the more residents understand what their government is doing, the easier it is for them to participate.
“I know that I will not walk into this position knowing everything, but I will walk into it willing to learn, willing to listen, willing to do the homework and willing to do the work,” he said.