Dearborn Heights mayor talks on following through with campaign promises, first month of term

Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun spoke with CBS News Detroit's Jack Springgate in October 2025 about his goals if he were to be elected mayor. That was before he won the race, roughly one week after that interview.

CBS News Detroit stepped back into the mayor's office to see if Baydoun is following through on those promises he made to residents, now in the first month of his four-year term.

Baydoun went on record ahead of the November election that he wanted to find new revenue for the city, improve public safety, and make city hall more transparent. He answered questions about how he's delivering now on what he told voters three months ago.

Baydoun said a new grant writer, Nicole Hefty, is already working to bring new revenue to the city, a priority of his campaign when interviewed in October.

"She went out for a $1.8 million grant, and it's going to offer a new fire truck, new bodycams for our police department, and some new vehicles between police and fire," said Baydoun.

A boost to law enforcement under new leadership. Baydoun says all department heads had to resign and reapply for their jobs through his Transformation Team for a spot in his administration, including the chief of police.

"This was not something directed toward our police chief; this was our fire chief, who's been with us for 36 years. This was our building and engineering director, who's been with us for 30-plus years, who all submitted their resignation letters, all came back, submitted to apply, and our police chief did the same. The Transformation Team felt Michael Guzowski was the best fit for the job," Baydoun said.

Baydoun says the transformation team's recommendation is the reason why he replaced former police chief Ahmed Haidar.

Baydoun talked about how he's improving transparency from the Mayor's office to connect better with residents.

"We have a communications department. We have a new communications director. We have opened up all the glass, and we're trying to be more accessible. I'm seeing a lot of positive energy coming from social media, opening up our comments, and now you're starting to see a lot of the good and the bad," Baydoun said.

That's a tool Baydoun said he praised for helping direct snow removal efforts during recent extreme winter weather as he wraps up the first month of his four-year term.