By: Brian Wells | Sterling Heights Sentry | Published November 5, 2025
STERLING HEIGHTS — Sterling Heights residents voted to retain their mayor and five incumbents on the City Council, with one newcomer replacing a councilperson who served more than 30 years.
In the Nov. 4 election, a majority of voters stayed with Michael Taylor as mayor. Taylor garnered 11,908 votes, or 65.17%.
Taylor, 42, served on the Sterling Heights City Council from 2009 until 2014, when he was elected mayor. He beat Matthew Ryan, a 27-year-old small business owner, who received 6,288 votes.
Taylor will serve a four-year term.
“First and foremost, I am so thankful and grateful to the voters for their support,” Taylor said. “I am really excited to continue the work of keeping Sterling Heights a safe, vibrant and welcoming city.”
In the City Council race, 12 candidates competed for six four-year terms.
While five candidates who were voted onto the next City Council are incumbents — Mayor Pro Tem Liz Sierawski, Michael Radtke Jr., Henry Yanez, Maria Schmidt and Barb Ziarko — one newcomer will join them.
Robert Mijac, 54, who served as a Macomb County Commissioner from 1995 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2020, received the fourth highest number of votes, with 9.487, or 9.94% of the total votes cast. He will replace Deanna Koski, who has served on the City Council since 1989. She received 7,416, or 7.77% of the votes cast.
Mijac said that his victory left him feeling humbled. He added that he had big shoes to fill replacing Koski on the council.
“She’s a very good, honest public servant, and I’m sorry that she didn’t make it … Those are certainly big shoes to fill.”
Mijac said that he was proud of the campaign he ran, which he thinks resonated better with voters.
“My race, I kind of just stuck to some messages. I believe in having better ethics in city government. I didn’t take any money from people who do business with the city contractors, developers and such like that,” he said. “I think having better ethics resonated with voters.
Despite not returning to Council, Koski, in a statement, said she was proud of the campaign she led.
“While we came up short this time, I could not be prouder of the positive, community-focused campaign we ran. One centered on respect, integrity, and love for our city,” she said.
Additionally, Koski thanked everyone she’s served with on the City Council and congratulated everyone who will be serving.
“This isn’t goodbye. It’s just the next chapter. I’ll always be here to support our city whenever and wherever it’s needed,” she said. “Thank you, Sterling Heights! It has been an honor to serve as your Councilwoman.”
In a text message, Taylor thanked Koski.
“I also want to thank Councilwoman Koski for her 36 years of dedicated service to the city,” he said. “It has been an honor for me to serve with her these past 16 years and I wish her the best.”
Sierawski, Radtke, Yanez, Schmidt and Ziarko received 10,948 votes, 10,295 votes, 10,267 votes and 8,410 votes, respectively.
In a Facebook post, the Warren City Council extended a congratulations to each of the candidates.
“Congratulations to Mayor Michael Taylor on his re-election, and to the returning members of the Sterling Heights City Council … on their re-elections,” the post said. “A warm welcome as well to newly elected Councilman Robert Mijac. We look forward to further opportunities for our communities to collaborate on shared priorities.”