Mayor John Rhaesa was sworn-in as the Mayor of Wayne on November 20, 2018. Prior to becoming Mayor, he served as a Wayne City Councilman for seven years. Mayor Rhaesa also served and continues to serve as a member of the Downtown Development Authority and the Council Liaison for the Planning Commission.
 
Mayor Rhaesa is not unlike the community he was elected to serve. Both Mayor Rhaesa and the City of Wayne are energetic and forward thinking and have a remarkable amount of community pride that is rooted in the understanding of Wayne’s deep history and tradition.
 
Like most of Wayne’s citizens, Mayor Rhaesa grew up in a working class family and was raised with the belief that helping those around them for the collective benefit of all was the way to move forward in life. Mayor Rhaesa saw government and public service as the perfect place to continue acting upon those beliefs.
 
During Mayor Rhaesa’s time on the City Council, he remained dedicated in his commitment to listen first and act second in order to assure he was acting according to the will of those who elected him to the position. This is a commitment that he has brought with him to the Mayor’s office. Mayor Rhaesa has been a strong advocate for fiscal responsibility and has been instrumental in the City’s erasure of over $80 million dollars in long-term liabilities. These tough decisions have kept the City of Wayne from entering into receivership.
 
Mayor Rhaesa serves as Wayne’s delegate for the Conference of Western Wayne; as a member of the Wayne Downtown Development Authority and Council Liaison to the Planning Commission; serves as Community Development Block Grant City Liaison; is a member of the Beaumont Community Advisory Board; was the President of the Wayne Rotary from 2017-2018 and is still currently serving as a member; as a member of the Wayne Downtown Days Committee; Wayne 100 Club; is the key organizer for the successful Concerts in the Park Annual Series; and is actively involved with the Kronk Boxing Team in Detroit, Michigan.
 
Mayor Rhaesa is the owner and publisher of The Wayne Dispatch Newspaper, a monthly publication that is focused on positive stories in the community and is mailed to every resident and business in the City of Wayne. Mayor Rhaesa and his wife Natalie also own and operate JoNa Graphics, a local Wayne business they started together in 2002.
 
Mayor Rhaesa is a 1987 graduate of Wayne Memorial High School and attended Eastern Michigan University.