Dolton trustees: Henyard mismanagement may lead to layoffs

DOLTON, Ill. — Three trustees from the Village of Dolton called a special meeting on Monday night to try and keep the village running as they deal with embattled Mayor Tiffany Henyard.

Trustees who do not support Henyard said she would not allow them to put items on the regular meeting agenda, so they set their own meeting to start before hers.

The two contentious meetings were held back to back, starting at 6:15 p.m. at Village Hall.

Trustees said Dolton is facing a financial disaster and they blame Henyard for overspending and mismanagement.

“There’s no more money, anything that we can sell we need to sell it, if you wanna get outside we can sell you too,” trustee Kiana Belcher said.

More: Tiffany Henyard’s top aide fired

During Monday’s first meeting, Belcher said the financial situation in the village is so dire that she doesn’t know if Dolton will be able to make payroll by the end of next month.

The Board of Trustees approved a credit card spending freeze, allowing only the Director of Administrative Services to use the village credit card for expenses approved by the board.

One of the expenditures the board said they never approved was the four SUVs that make up Mayor Henyard’s police security detail, which has already cost the village $250,000.

Some trustees want to return the vehicles so they don’t have to pay any more, but the decision will now come at a later date.

They are also considering selling a building the village owns that has a police department sign on it, but it’s never actually been converted to a police department.

“You know, you throw a lot of things up here that don’t be true,” Henyard said before she was interrupted.

It was one of many disruptions during the meeting.

When Henyard entered the meeting, everyone was made to clear the room and come back in through metal detectors. Officers also removed at least two people from the crowd during the course of the meeting.

The Board of Trustees also approved a handful of layoffs when they came back from a closed session, because of the village’s financial circumstances.

‘It’s unfortunate but we have to make these decisions so we can make payroll,” trustee Brittney Norwood said.

Faced with fury over spending, Henyard went on media tour — and billed taxpayers

That vote for layoffs was four to one and it included placing Deputy Police Chief Lewis Lacy on administrative leave.

Lacey, who is accused of doing the Mayor’s bidding, declined to comment on Monday night’s vote.

The mayor’s top aide Keith Freeman was not at the meeting, but Henyard said he was fired.

Last month, Henyard fired him from Thorton Township, the other government she runs, but the trustees say they won’t allow the firing to happen because they say Freeman is doing the village’s work, and they now consider him to be a whistleblower.

The trustees told WGN-TV that firing a whistleblower sets them up for another lawsuit, and the village can’t afford it.

More news is expected out of Dolton this week as Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is expected to present some of her financial findings into her investigation into henyard.

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