Chaos continues in the Chicago suburb of Dolton, where the board of trustees voted to freeze city credit cards and fire city employees, while former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wraps up an investigation into fellow Democrat and self-proclaimed “super mayor” Tiffany Henyard.
Dalton’s board meeting was scheduled for Monday, but one meeting grew into two due to some board members’ insistence that Mayor Henyard, who is also a Thornton County Supervisor, would not allow items to be added to the agenda, so they arranged to hold another meeting in the village hall before the other meeting began.
“You have been deceived, deceived and misled.”
Like most of Dalton’s public meetings over the past few months, Monday’s meeting quickly got out of hand. First, shortly after the series began, Henyard asked attendees to stand up and walk out, metal detector Apparently it had broken down earlier in the day.
“You must go through a metal detector to ensure the safety of everyone in the building,” Henyard ordered.
Henyard then entered the room and took a seat normally reserved for the village attorney, with two other lawyers sitting next to him and even participating in the closed hearing, though attorney Bert Odelson, who serves as legal counsel for the Dalton Board of Trustees, argued they had no legal standing to attend such a hearing.
It’s unclear how the criminal lawyers are being paid, but Odelson argued it would be illegal to pay them with village funds. One of the lawyers later said he wasn’t receiving any compensation from the village.
Henyard is the subject of a federal investigation but has not yet been charged with any crimes.
The main focus of the meeting was cutting expenses, and to that end, Dolton village trustees voted to freeze nearly all of the village’s credit cards, stating that too many people were abusing the privileges while the village struggled with debt.
“Amazon, PayPal, Target, Walgreens, [regional supermarket chain Jewel-Osco] Hundreds or thousands of dollars Michael McGrathCounsel for Dalton’s trustee.
“When I talk to our accounting department, we are financially broken,” board member Kianna Belcher added.
At this time, only the Director of Administrative Services may use the Village credit card, and only for purchases pre-approved by the Board of Trustees.
Another big financial burden is Henyard’s lavish security guards, including four security SUVs that cost the village $250,000. The board has proposed disposing of the vehicles to avoid paying them, but a final decision on the vehicles will be made at a later date.
Ultimately, the board voted 4-1 to fire some city employees, including Deputy Police Chief Louis Lacey, who was seen as an ally of Mr. Henyard. Mr. Henyard denounced the firings as an expression of “political retaliation,” but the board countered that they needed to cut waste wherever possible to stay afloat.
“It’s unfortunate, but these decisions have to be made in order to keep paying the salaries,” board member Brittney Norwood said.
Henyard’s history of extravagance and the village’s poor financial situation led to former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot being appointed to conduct a formal investigation into Henyard, infamously nicknamed the “Dictator of Dalton,” and the village itself.
Lightfoot is expected to give a preliminary report on the findings on Thursday.
“You have been lied to, deceived and misled,” one resident said during the rally.
“We deserve a mayor who actually cares about the village, not one who only sees the village as his playground,” argued another.
“The village is bleeding,” agreed board member Norwood. “If the residents knew the truth, they would be furious.”
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