Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard moved Monday to block the Village Board’s request for outside agencies to investigate her for allegedly misusing village funds.
Henyard vetoed a resolution trustees approved Feb. 22, saying it was illegal.
“We are under attack,” she said. “I will be victorious when the dust clears.”
Four trustees at odds with Henyard — Kiana Belcher, Tammie Brown, Jason House and Brittney Norwood — held a special Village Board meeting Feb. 22 at a Dolton Park District facility. Village Clerk Alison Key also participated.
Their resolution asked agencies such as the FBI, U.S. attorney, Cook County sheriff and Cook County state’s attorney to step in and investigate Henyard.
The action came after a law enforcement source confirmed federal authorities, including the FBI, are in the early stages of an investigation into Henyard.
No charges have been brought against the mayor, and the probe has included interviews by investigators both inside and outside of Dolton, according to the source.
The board’s resolution alleges Henyard made payments to vendors without Village Board approval, and that she has refused to pay vendor invoices the board approved.
The resolution accuses her of misusing village funds and causing Dolton to be in a multimillion-dollar deficit.
The four trustees plan to vote to override Henyard’s veto at the next regularly scheduled Village Board meeting in April, House said after Monday’s meeting.
Henyard said the trustees’ meeting violated the state’s Open Meetings Act because it was held at a location other than Village Hall.
One of the actions the trustees took Feb. 22 was to demand keys to Village Hall, which they said they do not have so they must hold meetings elsewhere.
They contend the meetings are necessary to handle simple matters of village business, such as approving Village Board meeting minutes.
Trustees “acted unconstitutionally and in complete disregard of the law,” Henyard said.
“I continue to be shocked by what the trustees simply do not know about municipal government,” she said.
During the public comment, former Village Trustee Ed Steave said Henyard has spent too much time pointing fingers and not shouldering some responsibility for the village’s ills.
“The mayor can blame everybody for what’s going on, but she has to look at herself,” Steave said.
Dolton resident Vivian Allen demanded Henyard resign.
“I want you to step down as mayor to save our village from the deficit you have caused,” Allen said.
During her report at the start of the meeting, when she vetoed the trustees’ prior resolution, Henyard called out the four trustees by name and accused them of “keeping up chaos when we are supposed to work together.”
“It’s not right what’s going on in our community,” she said.
Henyard said she is also working on a podcast, Tiffany Henyard on the Move, which she said will launch Friday, and she promised it would clarify the state of village finances and spending.
“It will be all facts, receipts,” she said.
During public comment, those in the audience often applauded remarks made by speakers, particularly those criticizing Henyard. Deputy police Chief Lewis Lacey at several points warned he would clear the meeting room if people continued to be disruptive. Four uniformed Dolton police officers stood around the room.
Media such as TV reporters and news photographers were shunted to a cordoned-off area at the rear of the meeting room, a departure from prior meetings, according to one trustee.
During a recent social media interview, Henyard also denied involvement in a charity that carries her name which has been told by the Illinois attorney general’s office to stop soliciting or accepting contributions, and that it must register with the state.
A letter from the attorney general’s office dated Feb. 21 and sent by certified mail, notes the Tiffany Henyard CARES Foundation is not in good standing and states the attorney general has sent correspondence to the charity asking that it correct the matter.
A Facebook page for the charity provides little information about the charity’s activities or officers.
The page states CARES stands for Cancer and Remission Empowering Survivors, and there is a photo of Henyard, who is also Thornton Township supervisor.
The letter was sent by Pasquale Esposito, deputy bureau chief of the attorney general’s Charitable Trust Bureau.
The letter states the charity must file a registration statement, copies of financial reports and a list of officers and/or directors by March 13, or potentially face action by the attorney general’s office.
In a recent YouTube interview with journalist Roland S. Martin, Henyard denied any involvement with the charity.
“I want to set the record straight, I don’t have a foundation,” she said on a regular segment called Roland Martin Unfiltered on his Black Star Network. The program is broadcast from Washington, D.C., and focuses on subjects including news, politics, culture and social justice.
“I am a supporter of anybody who is struggling with cancer,” Henyard told Martin, saying her mother had breast cancer.
Henyard told the interviewer she is helpless “if somebody uses my name to push a charity,” and that “I’m not on anything,” indicating she doesn’t serve as a director on a not-for-profit organization such as the CARES Foundation.
“People make money off of my name,” she told Martin.
