Scandal-plagued Illinois mayor boots residents from public meeting as town cuts off government credit card
People living in Dolton, Illinois, demanded answers from embattled Mayor Tiffany Henyard Monday night while attending a contentious board meeting.
Along with voicing displeasure about how the village is being run, residents questioned government spending during the meeting, which was marked with interruptions, disorganization, shouting and ejections.
Dolton police officers and Cook County Sheriff's deputies were at the meeting where attendees were required to walk through metal detectors in order to be allowed inside. At least three women were escorted out by police after Henyard accused them of being "out of order," according to FOX 32 Chicago.
"This village deserves so much more than it’s getting. From an outsider looking in, you’re being hoodwinked, bamboozled and led astray," one woman said at the podium during public comment.
Henyard has been dubbed the "worst mayor in America" by critics after being accused of financial misdeeds as well as weaponizing police raids. She has also come under fire for an alleged sexual assault by one of her allies during a Vegas trip, where the alleged victim claims to have been fired after speaking out. Henyard's cancer charity is also facing scrutiny.
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was hired by the Village of Dolton in April as a "special investigator" to look into Henyard. FOX 32 learned those results should be released Thursday, and that the findings will show the village is so far in debt that it may not be able to make payroll within a few weeks.
"Watching as this village is being run into the ground by this woman is p---ing me off," another longtime resident said during their chance to speak.
Henyard, who is being investigated by the FBI for corruption, acted confrontational with the people she is supposed to represent.
"People who say things about me, I want you to prove it, because like I said, fact versus fiction," she said during the meeting.
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A village "credit card spending freeze" was approved during the meeting, FOX 32 reported. That means only the director of administrative services can use the village's credit card on "board-approved purchases" with a cap of $5,000 on a single transaction.
"This village has so many people with so many credit cards, they’re swiping like crazy and that’s why it had to come to a complete halt," lawyer Michael McGrath, who represents Dolton's trustees said, according to WGN-TV. "There’s thousands and thousands of dollars for Amazon purchases, for PayPal, for Target, for Walgreens, for Jewel-[Osco] in the hundreds and thousands of dollars."
During the meeting, trustees agreed to fire the acting police chief and several other village employees to cut spending, but FOX 32 reported they showed up to work on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the local station learned two men sitting next to Henyard during the meeting were Chicago federal criminal defense attorneys, who are not being paid for by the village but went into the board's closed executive session.
Dolton, Illinois, has a population of more than 20,000, according to a July 2023 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau. It is located in Cook County, and considered a suburb of Chicago.
FOoxNews' Bradford Betz and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.