Trustees fail to show up for the Thornton Township, Illinois board meeting, citing concerns about their safety

SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill. (CBS) — Thornton Township Supervisor Tiffany Henyard was the only one to show up to a scheduled board of trustees meeting Tuesday night — others said they were concerned for their own safety.

The most notable difference at Tuesday night’s meeting was that anyone entering the South Holland township building had to go through security.

For security reasons, the trustees declined to attend Tuesday evening, leaving Henyard to give her own address on various topics.

Henyard entered the room to a nearly empty board table. She hugged the clerk, but all the other seats next to them were empty.

“Due to the fact that we do not have a quorum, there will be no actual voting session,” Henyard said.

The reason for the trustees’ failure to appear was that the meetings had gotten out of control.

“It was going to get physical soon,” Trustee Chris Gonzalez said of a recent meeting.

Gonzalez stayed away from Tuesday night’s meeting after claiming trustees had not received an answer from Henyard about how to make the meetings safe.

“I know the trustee also sent a note to the state basically asking for help,” he said, “saying, ‘Hey, we need some help here because this thing is getting out of control ‘And you know, someone’s going to leave.’ get hurt.’”

Henyard said she values ​​safety.

“Anyone who knows me personally knows that safety is my top priority,” Henyard said.

Henyard said trustees insisted on holding meetings in the basement overflow room. She said she planned to hold the meeting in the Thornton Township Board Chambers, where she sat alone Tuesday night.

“We called our security company. We made sure they had wands,” she said, “and we also told our board to come upstairs because there were multiple ways to get out of the building.”

Henyard also suggested that this was all a stalling tactic by the board.

“To say it’s a joke,” Gonzalez said. “Well, let’s sit down and work something out – a safety plan – and then we’ll just get on with it. But here too there is no communication.”

A trustee communicated with Henyard and the employee. According to Henyard, Trustee Jerry Jones suddenly resigned.

“Me, the board and also the clerk – we will talk about our next steps in filling the position that will soon become vacant,” said Henyard.

With no official concern addressed, Henyard took the time to talk about a huge surplus she believes exists in the community.

“Here in Thornton Township the surplus is about nine point million dollars,” she said.

Henyard added that $2 million is available to help 25,000 homeowners with property taxes they need to file.

The reason for Jones’ sudden resignation was unclear late Tuesday. Jones was the lead trustee on the board.

Henyard is also mayor of Dolton, where controversy has swirled around her for some time.

Last month,A judge put an end to it to Henyard’s plans to appoint new Dolton village leaders himself in an order issued Wednesday. Cook County Judge Thaddeus Wilson’s order included an injunction prohibiting Henyard from making appointments without the approval of the village board of trustees, and an injunction barring any of her appointees from taking office.

Henyard had appointed a new village manager, a village attorney and a new police chief – none of whom can take office now that the ruling is in effect.

All of this followed former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot He entered Dolton as a special agent and revealed that the village’s general fund had a problem Negative balance of $3.65 million. That came after a limited review of Dolton’s finances.

Lightfoot was originally hired by trustees concerned about Henyard’s spending. Allegations regarding Henyard’s spending include self-promotion, taxpayer-funded billboards, advertisements, and spending on lavish dinners and trips.

Lightfoot noted that $40,000 was spent on Amazon purchases in one day. This money is not accounted for.

But former Mayor Lightfoot isn’t the only one investigating. The FBI is also conducting an investigation at Dolton Village Hall – without elaborating on who is being investigated.