The Dolton Village Board met in exile Wednesday night in an effort to determine how Mayor Tiffany Henyard has spent public funds.
The Village Board held a special meeting at a Dolton Park District facility to pay bills and address other financial matters that members said Henyard has refused to allow on regular meeting agendas.
“The last time we tried to have a special board meeting at Village Hall, the power was mysteriously cut off and there was a carbon monoxide problem where the Fire Department had to come,” Trustee Edward Steave told about two dozen residents in attendance.
“We had to come here,” Steave said.
The special meeting was the latest move in a bizarre chess game of sorts involving high stakes legal maneuvers. Neither Henyard, her sole Village Board ally Trustee Andrew Holmes, nor any village attorney or legislative counsel was present.
The five board members in attendance appointed Trustee Jason House to be mayor pro tem. House led the board as it approved a series of ordinances, mostly regarding financial concerns.
“There are several items we felt were important,” House said. “We have requested they be placed on agendas but it always felt like we were getting a runaround.”
The board voted 5-0 to create a committee of three trustees assigned to overseeing how Dolton has spent about $3 million in federal funds received through the American Recovery Plan Act.
“At this point we don’t know how much has been spent,” Trustee Kiana Belcher said. “This should have oversight.”
Trustees and Henyard have repeatedly exchanged heated words during public meetings over spending, transparency and accountability. Trustees have accused Henyard of demanding the board pay bills for money that was spent without prior authorization.
Henyard has pushed back by saying the spending was either authorized by the board through previous approval of various programs or that expenses did not require board approval.
Trustees have said they have met legal requirements to call special meetings and post public notices. Henyard’s administration has challenged the board’s authority to meet without her and department heads.
The conflict has led to numerous lawsuits, with both sides billing taxpayers for legal expenses. The board has refused to pay Henyard’s attorneys and Henyard has refused to include bills for the board’s attorney among regular agenda items.
Wednesday night, the five board members voted to pay eight invoices dating back to June to the legal firm providing its legislative counsel, Evergreen Park-based Odelson, Sterk, Murphy, Frazier and McGrath.
On Monday, Henyard and trustees received a letter from Chicago-based firm Ancel Glink announcing it was resigning as village attorney.
“While we do not generally resign from serving our public clients while we share the support of the majority of the governing body, it has become increasingly clear that Mayor Henyard is uncomfortable communicating with attorneys from our firm,” Ancel Glink partner Keri-Lyn J. Krafthefer wrote to Henyard and trustees.
The firm would continue to provide legal services to the village for litigation matters in which it is already involved, she wrote. Krafthefer asked Dolton officials to remove the name of former law partner ShawnTe Raines from being listed as village attorney on the Dolton website.
Raines, who was recently elected a Cook County circuit judge, is married to Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch.
Krafthefer’s letter stated that it was Ancel Glink’s understanding that attorney Michael Kasper would convene a meeting of Dolton’s electoral board Wednesday morning. Kasper, who has represented former House Speaker Michael Madigan and the Democratic Party of Illinois, represented Henyard when a state appellate court ruled a recent mayoral recall election was unconstitutional.
The four-year terms of Steave, Holmes and Tammy Brown expire next year. Ten candidates have filed for the three seats, including the three incumbents. Dolton voters will likely decide the contest during the Feb. 28 Democratic primary, since the expectation is the three candidates with the most votes would run unopposed in the April 4 consolidated election.
Of the 10 candidates, only Joslyn King faces an objection to be heard by the electoral board. Petitioner Mary Avent, a Dolton resident, challenged King’s eligibility, claiming she has not resided in the village for a year as required and that King lives in Hazel Crest, according to documents provided by the Dolton clerk’s office.
When the electoral board convened Wednesday morning, parties could not agree which attorney should represent the village in the hearing, Steave told residents, so the hearing was continued.
“There is no named attorney,” Steave said.
No agreement was reached on who had authority to determine the village’s legal representation, he said, so parties involved agreed to a 48-hour continuance to try to resolve the matter.
Other financial concerns addressed by the board Wednesday night included adopting a policy to set a spending limit of $20,000 per month on any credit card issued to a village official.
The current limit is $50,000 per month, and Henyard asked the board to increase the limit to $200,000 per month, House said. The village’s accountant notified the board in September that $54,000 in credit card expenses could not be explained because there were no receipts for the charges, Belcher said.
“The board has not approved any expenditures that do not have a receipt,” House said.
The board also voted to add several vendors to the January warrant list of approved payments. For the second time, the board adopted an ordinance removing Henyard and adding House as people authorized to sign warrants. The dispute over authorized signers is one of many entangled in lawsuits.
“This was a request of the court that we pass this again, the exact same ordinance,” House said. There was a question whether proper procedures were followed when the ordinance was first passed, he said.
The board also voted to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the South Suburban Land Bank and Development Authority. The pact will allow the village to acquire and redevelop vacant and abandoned properties, Trustee Brittney Norwood said.
Trustees said they were following legal advice to do all they could to hold Henyard accountable for spending public funds. Trustees said they have repeatedly asked Henyard for documents on spending, including through the Freedom of Information Act, but have been stymied.
“All we can do is put on record that we requested this information,” Steave said. “We’re not getting it.”
The village has a budget deficit of $3.4 million, House said last week, and trustees took sworn oaths to account for the village’s financial stability.
“When it all falls down they’re going to say the trustees did it,” Norwood said.
Henyard responded to an inquiry Thursday with a statement.
“The trustees in Dolton have the same access to documents regarding public funds as I do,” Henyard said. “They have continued to complain and supersede their authority because they were unable to remove me through their illegal recall.”
Trustees have said they do not have the same privileges as Henyard to access financial documents through an online portal.
“It is shameful that instead of focusing on making sure our residents get the services they deserve during the holidays and the vendors that work hard for them get paid, the board of trustees are having another fake meeting to lie to the public,” Henyard wrote. “If they are really focused on transparency maybe they should read their board packets more carefully.”
Ted Slowik is a columnist with the Daily Southtown.
