Dolton trustees have hired former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as a special investigator, to be paid $400 an hour and tasked with probing spending habits of Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard.
The decision was made at a meeting Monday night in Dolton.
Henyard is likely to veto the action as illegal, and a letter from an attorney for the village threatened trustees with a lawsuit if they proceeded to hire Lightfoot.
The former mayor and former assistant U.S. attorney was set to start work Tuesday,l ooking into what trustees have said is “excessive and unauthorized use of village funds” by Henyard that has resulted in Dolton having a deficit of more than $5 million.
There was loud clapping and cheering from an audience of approximately 200 residents after Lightfoot’s hiring was approved by four trustees who are at odds with Henyard and have repeatedly clashed with the mayor.
Henyard and two other trustees did not attend Monday’s meeting.
Trustees also want Lightfoot to investigate a May 2023 trip to Las Vegas Henyard, two village trustees and some village employees took.
The trip was for economic development purposes, according to the village. Officials attended the annual International Council of Shopping Centers convention, where municipal officials often attend to pitch their towns to retail developers.
Noting the size of the crowd, Lightfoot told the audience it’s clear “the people in this village want something different, they want to go in a different direction.”
She said village residents “deserve nothing less than a government that is fully accountable.”
An attorney, Lightfoot does not work for a law enforcement agency and would not have any authority to subpoena village records. She said she urged “the full cooperation of the mayor,” her staff and others in her probe.
“Anybody who knows me knows I don’t intimidate easily,” Lightfoot said when asked a question by a resident about how effective her investigation might be. “I will block out the noise, I will follow the facts where they lead me.”
Lightfoot acknowledged that she would not be welcomed with open arms by Henyard and her administration.
“I’m expecting there will be some roadblocks,” she told the audience. “I am a very determined person.”
If there is not some level of cooperation, “we are prepared to do what is necessary to get to the facts,” Lightfoot said.
Before the meeting began, several residents came up and greeted her, shaking her hand and taking photos with her.
Under the terms of her hiring agreement, Lightfoot will provide regular updates to trustees, and when her billing totals $30,000 will give a full summary of her investigation to trustees.
A law firm representing the village, the Del Galdo Law Group, sent a letter Monday to attorney Burt Odelson, whose firm serves as legal counsel to the Village Board, warning that hiring Lightfoot is beyond the trustees’ authority.
The trustees, the letter states, “do not have the power to investigate, or to retain someone to investigate” and that should Lightfoot be hired, Henyard would not approve any payments to her.
Along with hiring Lightfoot, trustees Kiana Belcher, Tammie Brown, Jason House and Brittney Norwood voted to override a veto previously issued by Henyard of the trustees’ request for outside agencies to investigate her for allegedly misusing village funds.
Henyard vetoed a resolution trustees approved Feb. 11, saying it was illegal.
One resident asked whether there was another option to investigate Henyard that wouldn’t ultimately cost taxpayers money.
Odelson said that more lawsuits would be fruitless, and all other attempts at litigation have just racked up more attorney fees.
“The bleeding has to stop,” he said, referencing spending.
House said that hiring Lightfoot gives trustees an independent process to investigate Henyard, and that as the Village Board works to develop a new budget for the next fiscal year that starts May 1 they will include money to cover Lightfoot’s expenses.
Odelson said information Lightfoot gathers in her investigation will be turned over to the appropriate authorities for possible action.
A federal law enforcement source previously confirmed with Chicago Tribune that federal investigators are looking into Henyard and have conducted interviews both inside and outside of Dolton.
The investigation is in the early stages and no charges have been brought.
