Tiffany Henyard slams Thornton Township trustee actions to limit spending in special meeting of one

THORNTON TOWNSHIP, Ill. (WLS) -- A special meeting of the Thornton Township trustees Wednesday night was called off, but that didn't stop supervisor and Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard from addressing the public.

She slammed recent actions by trustees to limit spending and enact a new credit card policy.

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In the absence of the township's five sitting trustees, Henyard's attempt at a special meeting was more like a soliloquy.

"I am about to address some things. There will be no comment, no anything, just me addressing you guys to tell you what's going on," she said. "If you want to leave, you can leave. This is me making my statement. You don't want to hear it? There's the door."

READ MORE: Illinois comptroller freezes payments to Village of Dolton over past-due audits

Henyard said she called the special meeting in response to a series of ordinances the village's board passed last week, including one to manage event spending.

In video of the August 20 meeting provided to ABC7 by the Lansing Journal, Trustee Chris Gonzalez said, "If the administration can't adhere to some financial limits...we're not looking to necessarily cut stuff out. However, if you're going to make a decision to do things that benefit the administration rather than help the people, that's your decision."

When that ordinance passed, Henyard claims township services abruptly ground to a halt.

"They were not able to get services, products, gift cards for big bingo," she said. "Monday this town was not even able to buy ice cream for the seniors. They had an ice cream social held at Calumet City, they could not buy ice cream."

RELATED: Dolton general fund $3.65M in debt, down from surplus of $5.6M when Henyard took office: Lightfoot

"You thought it was just a way to stop Tiffany Henyard, but it was a way to basically stop the services here in Thornton Township," she added.

Last week's meeting also addressed the issue of township credit cards; Video from the Lansing Journal also shows trustees moved to put a township credit card in Henyard's name for accountability.

"We need to put some safeguards in place to regulate what's spent on the credit card," Gonzalez said at the August 20 meeting.

"I do not want a credit card. I do not deal with money," Henyard said at that same meeting, drawing shocked reactions from the crowd.

Earlier this month, former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot revealed the Village of Dolton, where Henyard is mayor, racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit card purchases, including $43,000 spent on Amazon in one day last year.

After Henyard's critics walked out Wednesday night, one township resident who remained said she still has faith in the supervisor.

"I will trust Tiffany personally because she is really straightforward, down to earth," Bennetta Garrison said. "She's really trying to really help people whereas the trustees, I don't know what they're doing? Why didn't they show up?"