Drama in Dolton: Small village, giant controversy

how did the leader of a small village we

got our be right here coming from

Illinois attract the attention of the

entire nation and get nicknamed the

worst mayor in America everything she

has initiated has been to promote her

questionable expenses I can map out

their entire trip on the township credit

card expensive police details 162 hours

oh that's nothing and allegations of

retaliation did you take that as a

threat I took that as bullying she's not

shy about attracting attention it makes

her feel as if she's like a superstar

until she starts facing questions I ask

you a few questions yeah she says no I'm

asking her we're going to talk now the

feds are involved and another

controversial mayor is joining the story

we want transparency with this much

controversy coming from just one person

we got to ask who is mayor Tiffany

henyard and what's behind the drama in

doton she cannot continue to intimidate

and gangster her way through

this welcome I'm Fox 32 Dane PLO Tiffany

henyard actually has two political jobs

on two public payrolls as mayor of South

Suburban Dalton or as she calls herself

super mayor and supervisor of Thorton

Township where she makes over $200,000 a

year now before henyard election in 2021

Dalton was like any other suburban

community with festivals parades and its

share of problems but today Dalton is

known more for the mayor herself and The

NeverEnding allegations that she's used

and abused her two offices at Dalton and

Thorton Township for pricey security

details trips to Vegas unmissable

Highway Billboards and the Curious

donation of Township tax dollars to a

cancer charity named for you guessed it

mayor henyard nobody

know don't nobody know nothing Tiffany

henyard certainly isn't shy about

attracting attention here she is

starting a Dalton village board meeting

dressed like the Wesley Snipes character

in the movie New Jack City later

punctuating her political points with

the help of her own DJ every single

resident pay me what you owe

[Music]

me thank you DJ henards picture in name

adorned virtually every public posting

both from Dalton where is Mayor she

makes $46,000 a year and in Thorton

Township whereas the elected supervisor

she collects more than $200,000 a year

but for all that money henards tenure at

both has been chaotic with firings

scandals and a legal battle with the

Dalton trustees over

spending so last fall henard did

something that would seemingly generate

some good publicity helping establish

the Tiffany henard cares Foundation to

help breast cancer patients and on the

very day the charity was chartered it

received a huge donation

$10,000 from the Thornton Township Board

which henyard presides over taxpayer

money shouldn't be paid into those types

of things Stephanie Weedman is the

former Thornton Township Chief of Staff

whom henard fired shortly after taking

over in March of last year it almost

felt like a takeover and a very

aggressive one at that since her firing

Weedman has been documenting Township

spending and says she's stunned by the

taxpayer dollars funneled into henyard

charity especially this we got 10 days

we're going 196 miles last October

henyard led a delegation of Dalton and

Thorton Township employees and political

supporters on a march to Springfield to

promote her breast cancer charity which

she documented on her Facebook page we

walking through do all we're Brightwood

now we are in Godly now we in

Bloomington baby I can pretty much map

out their entire Springfield trip on the

township credit cards that's right

henyard build thousands of dollars in

hotel rooms and meals during the trip to

thoron Township and Dalton credit cards

in addition the video show henard used

multiple Village and Township Vehicles

owned by taxpayers to escort the Caravan

including a flatbed trailer with a

photographer flying a drone and a DJ we

got our Bear right here coming from

Illinois walking all the way to

Springfield make noise for our the

people but they didn't always walk we

all motorbikes baby at times riding

electric bikes y'all see my bike Town

ship supervisor it looks like a

misspending of tax funds um I think

that's the biggest that that's the

biggest concern Dalton trusty Jason

house has been doing battle with the

mayor since she took office very

disturbing to hear these things or to

kind of see some of the receipts that

appear to be connected to it and I think

the taxpayers really deserve better than

that and then there's the merch there a

shirt want a t-shirt along the way

henyard sold and gave away t-shirts and

hoodies also available on her Chari

website

a week before the trip the township paid

$117,000 for specially printed hoodies

and t-shirts but won't say what they're

for I think that everything she has

initiated has been something to promote

her something to get her name in

household something to get people to buy

into voting for her our investigation

found at least $1,000 in public funds

spent on that trip but both Dalton and

Thorton Township have been slow or

unresponsive to open records requests so

what was the purpose of the 10-day march

to Springfield I have created a bill uh

which we're going to speak before the

revenue committee to give everybody

$5,000 on a income tax when they file if

you are suffering from canc a noble goal

except the revenue committee wasn't

meeting when the group arrived in

Springfield hener did later testify at a

Committee hearing in Chicago but so far

nothing has come of her bill I think I'm

going to damn good job on Le so we went

to a recent Thorton Township board

meeting to ask henyard some questions

about all that spending I never ever

been um bitter to the news this is my

all to the media can you guys reach out

to us and ask us our before you post it

I appreciate and so we did I'll ask you

a few questions okay but henyard wasn't

anxious to talk about her charity why

did you in the in the board vote to give

your foundation $10,000 I'm the f of the

foundation my name is nowhere

sir I'm the face face what was the

purpose of going to

Springfield she doesn't have any more

comments we're going to talk any more

comments thanks guys that's Keith

Freeman whom henard hired at both Dalton

and Thorton Township and was part of her

Springfield walk look at Keith Kei baby

Freeman also filed paperwork for the

charity bearing henyard name why are you

using public money for your personal

charity $177,000 sure it's thank thank

you thank you and with that her security

detail hustled henyard upstairs and

blocked the staircase with a

table so we tried asking another

employee who went on that trip you went

down to Springfield and what were you

hoping to do in spr ask people to

handles that I'm not the one to handled

it I was just riding a bik we need more

officers on the streets we need our

streets repaved um so to spend that kind

of money on a charitable event or

supposed charitable event really doesn't

seem like the best use of tax take a

drive to the south suburbs and you can't

miss them four giant Billboards

featuring Tiffany henyard name in large

letters along with her picture smiling

down on the thousands of cars going by

on Interstate 57 and the Bishop Ford

Expressway what are they advertising one

says fresh produce another senior

services and this one simply says we

offer general assistance there's a phone

number but you wouldn't know what it's

for unless you can read in teeny tiny

letters thoron Township supervisor as

you're speeding by these are the

Billboards that have gone up along the

expressways we showed the Billboards to

Bert odson an election attorney who's

been working in Illinois politics for 50

years when I first looked at it I

thought what is she running for now

because that's what it shouts out Odon

who represents a political faction

opposed to henyard and Dalton says it's

clear the Billboards are promoting more

than Township Services he says they're

essentially Campa pain ads uh this is a

blatant attempt to promote herself

politically uh the township should not

have paid for these if they if they did

and I'm sure they did they did indeed

bills obtained by Fox 32 under open

records laws shows Thorton Township paid

more than $10,000 for the vinyl signs

themselves and more than $112,000 to

Clear Channel Outdoor advertising for

one month's rental of the Billboards

what was your reaction when you saw I

well first of all I didn't know anything

about them Thorton Township Trustee

Chris Gonzalez says the board was never

consulted about the Billboards which he

says needed their approval kind of the

some of the first things that popped in

my mind is what are we doing um we're

not this isn't a big sale we're not

selling cars here I mean if it's

informational then it should be

informational I mean there's so many

other ways we could have spent that

money um that would have you know

directly help people this isn't the

first time henyard has used taxpayer

dollars to burnish her own personal

image in fact on other occasions she

spent a lot more and you can't turn your

head in Dalton or thoron Township

without seeing henards picture or name

it's on all the government-owned

vehicles buildings even on the rugs in

the township where we found a Tiffany

henard 2024 calendar featuring all the

important dates to remember including

her birthday I would be having a fit if

she was my client telling her not to do

this veteran Chicago political

consultant delmarie cob says there would

be nothing wrong if henyard were using

her own political funds for those

promotional materials especially the

Billboards I actually had a candidate

years ago who was running for mayor

doton and that's what we did we bought

uh Billboards along the expressway

because if you're coming and going home

all day and one of the things I always

say about Billboards is they're working

when you're sleep in 2011 State

lawmakers passed a law Banning the

practice of politicians putting their

names on publicly funded signs spurred

by these Tollway signs featuring former

Governor Rob legovich that law does not

extend to Mayors or other elected

officials but election attorney odson

believes the Billboards do violate state

election laws it's a crime yeah you're

you're using public funds for something

that taxpayer dollars shouldn't

shouldn't be used for and just when you

think you've seen it all take a look at

this when the first billboard went up

last summer thoron was misspelled as

thoron

sign had to be ordered apparently a

taxpayer expense in videos posted by

henyard herself we see her being driven

around and surrounded by Dalton officers

which got us to wondering why all the

cops we weren't opposed to her having

the security detail we asked how long

and how often Dalton trustee Britney

Norwood says henard began assembling her

details shortly after being elected in

2021 using handpicked Dalton police

officers using a freedom of information

request we obtained the work records for

six of the officers assigned to henyard

security detail at various times and

showed them to some of Dalton's trustees

this is a freedom of information request

we did to see how much overtime these

officers are making on her security

details oh wow 162 hours 162 oh that's

nothing what goes through your mind when

you see these numbers um it's it's

disappointing it's frustrating the

officers are paid every two weeks which

without without overtime is 80 hours but

when they're put on henards detail that

80 hours balloons to well over a 100

hours sometimes 200 hours and in the

case of Officer Terry young last May 303

hours worked over a two-e period that

resulted in a single paycheck of more

than

$133,000 how how does a person put in a

2E pay period 303 hours that's

impossible that's impossible 336 do he

never go

in fact there are 336 hours total in 2

weeks meaning young was not being paid

for only 33 hours over that period other

officers on the security detail are also

racking Up Overtime paychecks in the

multiple thousands of dollars May might

if I ask you a couple questions about

your security details absolutely not I'm

asking her yeah she said no a couple

weeks ago we tried to question henyard

about her detail as she went door Todo

in Dalton giving out water on a 100° day

surrounded by police firefighters Public

Works employees and two videographers

documenting for Dalton's Facebook page I

want to tell the people I'm not going to

stop I'mma keep going I hope they post

what we actually do here in the village

of do and stop telling lies but when we

gave her an opportunity to explain the

OT mayor why do you need so many

officers details your security what did

you say water it sound like you say

water earlier that day we watched as a

Dalton cop drove henyard from her other

job at Thorton Township to Mexican

restaurant for lunch trustees say the

security detail picks the mayor up at

her home in the morning and is with her

until she's dropped off at night often

taking her on errands and shopping does

she need a security detail absolutely

not why why would you need a security

detail oh she loves it she just loves it

she loves the detail I think um it makes

her feel as if um she's like a superstar

Dalton trustees have filed lawsuit

against henyard saying she's not

justified the need for security and is

spending hundreds of thousands of

dollars on it without the board's

approval I see no justification

whatsoever and more than that it's

really a detriment to the residents of

do oh sure um the residents if we would

take the same money and put it on

officers patrolling the streets then the

residents will see a much better

presence and Public Safety will be

better we've had a few shootings so we

need the extra police patrol our streets

instead of patrolling her and we found

Dalton credit card statements showing

that hener takes the detail with her

even when she travels out of town

spending thousands of dollars on plane

tickets lodging and meals for the

officers mayor why don't you taking all

the officers out of town with you isn't

that a waste of taxpayers money let's go

to this one right here anything you want

to say to defend yourself on this as for

The Village's finances trustees say

Dalton is now getting sued by some

vendors for failure to pay its bills

bills in the last two fiscal years we're

$5 million in the hole and a big part of

it is the security detail it's

embarrassing embarrassing it's

embarrassing you don't see the governor

with a detail as hers several months

after we broke the story about henards

expensive security detail we got

confirmation that it was impacting the

ability to fight crime in Dalton and

that came in an exclusive Fox 32

interview with somebody who would know

Dalton's now former police chief

the Manpower was just very stressed and

critical to the point of almost breaking

former Dalton police chief Robert

Collins spoke to us from Florida where

he's taken a new job after being fired

by Dalton mayor Tiffany henyard late

last year but Colin says he remains

frustrated by what he experienced

leading an undermanned overworked Police

Department while mayor hener demanded a

large personal security detail you know

wrong is wrong and there's a Time to

hold people responsible and accountable

for their action but at some point there

would be two officers or three officers

and depending on if there was some type

of event it would be more officers

that's for a town of a little more than

20,000 people that's struggling

economically and usually only has a few

officers on duty per shift colins says

henyard security detail was warranted

when it started in 2021 after a police

involved shooting sparked protests and

threats and at some point the protest

stopped however the detail continued why

do you need a security detail while

you're out of town um who's on the other

end of that flight that's going to do

harm Colin says he became increasingly

frustrated because the mayor's detail

tied his hands when it came to fighting

crime just last week a mass shooting on

sibi Boulevard left four people injured

Collins believes the bad guys know there

aren't enough cops on Dalton streets but

villager Dalton has its challenges with

gangs guns and drugs and if those

officers aren't there the visibility

isn't there and if the visibility isn't

there then uh criminals have free reign

and it it more or less was these are the

orders this is what you have to do last

week Collins filed a civil lawsuit

against the village of Dalton for

wrongful termination saying he was fired

by the mayor without cause and without

board approval because his wife is

friends with some of the mayor's proed

political enemies and our contention is

that it is illegal did he do anything

wrong no Chief Collins any position that

he's ever been in is a policeman's

policeman he held the rank of Chief but

he's a patrolman at heart but it is

frustrating CD officers uses like that

I'm sure the officers are frustrated too

but they following orders as the

attention on henyard heated up Dalton

Village Hall and Thorton Township

headquarters became the stage for an

evolving soap opera Village trustees

started a going rogue employees got

locked out of their offices and it

became harder for the Publican press to

attend meetings including one to vote on

the mayor's salary that we learned

included a poison pill provision that

made any potential Challenger think

twice about running against

henyard did you know about this

beforehand no absolutely not no word was

given to myself Thornton Township

Trustee Chris Gonzalez was just sitting

down at the start of the Township's

board meeting two weeks ago when he was

handed a seven-page proposed ordinance

requiring an immediate vote you had no

time to read no and then we get pretty

much into the meeting pretty quick what

it does is to ensure that henard

continues to receive her

$224,000 year salary as Township

supervisor but if a non-incumbent

becomes supervisor in other words if

someone challenges henyard and beats her

the salary for that position drops to

just $225,000 a year a pay cut of nearly

90% truste Gonzalez says it's a

political poison pill to scare off

competition discourage people from

running um is probably the first thing

that comes to mind is this legal no it's

it's it's so illegal in so many ways

Municipal attorney Bert Odon who

represents henyard political opposition

in Dalton says under equal protection of

the law the salaries of elected

officials have to be identity blind

meaning they don't change based on the

person holding the job it's maybe maybe

the worst attempt to try to dissuade

people from running that I've ever seen

and that's a long time henyard isn't

facing reelection until 2025 but already

potential competitors are circling

despite the drastically lower salary

including state senator Napoleon Harris

but if henyard is reelected she'll

continue making the

224k even if she seems to believe the

job is worth a fraction of that I think

this is a job that should pay over

200,000 or

5,000 I mean probably somewhere in the

middle in all honesty so this is the

assessor's office Cassandra ston has

been the assessor here in Thorton

Township for the past 10 years an

elected position that helps residents

deal with exemptions and property tax

appeals but when she arrived at work

this morning something strange happened

this was your office yes what happened

when you tried to open

it he doesn't work not only had ston

been locked out of her own office but

boxes of sensitive documents that she

kept in her office were spread around

the common area this was under lock and

key before this was under lock and key

and now it's just out in the open now

it's just out in the open so it has the

taxpayer's name address so who did this

to you well I mening the new supervisor

Tiffany henyard Elston has been critical

of henyard spending at the township and

believes getting kicked out is political

payback but this is not going to stop me

this is my job this is what I get paid

to do need this she's the assessor she

invited us in

and that's when Township security

officers stepped in okay so you're

refusing to leave yes South Holland

police were called to the scene and they

agreed with us that the assessor had

every right to invite us into her office

new crew was here to do an interview on

me does Tiffany henard have any right to

do this not only Tiffany hener but

nobody has any right to do this to uh a

separate elected official like the

assessor the Assessor's lawyer Bert

oldson tells me they plan to file a

lawsuit in Cook County to anding she get

her office back it is extremely illegal

you can do and say pretty much what you

want to say or do to me but when you

start doing things that affect the

taxpayers that's why I draw the line

after we finished the interview somebody

deactivated the key fobs for all of the

assessor employees meaning now none of

them can get into the office so tomorrow

they plan to set up tables and chairs

here outside township hall to meet the

public the sign outside its headquart

says welcome to Thorton Township people

working with people but when residents

showed up last night to speak at a

public board meeting they got anything

but a warm welcome when I arrived there

was security here he was standing at the

bottom of the stairs preventing anybody

from going up to the boardroom I asked

him if the meeting was downstairs he

replied yes Stephanie Weedman and a

handful of other residents wanted to

speak directly to thoron Township

supervisor Tiffany henard also the mayor

of Dalton I'm just curious to see who

makes the decisions about how tax

dollars are being spent but they never

got that chance after being blocked from

going to the boardroom upstairs they

were sent to the basement where they

were told the Township board meeting

would be held it wasn't they asked for a

signup sheet for public comment never

got it and before they knew what had

happened the 4-minute meeting upstairs

was over and henyard was gone without

hearing from her constituents they are

violating our rights I pay taxes here I

have a right to get up and speak whether

this is Administration likes it or not

and not only were the residents shut out

so was a local newspaper reporter who

came here to cover the meeting um I was

told by a security guard that was not

allowed upstairs where the boardroom

meeting is Josh bzma of the Lancing

Journal says residents deserve to know

how elected officials are spending their

money thoron Township is the largest

Township in Illinois and so there are a

lot of people that are affected by the

decisions the financial decisions that

this Township makes even Thorton

Township Trustee Chris gonzale a

frequent henyard critic was ordered out

of the boardroom until the meeting began

do you think any laws were broken last

night by the way they handled the public

well definitely I mean if somebody wants

to speak this is a public it's a public

meeting it's a public building they

should be able to come in with mayor

henard now a regular Target of criticism

Dalton employees and local business

owners started feeling the heat claiming

they faced retaliation when they refused

to support the mayor even a Park permit

was revoked for an event that was

happening this same day as a music

festival managed by correct again mayor

henyard always a good time for everybody

that comes out fun exciting good for the

community for the past eight years

Darren Bosley has organized an annual

car show here in the parking lot of

needles Park in Dalton but after paying

$1,000 to the park district for this

year's permit Bosley got an unexpected

call last Wednesday from Dalton mayor

Tiffany henards top assistant saying

that the show will be shut down but if I

move my event to her

location on Greenwood that I will be

fine did you take that as a threat yes I

took that as bullying sure enough when