Illinois mayor faces criticism after expelling residents from public meeting amid financial troubles.
During Monday's board meeting, Tiffany Henyard, the mayor of Dolton, was confrontational towards the residents.
On Monday night, the residents of Dolton, Illinois, called for answers from Mayor Tiffany Henyard during a heated board meeting.
During the meeting, residents expressed their dissatisfaction with the village's management and questioned the government's spending. The meeting was marked by interruptions, disorganization, shouting, and ejections.
At least three women were escorted out of the meeting by police after Henyard accused them of being "out of order," according to FOX 32 Chicago.
"This village is not getting what it deserves, as an outsider looking in, you are being deceived, misled, and misguided," the woman stated at the podium during public comment.
Critics have labeled Henyard the "worst mayor in America" due to accusations of financial misdeeds and weaponizing police raids. Additionally, she has faced criticism for an alleged sexual assault by one of her allies during a Vegas trip, where the alleged victim claims to have been fired after speaking out. Furthermore, Henyard's cancer charity is under scrutiny.
The Village of Dolton hired former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as a "special investigator" to examine Henyard in April. According to FOX 32, the results of this investigation will be made public on Thursday, and they will reveal that the village is currently facing a severe financial crisis, which may prevent it from paying its employees' salaries within the next few weeks.
"This woman is destroying this village, and it's driving me crazy," a longtime resident stated during their turn to speak.
The FBI is investigating Henyard for corruption, and she behaved confrontationally towards those she represents.
"I want you to verify any statements made about me during the meeting, as it's important to distinguish between fact and fiction," she stated.
During the meeting, the village approved a "credit card spending freeze." This means that only the director of administrative services is authorized to use the village's credit card for "board-approved purchases," with a maximum of $5,000 per transaction.
"According to WGN-TV, lawyer Michael McGrath, representing Dolton's trustees, stated that the village had an excessive number of people using credit cards, resulting in a halt. The lawyer mentioned that there were thousands of dollars spent on Amazon, PayPal, Target, Walgreens, and Jewel-Osco, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars."
On Tuesday, the acting police chief and several other village employees were fired by trustees during a meeting to cut spending, but FOX 32 reported that they showed up to work.
Two men sitting next to Henyard during the meeting were Chicago federal criminal defense attorneys who were not being paid for by the village and went into the board's closed executive session.
According to a July 2023 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau, Dolton, Illinois, with a population of over 20,000, is a suburb of Chicago located in Cook County.
FOoxNews' Bradford Betz and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
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