Dolton trustees appoint mayor pro-tem amid scrutiny over Mayor Henyard’s lack of attendance at village meetings

DOLTON, Ill. — During a special village meeting in Dolton on Monday night trustees chose someone to conduct official business when the mayor is not present.

Embattled Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard did not attend Monday’s meeting and some trustees say that is why they appointed Jason House as Mayor Pro-Tem.

“We have many cases where village business cannot go forward,” House said Monday.

The Dolton trustees opposed to Henyard said she has missed 25 of the special meetings and refuses to allow some business to be put on the agenda for the village’s regular meetings.

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“We’re just really trying to make sure that if something critical comes up, that there’s a signature on deck that can move it forward,” House said.

House will not replace the mayor, but he would step in when Henyard is absent, which some trustees say happens far too often.

“This is just in case, but we need ‘Just in case’ at this moment. We have meetings where we’re all waiting 45 minutes just to get started,” Village Trustee Brittney Norwood said. “Where we have an entire quorum here, and we’re waiting while the administration adds makeup and gets dressed, and it’s just not fair.”

The move comes amid mounting scrutiny over how the mayor runs the Village of Dolton and Thornton Township.

The FBI recently served subpoenas in both places.

Henyard’s top aide Keith Freeman was recently charged with bankruptcy fraud and her ally on the board of trustees, activist Andrew Holmes, was recently accused of sexual assault on a taxpayer-funded trip to Las Vegas.

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At the special meeting, the trustees also voted to make whole a waste management company whose payments were overdue and they refused to move hundreds of thousands of dollars from one village account to another at the request of Henyard’s administration because they say they received no explanation for why the move was necessary.

It all comes a week after Henyard vetoed their hiring of former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who had been hired to spearhead a special investigation into the mayor.

“How dare you think you can come in someone’s town and start working or doing something, even though we said something, stating it’s illegal, we cited the code and everything in here, and she will not be paid for services,” Henyard said during last week’s meeting.

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