DOLTON, Ill. — Three trustees from the Village of Dolton called a special meeting on Monday night, with a full agenda of business to be handled.
Trustees who do not support embattled Mayor Tiffany Henyard said she would not allow them to put items on the regular meeting agenda, so they set their own meeting to start before hers.
The two contentious meetings are set to take place back to back, starting at 6:15 p.m. at Village Hall.
At the first meeting, trustees plan to vote to freeze spending on village credit cards and return the four SUVs that make up Henyard’s police detail, purchases they said were never approved.
The trustees are also planning to discuss layoffs because of the village’s financial circumstances. Circumstances they blame on Mayor Henyard.
A vote to place Dolton’s Deputy Police Chief Lewis Lacey on administrative leave, pending an investigation into what they call ‘improper actions,’ is also planned
Lacey, who is accused of doing the Mayor’s bidding, declined to comment on Monday night’s vote.
After that, Henyard is planning to fire her top aide Keith Freeman, who pleaded not guilty to a bankruptcy fraud charge earlier this year.
Last month, Henyard fired him from Thorton Township, the other government she runs, but the trustees say they won’t allow the firing to happen because they say Freeman is doing the village’s work, and they now consider him to be a whistleblower.
The trustees told WGN-TV that firing a whistleblower sets them up for another lawsuit, and the village can’t afford it.