Ex-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot shares the results of her probe into Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard
DOLTON, Ill. (CBS) — The new report outlines alleged widespread financial mismanagement in the troubled south suburbs.
Lightfoot was hired by the Dolton Board of Trustees to investigate Henyard's alleged misuse of public money. She presented present the final summary of her investigation at a special townhall Monday night.
Lightfoot said the report documented "gross financial mismanagement" both at the Dolton village level and for Thornton Township, where Henyard is supervisor.
"The costs to taxpayers have been significant, starting with a substantial budget deficit, higher costs for basic necessities like liability insurance, and many lawsuits against the Village directly related to allegations of misconduct by Henyard and others," Lightfoot said in a statement.
Lightfoot said when Dolton village trustees raised a red flag about the lack of financial oversight in 2021, Mayor Henyard and her administration tried to mislead the public intentionally.
In a statement issued ahead of the final report, Lightfoot said her investigation consistently ran up against a mayor and administration that "evaded transparency — skirting FOIA laws, failing to provide requested documents, and otherwise refusing to cooperate with the investigation."
Residents packed a local fieldhouse for the meeting, anxiously waiting to see what former Mayor Lightfoot uncovered. Nearly a year ago, Dolton trustees hired Lightfoot to see where the money was going.
"I'm very disappointed in [Henyard] and a lot of other things, so that's why I'm here," said longtime resident Anthony Williams, who wanted to hear Lightfoot's findings firsthand. "because I didn't know a lot of these things, I don't think a lot of people in here knew."
The investigation discovered credit card spending was out of control and went unregulated.
"The board of trustees, in many instances, was not able to track or see credit card purchases that were being done over the last few years," Lightfoot said.
The report found that from 2022 to 2023, credit card usage jumped to nearly $780,000.
Lightfoot could not determine what many of the purchases were or if any were for municipal purposes. The former Chicago mayor said she hit many roadblocks from the Dolton administration.
"There was a concerted, systematic effort on behalf of Mayor Henyard and others in her administration to hide the true financial condition of the Village of Dolton from the trustees and from members of the public," Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot said the Henyard administration "evaded transparency — skirting FOIA laws, failing to provide requested documents, and otherwise refusing to cooperate with the investigation."
Watch former Mayor Lori Lightfoot deliver her summary
Much of what was in Lightfoot's final report was mentioned in her preliminary findings from last August. Those earlier findings revealed that the south suburban village had a negative balance of more than $3.5 million.
Lightfoot also found that overtime, especially with two officers, kept jumping year after year, and credit card spending was out of control. The preliminary findings also revealed there was $40,000 in unaccounted-for money spent on Amazon.
Lightfoot's final report showed Henyard claims the Amazon purchases were to have various items shipped for the village's ice rink. The rink in question has never opened to the public.
Lightfoot's probe also focused on a controversial Dolton municipal trip to Las Vegas involving a sexual assault claim implicating a trustee.
Henyard has repeatedly denied all the allegations against her.
Not everyone was impressed with the investigation.
"I actually think it was a waste of taxpayer dollars," said Dolton mayoral candidate Casundra Jordan-Hopson. "I left here not knowing no more than what we knew the last time we were here."
The investigation leaves those running for office and advocating for change in Dolton to question the overall spending, and not just with a focus on Henyard.
"The guardians of the finances — well, that's the whole legislative body in my opinion," said Dolton trustee candidate D'Nasha Harrison. "That's not only the mayor, but that's the trustees as well."
Yet current trustees say hiring Lightfoot was essential to highlight whatever Henyard was hiding.
"The minute that we stopped getting information, we knew that something was wrong, and we've gone through multiple years trying to find a way to ascertain the information," said Dolton Village Trustee Jason House, "and that's why Lori's report was essentially critical."
Henyard originally vetoed calls for an investigation into herself but that was overturned by trustees.
At the same time, the FBI is conducting an investigation of Henyard for financial misconduct, including out-of-state travel, big purchases, and potential corruption in both Dolton and Thornton townships, where Henyard is a supervisor.
