Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard appears at township meeting amid disturbing allegations

a South Suburban official tonight says if the allegations against Dalton's mayor are true she should step down from the two government positions she holds he told that to our Regina waldrip who was at tonight's Thorton Township Board trustees meeting we in new every single day referring to herself as super mayor hey I'm the first I'm the first Super mayor Tiffany henyard had lots to say during Tuesday night's Thorton Township Board of Trustees meeting but she left without taking any questions to Vegas May NBC 5 obtained copies of complaints accusing mayor henyard and an unnamed Village of Dalton Trustee of sexual harassment retaliation and discrimination and the Department of Human Rights tells nbc5 it is investigating the complaints are focused on what allegedly happened on an economic development trip to Las Vegas last May the mayor's now former assistant claims she was the victim of an unwanted sexual encounter carried out by that unnamed Dalton trustee and as a result filed this complaint according to her complaint after having dinner with the trustee she started to feel disoriented then she blacked out the next morning she woke up in the trustees hotel room with no memory of how she got there experiencing physical discomfort officer Byron miles who was part of Mayor hen's security detail at the time also filed a complaint with the human rights Department he also went on that trip to Las Vegas and says in his complaint the trustee called him on the phone and told him he had unprotected sex with the woman in the complaint he says he recorded some of their conversation according to both complaints the woman says when she told the mayor about the incident the mayor said if the information became public she would be ruined that all the work she'd done would be lost the ex-employee says the mayor told her she would take care of it that to trust her days later according to her complaint the woman says she was put on unpaid medical leave without her consent and later terminated at Tuesday night's meeting Thorton Township Trustee Christopher Gonzalez called the allegations serious it's just unacceptable it's disgusting I mean if that's true you know that there was uh an assault happened and then it was tried to whatever I mean I'm not exactly sure but um if there was attempt at a cover up or something like that then like I said yeah that's just unacceptable Gonzalez says if the allegations made against the mayor are found to be true she should step down from both of her positions as mayor and Thorton Township supervisor if you know all these things come to um where they've been proven and you know action has been taken I mean I don't see how you know which could continue as a Township supervisor as for Dalton the village board is EXP expected to meet Monday night at 6:30 reporting from South Holland I'm Regina waldrip NBC 5 News more drama in Dalton tonight several trustees are calling on the mayor and another Village trustee to resign both are at the center of an investigation nbc5's Regina waldrup started working on this case six months ago she joins us now with more on what she's learned Regina I'm Maran and Stefan we obtained copies of complaints accusing mayor Tiffany henyard and an unnamed Dalton Trust of sexual harassment retaliation and discrimination and the Department of Human Rights tells us it is investigating at the center of it all a trip they all took last year to Las Vegas and a sexual encounter one woman says was not consensual there are six elected trustees on the Dalton village board some of them joined mayor Tiffany henyard last May on an economic development trip to Las Vegas it was on that trip that the mayor's now former assistant claims she was the victim of an unwanted sexual encounter carried out by an unnamed Dalton trustee she filed this complaint with the Department of Human Rights according to the woman's complaint after having dinner with the unnamed trustee she started to feel disoriented then she blacked out the next morning she woke up in the trustees hotel room with no memory of how she got there experiencing physical discomfort officer Byron miles who was part of Mayor henyard security detail at the time also filed a complaint with the human rights Department he also went on that trip to Vegas and says in his complaint the named trustee called him on the phone and told him he had unprotected sex with the woman in the complaint he says he recorded some of their conversation according to both complaints the woman says when she told the mayor about the incident the mayor said if this information became public she'd be ruin all the work she'd done would be lost the ex-employee says the mayor told her she would take care of it and to trust her days later according to her complaint the woman was put on unpaid medical leave without her consent she was later terminated trustees Tammy Brown Kiana beler and Britney Norwood did not go on that trip to Vegas by a show of hands how many of you knew about these allegations they tell nbc5 they're stunned to learn about the investigation by the Department of Human Rights and the allegations made by the mayor's former assistant that could have been any one of us that could have been either trustee that could be anybody I'm furious this makes no sense I'm hurt and I'm furious that that means these people have known about this for some time that's it's almost a year later the biggest fear is always how far is this going to go before someone gets hurt and now I feel like this is what it's come to the trustees say the mayor should have immediately launched an investigation they're calling on the mayor and the unnamed trustee to resign for you to cover up something like this allegations of someone doing this to someone is horrible and you cannot lead the village of dalon under these circumstances everybody involved if you hold a position you should resign immediately there's already enough shame being being brought to this Village how much more how much more in a statement trustee Jason house says he did not go on that trip to Vegas nbc5 reached out to the two remaining Trustees for comment but didn't hear back the village in a statement told nbc5 it conducted a thorough investigation into these allegations led by an independent third party company the statement goes on to say former police officer miles was interviewed and denied knowing anything about these allegations and the alleged victim refused to cooperate with our investigation the statement continues this is nothing more than two disgruntled Village employees trying to make off with the taxpayers hard-earned dollars The Village looks forward to defending these allegations and pursuing all other available remedies to the Village to clarify Byron miles is still a Dalton police office officer now we asked the trustees if officer miles should have done more if he knew an unwanted sexual encounter occurred they told us they're still digesting the allegations and nbc5 did reach out to the attorney for officer miles and the alleged victim for a statement Marion and Stephan still a lot of work to do with this story all right Regina we know you'll be on top of it thank you so much the misuse of funds is among the many allegations discussed in South Suburban Dalton today residents got a chance to tell Village trustees what their concerns are including a multi-million dollar deficit and multiple lawsuits the village is facing nbc5's VW has the story dozens of Dolton residents filled this room at Lester long facility Saturday morning for an event with the trustees the special guest speaker Dr Nicole Scott we just got to keep pushing forward she's the founder of American Association of single parents and says she's been running into problems with the village over plans to renovate her property downtown and to expand their food pantry free indeed market last year alone we served over 20,000 individuals and we need to expand and they will not allow us to do that since last July she's been trying to get approval for permits and Licensing from the village with no movement she says and now believes mayor Tiffany henyard and her Administration may have special interest in her property I think their goal and hope is to uh take the property from us to get it through imminent domain and bc5 reached out to the Village of Dalton asking about Scott's specific case the village administrator telling us in a statement quote we are deeply disturbed by Dr Nicole Scott's false allegations she has not fulfilled the requirements in order to secure permits by the village of Dalton Under The Village code he goes on to cite property tax issues and says the property has also failed multiple inspections what they saying is not true it took them 6 months to tell me that the things that I submitted were not sufficient and I think that that is a stall that is them trying to you know wake me out this comes a mid allegations from residents and trustees over henards misuse of public funds lavish spending and Mis payments to vendors several trusties telling nbc5 the village faces a growing $7 million deficit and multiple lawsuits some residents vo their frustrations and concerns over the current Administration gu we need to take the heart and put it back back in doph not only is it not entertaining it is an injustice to the people here doe we need to take our village back meanwhile Dr Nicole Scott says she is trying to raise money to hire an attorney to take her fight against the village to court

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Length: 9min 19sec (559 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 14 2024