how did the leader of a small village we got our be right here coming from Illinois attract the attention of the entire nation and get nicknamed the worst mayor in America everything she has initiated has been to promote her questionable expenses I can map out their entire trip on the township credit card expensive police details 162 hours oh that's nothing and allegations of retaliation did you take that as a threat I took that as bullying she's not shy about attracting attention it makes her feel as if she's like a superstar until she starts facing questions I ask you a few questions yeah she says no I'm asking her we're going to talk now the feds are involved and another controversial mayor is joining the story we want transparency with this much controversy coming from just one person we got to ask who is mayor Tiffany henyard and what's behind the drama in doton she cannot continue to intimidate and gangster her way through this welcome I'm Fox 32 Dane PLO Tiffany henyard actually has two political jobs on two public payrolls as mayor of South Suburban Dalton or as she calls herself super mayor and supervisor of Thorton Township where she makes over $200,000 a year now before henyard election in 2021 Dalton was like any other suburban community with festivals parades and its share of problems but today Dalton is known more for the mayor herself and The NeverEnding allegations that she's used and abused her two offices at Dalton and Thorton Township for pricey security details trips to Vegas unmissable Highway Billboards and the Curious donation of Township tax dollars to a cancer charity named for you guessed it mayor henyard nobody know don't nobody know nothing Tiffany henyard certainly isn't shy about attracting attention here she is starting a Dalton village board meeting dressed like the Wesley Snipes character in the movie New Jack City later punctuating her political points with the help of her own DJ every single resident pay me what you owe [Music] me thank you DJ henards picture in name adorned virtually every public posting both from Dalton where is Mayor she makes $46,000 a year and in Thorton Township whereas the elected supervisor she collects more than $200,000 a year but for all that money henards tenure at both has been chaotic with firings scandals and a legal battle with the Dalton trustees over spending so last fall henard did something that would seemingly generate some good publicity helping establish the Tiffany henard cares Foundation to help breast cancer patients and on the very day the charity was chartered it received a huge donation $10,000 from the Thornton Township Board which henyard presides over taxpayer money shouldn't be paid into those types of things Stephanie Weedman is the former Thornton Township Chief of Staff whom henard fired shortly after taking over in March of last year it almost felt like a takeover and a very aggressive one at that since her firing Weedman has been documenting Township spending and says she's stunned by the taxpayer dollars funneled into henyard charity especially this we got 10 days we're going 196 miles last October henyard led a delegation of Dalton and Thorton Township employees and political supporters on a march to Springfield to promote her breast cancer charity which she documented on her Facebook page we walking through do all we're Brightwood now we are in Godly now we in Bloomington baby I can pretty much map out their entire Springfield trip on the township credit cards that's right henyard build thousands of dollars in hotel rooms and meals during the trip to thoron Township and Dalton credit cards in addition the video show henard used multiple Village and Township Vehicles owned by taxpayers to escort the Caravan including a flatbed trailer with a photographer flying a drone and a DJ we got our Bear right here coming from Illinois walking all the way to Springfield make noise for our the people but they didn't always walk we all motorbikes baby at times riding electric bikes y'all see my bike Town ship supervisor it looks like a misspending of tax funds um I think that's the biggest that that's the biggest concern Dalton trusty Jason house has been doing battle with the mayor since she took office very disturbing to hear these things or to kind of see some of the receipts that appear to be connected to it and I think the taxpayers really deserve better than that and then there's the merch there a shirt want a t-shirt along the way henyard sold and gave away t-shirts and hoodies also available on her Chari website a week before the trip the township paid $117,000 for specially printed hoodies and t-shirts but won't say what they're for I think that everything she has initiated has been something to promote her something to get her name in household something to get people to buy into voting for her our investigation found at least $1,000 in public funds spent on that trip but both Dalton and Thorton Township have been slow or unresponsive to open records requests so what was the purpose of the 10-day march to Springfield I have created a bill uh which we're going to speak before the revenue committee to give everybody $5,000 on a income tax when they file if you are suffering from canc a noble goal except the revenue committee wasn't meeting when the group arrived in Springfield hener did later testify at a Committee hearing in Chicago but so far nothing has come of her bill I think I'm going to damn good job on Le so we went to a recent Thorton Township board meeting to ask henyard some questions about all that spending I never ever been um bitter to the news this is my all to the media can you guys reach out to us and ask us our before you post it I appreciate and so we did I'll ask you a few questions okay but henyard wasn't anxious to talk about her charity why did you in the in the board vote to give your foundation $10,000 I'm the f of the foundation my name is nowhere sir I'm the face face what was the purpose of going to Springfield she doesn't have any more comments we're going to talk any more comments thanks guys that's Keith Freeman whom henard hired at both Dalton and Thorton Township and was part of her Springfield walk look at Keith Kei baby Freeman also filed paperwork for the charity bearing henyard name why are you using public money for your personal charity $177,000 sure it's thank thank you thank you and with that her security detail hustled henyard upstairs and blocked the staircase with a table so we tried asking another employee who went on that trip you went down to Springfield and what were you hoping to do in spr ask people to handles that I'm not the one to handled it I was just riding a bik we need more officers on the streets we need our streets repaved um so to spend that kind of money on a charitable event or supposed charitable event really doesn't seem like the best use of tax take a drive to the south suburbs and you can't miss them four giant Billboards featuring Tiffany henyard name in large letters along with her picture smiling down on the thousands of cars going by on Interstate 57 and the Bishop Ford Expressway what are they advertising one says fresh produce another senior services and this one simply says we offer general assistance there's a phone number but you wouldn't know what it's for unless you can read in teeny tiny letters thoron Township supervisor as you're speeding by these are the Billboards that have gone up along the expressways we showed the Billboards to Bert odson an election attorney who's been working in Illinois politics for 50 years when I first looked at it I thought what is she running for now because that's what it shouts out Odon who represents a political faction opposed to henyard and Dalton says it's clear the Billboards are promoting more than Township Services he says they're essentially Campa pain ads uh this is a blatant attempt to promote herself politically uh the township should not have paid for these if they if they did and I'm sure they did they did indeed bills obtained by Fox 32 under open records laws shows Thorton Township paid more than $10,000 for the vinyl signs themselves and more than $112,000 to Clear Channel Outdoor advertising for one month's rental of the Billboards what was your reaction when you saw I well first of all I didn't know anything about them Thorton Township Trustee Chris Gonzalez says the board was never consulted about the Billboards which he says needed their approval kind of the some of the first things that popped in my mind is what are we doing um we're not this isn't a big sale we're not selling cars here I mean if it's informational then it should be informational I mean there's so many other ways we could have spent that money um that would have you know directly help people this isn't the first time henyard has used taxpayer dollars to burnish her own personal image in fact on other occasions she spent a lot more and you can't turn your head in Dalton or thoron Township without seeing henards picture or name it's on all the government-owned vehicles buildings even on the rugs in the township where we found a Tiffany henard 2024 calendar featuring all the important dates to remember including her birthday I would be having a fit if she was my client telling her not to do this veteran Chicago political consultant delmarie cob says there would be nothing wrong if henyard were using her own political funds for those promotional materials especially the Billboards I actually had a candidate years ago who was running for mayor doton and that's what we did we bought uh Billboards along the expressway because if you're coming and going home all day and one of the things I always say about Billboards is they're working when you're sleep in 2011 State lawmakers passed a law Banning the practice of politicians putting their names on publicly funded signs spurred by these Tollway signs featuring former Governor Rob legovich that law does not extend to Mayors or other elected officials but election attorney odson believes the Billboards do violate state election laws it's a crime yeah you're you're using public funds for something that taxpayer dollars shouldn't shouldn't be used for and just when you think you've seen it all take a look at this when the first billboard went up last summer thoron was misspelled as thoron sign had to be ordered apparently a taxpayer expense in videos posted by henyard herself we see her being driven around and surrounded by Dalton officers which got us to wondering why all the cops we weren't opposed to her having the security detail we asked how long and how often Dalton trustee Britney Norwood says henard began assembling her details shortly after being elected in 2021 using handpicked Dalton police officers using a freedom of information request we obtained the work records for six of the officers assigned to henyard security detail at various times and showed them to some of Dalton's trustees this is a freedom of information request we did to see how much overtime these officers are making on her security details oh wow 162 hours 162 oh that's nothing what goes through your mind when you see these numbers um it's it's disappointing it's frustrating the officers are paid every two weeks which without without overtime is 80 hours but when they're put on henards detail that 80 hours balloons to well over a 100 hours sometimes 200 hours and in the case of Officer Terry young last May 303 hours worked over a two-e period that resulted in a single paycheck of more than $133,000 how how does a person put in a 2E pay period 303 hours that's impossible that's impossible 336 do he never go in fact there are 336 hours total in 2 weeks meaning young was not being paid for only 33 hours over that period other officers on the security detail are also racking Up Overtime paychecks in the multiple thousands of dollars May might if I ask you a couple questions about your security details absolutely not I'm asking her yeah she said no a couple weeks ago we tried to question henyard about her detail as she went door Todo in Dalton giving out water on a 100° day surrounded by police firefighters Public Works employees and two videographers documenting for Dalton's Facebook page I want to tell the people I'm not going to stop I'mma keep going I hope they post what we actually do here in the village of do and stop telling lies but when we gave her an opportunity to explain the OT mayor why do you need so many officers details your security what did you say water it sound like you say water earlier that day we watched as a Dalton cop drove henyard from her other job at Thorton Township to Mexican restaurant for lunch trustees say the security detail picks the mayor up at her home in the morning and is with her until she's dropped off at night often taking her on errands and shopping does she need a security detail absolutely not why why would you need a security detail oh she loves it she just loves it she loves the detail I think um it makes her feel as if um she's like a superstar Dalton trustees have filed lawsuit against henyard saying she's not justified the need for security and is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on it without the board's approval I see no justification whatsoever and more than that it's really a detriment to the residents of do oh sure um the residents if we would take the same money and put it on officers patrolling the streets then the residents will see a much better presence and Public Safety will be better we've had a few shootings so we need the extra police patrol our streets instead of patrolling her and we found Dalton credit card statements showing that hener takes the detail with her even when she travels out of town spending thousands of dollars on plane tickets lodging and meals for the officers mayor why don't you taking all the officers out of town with you isn't that a waste of taxpayers money let's go to this one right here anything you want to say to defend yourself on this as for The Village's finances trustees say Dalton is now getting sued by some vendors for failure to pay its bills bills in the last two fiscal years we're $5 million in the hole and a big part of it is the security detail it's embarrassing embarrassing it's embarrassing you don't see the governor with a detail as hers several months after we broke the story about henards expensive security detail we got confirmation that it was impacting the ability to fight crime in Dalton and that came in an exclusive Fox 32 interview with somebody who would know Dalton's now former police chief the Manpower was just very stressed and critical to the point of almost breaking former Dalton police chief Robert Collins spoke to us from Florida where he's taken a new job after being fired by Dalton mayor Tiffany henyard late last year but Colin says he remains frustrated by what he experienced leading an undermanned overworked Police Department while mayor hener demanded a large personal security detail you know wrong is wrong and there's a Time to hold people responsible and accountable for their action but at some point there would be two officers or three officers and depending on if there was some type of event it would be more officers that's for a town of a little more than 20,000 people that's struggling economically and usually only has a few officers on duty per shift colins says henyard security detail was warranted when it started in 2021 after a police involved shooting sparked protests and threats and at some point the protest stopped however the detail continued why do you need a security detail while you're out of town um who's on the other end of that flight that's going to do harm Colin says he became increasingly frustrated because the mayor's detail tied his hands when it came to fighting crime just last week a mass shooting on sibi Boulevard left four people injured Collins believes the bad guys know there aren't enough cops on Dalton streets but villager Dalton has its challenges with gangs guns and drugs and if those officers aren't there the visibility isn't there and if the visibility isn't there then uh criminals have free reign and it it more or less was these are the orders this is what you have to do last week Collins filed a civil lawsuit against the village of Dalton for wrongful termination saying he was fired by the mayor without cause and without board approval because his wife is friends with some of the mayor's proed political enemies and our contention is that it is illegal did he do anything wrong no Chief Collins any position that he's ever been in is a policeman's policeman he held the rank of Chief but he's a patrolman at heart but it is frustrating CD officers uses like that I'm sure the officers are frustrated too but they following orders as the attention on henyard heated up Dalton Village Hall and Thorton Township headquarters became the stage for an evolving soap opera Village trustees started a going rogue employees got locked out of their offices and it became harder for the Publican press to attend meetings including one to vote on the mayor's salary that we learned included a poison pill provision that made any potential Challenger think twice about running against henyard did you know about this beforehand no absolutely not no word was given to myself Thornton Township Trustee Chris Gonzalez was just sitting down at the start of the Township's board meeting two weeks ago when he was handed a seven-page proposed ordinance requiring an immediate vote you had no time to read no and then we get pretty much into the meeting pretty quick what it does is to ensure that henard continues to receive her $224,000 year salary as Township supervisor but if a non-incumbent becomes supervisor in other words if someone challenges henyard and beats her the salary for that position drops to just $225,000 a year a pay cut of nearly 90% truste Gonzalez says it's a political poison pill to scare off competition discourage people from running um is probably the first thing that comes to mind is this legal no it's it's it's so illegal in so many ways Municipal attorney Bert Odon who represents henyard political opposition in Dalton says under equal protection of the law the salaries of elected officials have to be identity blind meaning they don't change based on the person holding the job it's maybe maybe the worst attempt to try to dissuade people from running that I've ever seen and that's a long time henyard isn't facing reelection until 2025 but already potential competitors are circling despite the drastically lower salary including state senator Napoleon Harris but if henyard is reelected she'll continue making the 224k even if she seems to believe the job is worth a fraction of that I think this is a job that should pay over 200,000 or 5,000 I mean probably somewhere in the middle in all honesty so this is the assessor's office Cassandra ston has been the assessor here in Thorton Township for the past 10 years an elected position that helps residents deal with exemptions and property tax appeals but when she arrived at work this morning something strange happened this was your office yes what happened when you tried to open it he doesn't work not only had ston been locked out of her own office but boxes of sensitive documents that she kept in her office were spread around the common area this was under lock and key before this was under lock and key and now it's just out in the open now it's just out in the open so it has the taxpayer's name address so who did this to you well I mening the new supervisor Tiffany henyard Elston has been critical of henyard spending at the township and believes getting kicked out is political payback but this is not going to stop me this is my job this is what I get paid to do need this she's the assessor she invited us in and that's when Township security officers stepped in okay so you're refusing to leave yes South Holland police were called to the scene and they agreed with us that the assessor had every right to invite us into her office new crew was here to do an interview on me does Tiffany henard have any right to do this not only Tiffany hener but nobody has any right to do this to uh a separate elected official like the assessor the Assessor's lawyer Bert oldson tells me they plan to file a lawsuit in Cook County to anding she get her office back it is extremely illegal you can do and say pretty much what you want to say or do to me but when you start doing things that affect the taxpayers that's why I draw the line after we finished the interview somebody deactivated the key fobs for all of the assessor employees meaning now none of them can get into the office so tomorrow they plan to set up tables and chairs here outside township hall to meet the public the sign outside its headquart says welcome to Thorton Township people working with people but when residents showed up last night to speak at a public board meeting they got anything but a warm welcome when I arrived there was security here he was standing at the bottom of the stairs preventing anybody from going up to the boardroom I asked him if the meeting was downstairs he replied yes Stephanie Weedman and a handful of other residents wanted to speak directly to thoron Township supervisor Tiffany henard also the mayor of Dalton I'm just curious to see who makes the decisions about how tax dollars are being spent but they never got that chance after being blocked from going to the boardroom upstairs they were sent to the basement where they were told the Township board meeting would be held it wasn't they asked for a signup sheet for public comment never got it and before they knew what had happened the 4-minute meeting upstairs was over and henyard was gone without hearing from her constituents they are violating our rights I pay taxes here I have a right to get up and speak whether this is Administration likes it or not and not only were the residents shut out so was a local newspaper reporter who came here to cover the meeting um I was told by a security guard that was not allowed upstairs where the boardroom meeting is Josh bzma of the Lancing Journal says residents deserve to know how elected officials are spending their money thoron Township is the largest Township in Illinois and so there are a lot of people that are affected by the decisions the financial decisions that this Township makes even Thorton Township Trustee Chris gonzale a frequent henyard critic was ordered out of the boardroom until the meeting began do you think any laws were broken last night by the way they handled the public well definitely I mean if somebody wants to speak this is a public it's a public meeting it's a public building they should be able to come in with mayor henard now a regular Target of criticism Dalton employees and local business owners started feeling the heat claiming they faced retaliation when they refused to support the mayor even a Park permit was revoked for an event that was happening this same day as a music festival managed by correct again mayor henyard always a good time for everybody that comes out fun exciting good for the community for the past eight years Darren Bosley has organized an annual car show here in the parking lot of needles Park in Dalton but after paying $1,000 to the park district for this year's permit Bosley got an unexpected call last Wednesday from Dalton mayor Tiffany henards top assistant saying that the show will be shut down but if I move my event to her location on Greenwood that I will be fine did you take that as a threat yes I took that as bullying sure enough when Bosley showed up at the Park Saturday morning he found that giant concrete barricades had been placed at the entrance and Dalton police were threatening to tow any cars that park there we talking about two different governments talking about the park government versus The Village government Dalton Park District president Cleo Jones says mayor henyard has no legal authority over Park District property and believes she didn't want the competition to hurt attendance at her own event a house music festival a few blocks away so I'm not sure what her tactics were of than trying to bully us and push us away but you know that's not going to happen here what would you say to the mayor about this uh get your life together get your act together um this is wrong for people that spend money with the part District to try to throw an event peaceful event fine event and it's good for for the community but you're taking that away from everybody they just rushed in here put police at the front of the door like they was doing a raid on the drug house or something a team of Dalton police officers raided and shut down Pablo's baring Cafe and rinky baring Cafe both located unily about a block apart everything going peacefully nothing going on there like 10 police cars came in and they start pushing customers from here and he said if you don't leave we're going to lock you up employees and owners say it's part of an ongoing campaign of harassment by Dalton mayor Tiffany henyard that is costing jobs and money their business licenses have been Stripped by Dalton but they've continued to operate with a state license I have like over 23 employees they work from the local Township now end of the day all the employees they going to lose them job it's ridiculous we all have mous fee we all have kids um they are not giving us no explanation on Monday we visited both rinky and Pablo to ask about allegations their licenses were being held up for political reasons then last evening we broke the story that FBI agents have questioned at least a half dozen people including business owners a former Dalton employee and an elected official as part of an investigation into mayor henyard less than two hours after our story aired police raided the two bars someone seen you go in there and in two hours after your story airs that police are at both of these establishments Dalton trustee Tammy Brown says she believes the raids are meant to send a warning to others not to talk and she believes there's a reason so many doton businesses are having trouble getting their licenses renewed I'm sure that they were asked to donate make a donation and most likely they didn't make a donation Dalton residents had enough and in April Dalton's trustees voted to open an investigation into mayor henyard and invited everyone from the state's attorney to the FBI to come to Dalton and open the books well trustees got their wish when we broke the news that FBI agents were in fact interviewing witnesses as part of a federal investigation and then entering the fry another mayor who frequently found herself in the crosshairs former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot I commit to you that I will follow the facts where they lead without bias at the conclusion of this investigation I will provide an assessment of the findings and the recommendations and I welcome and urge the full cooperation by mayor henyard her staff all Village trustees vendors and others this board specifically has made reaches to the state's attorney Attorney General governor's office and as we know there are ongoing well it's been reported that there's ongoing um investigations from federal entities uh those entities as we know can take anywhere from 2 months to 5 years we feel this option will will give us um an independent process overall it tells me that the investigation is expanding it's not just focusing on the City of Dalton former FBI agent Ross rice says the subpoenas revealed the burgeoning scope of the federal criminal investigation into Thorton Township supervisor and Dalton mayor Tiffany henyard one Sabina focuses entirely on henyard including two businesses she owns a restaurant and a property management company as well as henards political fund and the charity bearing her name it asks for all records including Personnel files wage and tax statements time and attendance records of work performed contracts and checks written to cash the mayor and the township supervisor who are one and the same appear to be the primary focus of the investigation the second subpoena requests a kitchen sink of Township records including Financial reports budgets payroll records and ordinances covering credit crit card purchases expense reimbursements security details and the use of vehicles The subpoena also asks for payments and credit card expenditures for a number of Township employees including henyard top Lieutenant Keith Freeman it's very Broad in the scope it's very Broad in the number of people and entities they're asking uh for records on I was pleasantly surprised Stephanie Weedman is a former Township employee turned whistleblower who's been helping the f FBI in its investigation over the weekend she took part in a rally of Thorton Township residents calling on henard to resign Weedman says the latest subpoenas are a welcome sign I hope that the township founds finds a way to be able to recoup the damage that has been done but I hope that the people that did the damage I mean there's repercussions for making bad decisions that'll take some time for investigators to un tangle the mess in Dalton and at the time of recording this we're still a year away from Dalton's next mayoral election but if the next year is anything like the last three then the story of Mayor henyard and the village of Dalton will continue to surprise and infuriate and we'll keep covering it right here at Fox 32 Chicago I'm Dane PLO thanks for watching
