Embattled “Dolton Dictator” Mayor Tiffany Henyard and other officials lost their power to swipe freely on the Illinois village’s credit cards when the board voted Monday to freeze the municipal plastic after a spending frenzy.
Dolton’s director of administrative services will only be allowed to use the village credit card after the board approves of the purchases, trustees said, according to reports — in a blow to Henyard’s control.
“This village has so many people with so many credit cards, they’re swiping like crazy and that’s why it had to come to a complete halt,” said lawyer Michael McGrath, who is representing Dolton’s trustees, according to WGNTV.
“There’s thousands and thousands of dollars for Amazon purchases, for PayPal, for Target, for Walgreens, for Jewel-[Osco] in the hundreds and thousands of dollars,” he added. The latter is a regional supermarket chain.
Another lawyer for the trustees, Burt Odelson, said the main goal was to “cut off her access and other operators in the municipality,” the station reported.
Henyard has faced accusations of misappropriating taxpayer money to cover personal expenses, including lavish travel and security that wasn’t necessary.
The self-proclaimed “super mayor” is in the midst of a federal probe that started months ago.
The feds have requested a trove of documents from the village, as well as a restaurant Henyard owns and other ventures, according to reports.
The controversial leader has angered colleagues and residents, including on Monday night.
“Watching as this village is being run into the ground by this woman is pissing me off,” one longtime resident said at the meeting, according to Fox 32.
“We deserve a mayor that truly cares about our village and not a mayor who sees our village as her personal playground,” another resident said, per ABC 7 Chicago.
Before the meeting started, attendees already seated were forced to get back up and go through the metal detectors that weren’t initially working.
During the meeting, a handful of village jobs were slashed following a 4-1 vote, but Henyard, who has described herself as Dolton’s “Super Mayor,” argued the layoffs were “political retaliation” by the trustees, according to the Chicago Tribune.
She said the workers who were supposedly cut would “still be employed in the village of Dolton.”
Trustees claimed the employment decisions were strictly business.
“The village is bleeding,” Trustee Brittney Norwood said, per the newspaper. “If residents knew the truth, they’d hit the roof.”
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was hired to probe the Henyard and the village, is scheduled to present her findings on Thursday.
