Tiffany Henyard

Tiffany Henyard
Mayor of Dolton
Incumbent
Assumed office May 8, 2021
Preceded by	Riley Rogers
Supervisor of Thornton Township
Incumbent
Assumed office March 3, 2022
Preceded by	Frank Zuccarelli
Dolton Village Trustee
In office May 2013 – May 2021
Personal details
Born	1983 or 1984 (age 40–41) Dolton, Illinois, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	Robert Morris University Illinois
Website	Official website Village of Dolton web portal Thornton Township webpage

Tiffany Aiesha Henyard (born 1983 or 1984) is an American politician currently serving as the mayor of Dolton, Illinois, since 2021 and as Thornton Township supervisor since 2022. She previously served two terms as a member of the Dolton Village Board of Trustees from 2013 through 2021. Henyard won election as a trustee in 2013 and 2017, and election as mayor in 2021. She was appointed supervisor in 2022.

As mayor and supervisor, Henyard has become greatly embroiled in scandals involving allegations of financial mismanagement, corruption, fraud, and other misconduct. She has been at strong odds with the majority of the village's Board of Trustees. In early 2024, the Illinois Attorney General's Office began taking actions to scrutinize Henyard's activities as mayor and her nonprofit organization. In late-February 2024, Fox 32 Chicago (WFLD) reported that several individuals had been interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as part of an evident probe into Henyard's activities. The Chicago Tribune also reported that an unnamed law enforcement source had confirmed such an investigation. Henyard is also under civil investigation by the Illinois Department of Human Rights, and is a defendant in a number of lawsuits. In April 2024, the Dolton Board of Trustees voted to hire former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot to investigate Henyard's conduct on their behalf.

Early life, education, and career

Henyard grew up in Dolton, and graduated from Thornridge High School. She received a degree in business administration from Robert Morris University Illinois. Henyard is a lifelong resident of Dolton.

In 2011, Henyard got her start in government and politics by working on then-governor Pat Quinn's "Put Illinois to Work" initiative.

Henyard regards Dorothy Brown, the former longtime Cook County clerk of courts, to have been her mentor. She regards Frank Zuccarelli, the late longtime supervisor of Thornton Township, to have been another mentor of hers.

Dolton village trustee (2013–2021)

Henyard served as a village trustee of Dolton, having first won election in the 2013 plurality-at-large election. Supporters dubbed Henyard the "People's Trustee". She was re-elected in 2017.

Henyard became a sharp critic of Mayor Riley Rogers. She was one of only two trustees to vote against overturning Rogers' veto on the city's budget appropriation for the 2018–19 fiscal year. With the board of trustees successfully overriding the veto in a 4–2 vote, ten village employees were immediately laid off from their positions. In 2018, she joined several other village trustees in launching a legal challenge to block ballot measures championed by Rogers from appearing on the ballot. The challenge was unsuccessful. However, the separate ballot measures on whether to reduce the size of the board of trustees and whether place term limits on board membership both failed before voters.

As a trustee, Henyard started the city's "Block by Block" program, which allowed people to purchase vacant houses for $5,000 in aims of allowing the city to begin again collecting tax revenue from those properties.

In August 2019, CBS 2 Chicago (WBBM-TV) reported that a residence which Henyard owned as a landlord and for which she received Section 8 housing subsidies had a severe mold problem, as well as issues with water leakage. In November 2019, the same channel reported that the residence's mold situation had become severe enough that it was deemed uninhabitable and its tenant was forced to move out, but that Henyard had continued to receive Section 8 Housing subsidies. Her tenant accused her of failing to remedy the mold problem, and media scrutiny raised more concerns over the prior inspection history of the property.

2021 mayoral campaign

Henyard had indicated her interest in running for mayor as early as 2018. She announced her candidacy in October 2020. At a 2021 event advertised to be the kickoff for her mayoral campaign, Henyard gave away free gasoline. Legal experts told CBS 2 Chicago that the move was legally questionable, and might be seen as vote buying. Henyard's campaign refuted accusations of vote buying. Tony Valukas, who had been the Reagan-era U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, contributed $5,000 to Henyard's campaign committee and endorsed one the of the trustee candidates that she herself had co-endorsed for election. During the campaign, Mayor Rogers suffered a stroke. Henyard publicly wished him well.

Incumbent mayor Riley Rogers had been the subject of allegations of illegality and corruption. This included allegations of misusing village funds and having village employees complete construction work on his private properties during their hours of municipal employment. Henyard ran on a reform platform that criticized Rogers' mayoralty. Touting herself as a "change" candidate, she declared that she would bring a government of, "love, transparency and accountability".

Henyard was elected as mayor of Dolton in 2021. She defeated incumbent mayor Riley Rogers in a four-way primary for the Democratic nomination. She received more than 34% of the vote against Rogers, Andrew Holmes (a village trustee and community activist), and Robert Shaw (a politician who was the brother of the deceased past Dolton mayor William Shaw). She went on to defeat independent candidate Ronnie Burge in the April general election, winning approximately 82% of the vote. Burge was the current police chief of nearby Dixmoor, Illinois, and had formerly been Dolton's police chief.

Henyard ran with a slate that she dubbed the "Dream Team". From this slate, two of the three trustee candidates were elected (Kiana Belcher and incumbent Jason House), as was village clerk candidate Alison Key. Her relationship with these individuals would sour. By April 2022 (roughly a year after the election), the three were joining most of the village board in pursuing legal action against Henyard.

Mayoral tenure (2021–present)

Henyard was sworn in as mayor on May 8, 2021, becoming the first female mayor of the village, as well as the youngest in its history (being 37 years old).

In February 2024, Fox 32 Chicago (WFLD) reported that numerous individuals in Dolton had confirmed to them that they were interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as part of an evident probe into Henyard's activities as mayor. The Chicago Tribune soon after reported that an unnamed law enforcement official had confirmed to them that a FBI investigation into Henyard existed. The FBI itself has not confirmed this. The Dolton Board of Trustees' legislative counsel, Burt Odelson, claimed in April 2024 that the village government was a defendant in almost forty active lawsuits related to Henyard's conduct. In 2022, the editorial board of the Chicago Sun Times called alleged corruption in Henyard's governance of Dolton as, "a theme that's common in too many south suburban governmental units."

Leadership style and local public image

Henyard has promoted herself using the monikers "supermayor", "people's mayor", and "people's super mayor". In 2023, Dane Placko of Fox 32 Chicago described Henyard as a ubiquitous, self-promoting, and locally-polarizing personality, writing, "she's charismatic and controversial and it's hard to turn anywhere in Dolton without seeing Henyard's picture."

Ted Slowik of the Chicago Tribune described her as acting at both village and township meetings like tyrant or despot, and described her as a, "masterful orator who spins yarns that often seem to have little basis in reality." Slowik has also opined, "dirty politics are nothing new in Dolton. However, Henyard's pageantry has taken things to a new level." Nahlah Abdur-Rahman of Black Enterprise described Henyard as, "maintaining guerilla-style approach to her leadership."

Relationship with the village board of trustees

Henyard has faced criticism from a number of village trustees, which first emerged within the first several months of her tenure. Areas of criticism have included concerns about public safety and what is characterized as a lack of efforts to decrease crime; her use of municipal funds; and a lack of government transparency. Within her first year as mayor, the village board filed a lawsuit against Henyard which alleged that she had conflicts of interest. In response, she has accused select members of the village board of causing upheaval and locked trustees out of their offices, canceling board meetings. The trustees then held meetings without her presence and censured her in October 2021.

After concerns regarding a lack of government transparency in Henyard's administration and Henyard alleged failure to conduct herself in accordance with city ordinances, the board of trustees voted to hire themselves a legislative counsel. The board justified this by claiming that the village attorney had been unresponsive to them. Henyard vetoed this hire, but her veto was overturned in October 2021. In April 2022, the majority of the village board instructed their legislative counsel to pursue legal action against Henyard and the village for allegedly spending public money without the consent of the board, violating employee hiring and firing policies, and for refusing to comply with Freedom of Information Act document requests.

In the 2023 elections for three trustee seats, two of the three candidates supported by Henyard were elected. With the reelection of Henyard's sole ally on the board of trustees (Andrew Holmes) and the election of an additional ally, the number of Henyard-aligned trustees on the six-member board increased from one to two.

In February 2024, the board of trustees adopted a resolution addressed to the Cook County state's attorney, United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Cook County sheriff, and the Illinois State Board of Elections calling for an investigation into Henyard, with the village board asserting,

The Board of Trustees have received evidence that Mayor Henyard has improperly appointed village employees without Village Board advice and consent; has hired convicted felons; has used police personnel for her own personal security detail which has caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of overtime within the police department; has taken lavish trips with Village staff; and has caused the Village to be in a multi-million dollar deficit.

Henyard vetoed the resolution. Her veto was overridden on April 8.

Also on April 8, the Board of Trustees voted to hire former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot as an additional legal counsel to the board who will be tasked with overseeing an investigation into Henyard's conduct. Lightfoot has past experience as a former federal prosecutor and the leader Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. The board lacks subpoena power, possibly limiting the planned investigation's reach. Henyard has the option to veto the resolution to hire Lightfoot, but the trustees that voted to hire Lightfoot have enough votes to override such a veto.

Accusations of retaliation and civil rights violations

Numerous village residents, employees, and business owners have accused Henyard of using her position to retaliate against perceived political opposition, including alleged use by Henyard of the village police force to harass businesses whose owners had not supported her and extort business owners for campaign contributions from business owners. She has also been accused of firing village employees for political reasons. A joint lawsuit was filed by businesses and village employees accusing her of retaliation. Also in 2024, a former village employee filed a lawsuit against Henyard and the village alleging that they had been fired for refusing to do work on Henyard's political campaign against a 2022 recall election attempt during their hours of government work. Another former village employee filed a separate lawsuit that year against Henyard and the village alleging that they had been fired for refusing to comply with Henyard's request that they refuse permits to businesses whose owners had not donated to Henyard's campaign committee. Another lawsuit was filed by a bar that alleged it had been denied a liquor license renewal a retaliation for its owners having not made contributions to Henyard's campaign committee.

In September 2022, a lawsuit was filed accusing Henyard and several Dolton police officers of violating civil rights protected by the Fourth Amendment, as well as violations in violation of First Amendment protections, including acts of retaliation by Henyard and the officers. This stemmed from police engagement with and arrests of individuals protesting against police violence earlier that month. In February 2024, Henyard was accused of illegally blocking residents from speaking at a village board meeting. She has also been accused of limiting access to the city hall, preventing opposition trustees from holding meetings there.

In early 2024, Redeemed Christian Church of God Resurrection Power Assembly filed a lawsuit against Henyard and the Village of Dolton alleging that the village had discriminated against them. The suit asserts that the village not act in accordance with the its zoning codes when it prevented the church from renovating a building it had acquired.

Illinois Department of Human Rights investigation

In March 2024, after reviewing files obtained through a Freedom of Information request, NBC Chicago (WMAQ-TV) made public that the Illinois Department of Human Rights is investigating a matter against Henyard, the Village of Dolton, and Thornton Township in which Henyard's former assistant claims to have been sexually assaulted by a village trustee and subsequently retaliated against by Henyard. The investigation stems from two separate complaints about the matter. Both complainants asked the Illinois Department of Human Rights to help them to receive back pay, front pay, attorney's fees, and punitive damages. Henyard has alleged that these allegations are false and are from "disgruntled" employees. A village statement characterized the two complainants the same way, and claimed that the village had, "conducted a thorough investigation into these allegations [...] lead [sic] by an independent third party company consisting of former law enforcement officers, none of whom have ever been affiliated with the Village of Dolton." The trustee has denied the allegations against them.

The assault allegation stems from a May 2023 trip that Henyard and associates took to Las Vegas. The alleged victim claims to have gone to dinner with the trustee, after which she began to feel disoriented before blacking out. She claims to have awoken with physical discomfort the following morning in the trustee's hotel room without memory of going there. The alleged victim states that a police officer that was part of Henyard's security detail informed her that the trustee had told the officer that he had had unprotected sex with the alleged victim while she was in a state potentially too impaired to provide sexual consent. The alleged victim claims that she and the officer both met with the mayor to inform her, and that days later the mayor placed her on an unpaid medical leave (which she had not requested) before then terminating her employment.

In a separate complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the aforementioned officer complained that he was demoted from his patrol duty and faced other acts of alleged retaliation after the aforementioned meeting with Henyard occurred.

After the existence of the investigation became public knowledge, three uninvolved village trustees argued that Henyard and the involved trustee should resign over it. The same week that the investigation was reported on, a police report was filed with the South Holland, Illinois police department regarding a rape in Nevada that Fox 32 Chicago reported appeared related to the same alleged incident.

Spending

By 2022, Henyard faced allegations of spending village funds without proper approval from the board of trustees or the village clerk. Trustees and Henyard argued at council meetings over city spending. In 2023, a lawsuit was filed alleging misuse of municipal funds by Henyard amounting to fraud. In January 2024, city trustee Brittney Norwood (who is tasked with responsibility for village finances and is a co-defendant in the lawsuit) expressed concern about debt accumulated by the spending of Henyard, and alleged that Henyard had committed fraud. Norwood expressed worry that Dolton was headed towards bankruptcy due to the spending, claiming that it had $7 million in debt. Village trustees have expressed concern about the village's debt, and that it was not meeting its financial obligations.

In January 2024, citing the risk of the village reaching insolvency, plaintiffs who had previously been awarded a multi-million dollar settlement against the village government (for an incident which occurred prior to Henyard's mayoralty) requested that county courts order the village to raise its tax rate to ensure that it could remain financially solvent and able to compensate them.

By February 2024, the village board of trustees had reached a contentious standoff with Henyard over spending, refusing to consent to payment bills on all expenses which they believed lacked adequate explanation. That month, the board of trustees, in a 4–2 vote, overrode Henyard's veto on their budget for the 2024–25 fiscal year, which included budget cuts. Henyard alleged that the cuts in the budget would bankrupt Dolton. In February 2024, the village was warned by a lender that thirteen vehicles used by the police department are at risk of repossession. Henyard claimed that the village board trustees had refused to permit payment on the vehicles, which Village Trustee Jason House refuted claiming that such payments had been approved by the board months earlier.

It has been noted that village money has been used to pay for billboards promoting Henyard.

February 2024, after WGN-TV appealed to the office, the Office of the Attorney General of Illinois ordered the Village of Dolton to release its spending records in accordance with a records request WGN–TV had made months earlier. The city was given until March 15 to comply, but did not honor this deadline.

Travel and dining expenditures

In November 2023, WGN-TV reported that a review of village credit card statements indicated that, over a recent twelve-month period, village officials had spent in excess of $24,000 at restaurants alone. It also noted expenditures on Hulu subscription, hotel rooms in Chicagoland suburbs located within 20 miles of Dolton, as well as out-of-state hotel and airfare for numerous trips. The report noted that a single trip by Henyard to Las Vegas saw the city spend $8,400 on hotel rooms, $587 for dining at a Ruth's Chris Steak House location, as well as $3,741 on Henyard's airfare.

In January 2024, WGN-TV further scrutinized credit card records of the city, writing a report which illustrated "extravagant spending [of municipal funds] at 5-star hotels and first-class travel on expensive out-of-state trips." The news outlet wrote, "[Henyard] her allies fly first class, dine at high-end restaurants and stay at posh hotels all on the taxpayers’ dime." This included $67,000 in expenses on trips to several U.S. cities in the previous several months. Expenses included a $13,000 hotel bill from a trip to New York City and $9,000 for a stay by Henyard and her associates at the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta. Township Trustee Chris Gonzalez told WGN-TV that Henyard and her allies have refused to explain the reason for the hefty travel expenses on the city's credit cards and how those trips might possibly relate to the interest of benefiting the city.

Ice rink construction

In 2022, without first seeking approval from the village's board of trustees, Henyard arranged for the government-funded construction of a synthetic ice rink. After the board of trustees learned of this, they refused to pay the vendor. This resulted in the vendor backing-out until it received payment. Henyard thereafter arranged for a second vendor to construct a synthetic ice rink, doing so again without board approval. This rink was constructed. It has only been open for use when Henyard herself hosts events on it. Henyard defended the rink as having been paid for through grant money, which she described as "free money".

In 2022, Henyard held a campaign fundraiser at the government-owned rink. Law prohibits campaign fundraising on government property unless the property has been specifically rented for such an event. Her campaign finance records did not show any expenditures made to rent the venue.

Window and roof assistance program

In 2021, the village authorized Henyard's administration to use $250,000 in money that the city received through the American Rescue Plan to provide up to $2,000 in assistance per house with paying for window installation and $5,000 per house for roof work. In December 2022, Henyard was accused by a trustee at a village meeting of spending $325,000 on the program, which is in excess of the approved amount. She was also questioned on a lack of documentation of the finances of the program.

Appointment and hiring actions

One of Henyard's first actions after becoming mayor was hiring Robert Collins to serve as Dolton's police chief. Collins had previously served in this the position, but had resigned the previous year. She retained Steven McCain as the city's fire chief. In October 2023, Henyard fired Collins. In early 2024, Collins filed a wrongful termination lawsuit alleging that his dismissal had come without cause and without approval from the village board, and that it had been motivated as retribution for the mayor's perception of his wife and a number of his personal acquaintances as being political adversaries.

After her election, Henyard had her mentor, former Cook County Clerk of Courts Dorothy Brown, lead her transition team. Henyard later appointed Brown to serve as village administrator in October 2021. Brown held this position until December 31, 2021. The hiring of Brown to the six-figure position sparked criticism from several Dolton city trustees. In January 2022, Henyard appointed Keith Freeman as village administrator. Freeman also serves as an advisor to Henyard in the Thornton Township government and as the registered agent of Henyard's nonprofit.

Henyard has declared herself to be a strong believer in giving second-chances to those that have served previous prison sentences. In late-2021, Henyard faced criticism for having hired a registered sex offender as a code enforcement officer. Several village trustees criticized Henyard both for hiring the individual without first receiving the approval of the board of trustees, and for hiring a registered sex offender to inspect homes and businesses because this would grant an individual with a history of sex crimes to a position where he is in constant contact with the public and is given access to the insides of private residences of residents that would be unaware of his history. The individual that she had hired had served a 24 year prison sentence for aggravated criminal sexual assault with a weapon, having been released from prison in 2018. Henyard had not performed a background check before hiring him. Some community members held protests over the individual's employment with the village. After the controversy, Henyard agreed that she would subject future hires to background checks. However, she did not dismiss the individual's employment, and chastised members of the board of trustees for having called attention to his history. She also came into conflict with the city's board of trustees after they voted on December 8, 2021 to subject her previous hires to retroactive background checks. Later that month, she signed an executive order that proclaimed that Dolton would be a "second-chance village" that would provide employment opportunities, housing, as well as healthcare and housing aid, to former convicts.

In October 2021, the board of trustees voted to require Henyard to make any hiring or firing of village employees subject to the board's advice and consent. Village trustees have accused Henyard of disregarding this and continuing to make staffing changes without their advice and consent.

Policing

In 2021, the fatal shooting of a civilian by a police officer brought civil unrest in Dolton and criticism of Henyard by protesters. Henyard made controversial comments about the shooting for which she later issued an apology. Henyard particularly drew controversy for remarking in the aftermath of the shooting, "I do stand with the officers. They did do the right thing."

Security detail

In September 2023, Fox 32 Chicago published an investigative report on Henyard's use of police to provide private security to herself, noting that this practice of her's costs Dolton taxpayers hundreds of thousands annually. The report noted that Henyard had first begun to use police to provide her with a personal security detail shortly after she took office as mayor. In February 2024, former police chief Robert Collins (who Henyard had fired the previous year) characterized Henyard of, during his tenure, misusing police personnel by assigning officers to serve as her personal security detail, noting that this removes those officers from the streets to instead serve Henyard's interests while taxpayers still pay them salary and thousands of dollars in overtime pay. He argued that, while police protection of Henyard made sense when it began in 2021 amid protests in the village, its continuation after the protests ended is mismanagement. Collins argued that it placed strain on the forces manpower, which he characterized as, "very stressed and critical, to the point of almost breaking."

Critics of Henyard on the board of trustees have characterized Henyard's redirection of police resources towards her own security detail as being to the detriment of public safety in Dolton. In October 2021, the board of trustees had voted to attempt to require her to pay the city back for her police protection. In February 2024, Black Enterprise reported that Henyard's security detail had already cost the village approximately $1 million. In March 2024, Fox 32 Chicago reported on work records it received via a Freedom of Information Request which showed her security detail being paid for a substantial number of work hours and overtime hours, with one officer having previously been paid as having purportedly worked 303 hours in a two-week period. This was regarded by Fox 32 as highly suspicious, as there are only 336 hours in two weeks.

Other actions

Henyard, soon after becoming mayor, moved to revive the "Block by Block" program that she had created while a trustee.

Henyard is highly active on social media. In 2024, she began a podcast series called the "Tiffany Henyard On Tha Move Podcast".

In early 2024, an individual that had been a candidate in the 2023 Dolton village trustee elections filed to sue Henyard and Henyard's campaign committee for libel and defamation. In the same lawsuit, the individual alleged that she had been wrongfully terminated in 2022 from her job with the village while taking family leave.

Nonprofit leader Nicole Scott has alleged that Henyard and her mayoral administration have deliberately held up licensing and permits for the expansion of her Free-N-Deed Market food pantry in Dolton's downtown.

Recall attempt

In April 2022, the Dolton Village Board added two questions aimed at recalling Henyard to a ballot on June 28, 2022, the same time as primaries for the 2022 Illinois elections. The first question would have established a recall mechanism, and the second would have recalled Henyard. In June 2022, Judge Paul Karkula voted directed the Cook County Clerk to disregard votes cast on the referendums, however the Illinois Appellate Court granted a partial stay of the ruling, directing the clerk to tally ballots. Both questions passed, with 56.5% of voters voting to establish the recall mechanism and 56.1% of voters voting to recall Henyard. Henyard said that these results were due to her supporters not voting due to the chaotic nature of the court cases. The Illinois Appellate Court ruled on October 6, 2022, that the referenda were illegal, and issued a permanent injunction against the certification of them.

After the ruling, Henyard and the village board fought over whether the village should pay the legal bills for her side of the lawsuit, which were $33,000 owed to Bob Fioretti and $19,000 owed to Michael Kasper.

Thornton Township Supervisor (2022–present)

Appointment to the office

Following the death of incumbent Frank Zuccarelli, Henyard was appointed and sworn in as the supervisor of the Thornton Township on March 3, 2022. She was appointed by the Thornton Township Board in a vote that took place close to a legal deadline for the board to fill the position, after which they would have ceded the appointment decision to a town hall-style meeting of township electors. Henyard was chosen over eight other individuals nominated for the position. Thornton Township is one of 29 civil townships in Cook County, Illinois, and overlaps with Dolton. It is one of the largest townships in Illinois, and employs more than 170 individuals, some full-time and others part-time. It contains several of the state's most impoverished communities. Henyard is the youngest person, the first woman, and the first African American supervisor of Thornton Township.

Unlike the village board (which has a sizable number of critics of Henyard), there is little opposition to Henyard among the membership of the township board. A majority of the township board members are politically allied with Henyard.

Ted Slowik of the Chicago Tribune has likened Henyard's township leadership style to that of an authoritarian.

Spending and finances

Henyard has claimed that she inherited a problematic financial situation in the township. She has alleging that, when she took office, the township's payrolls were compensating "ghost employees" who did little work and that the township had a $5 million budget deficit. She has asserted that she has addressed that deficit.

Self-promotional spending

Henyard has been accused of self-promotional spending of township resources. The township has spent at least $22,000 erecting billboards with Henyard's face on them that ostensively promote services provided by the township. Henyard has used township funds and resources to had benefit her own nonprofit. Henyard has also spent county funds on other items promoting herself, including rugs and calendars bearing her image.

Assistance programs

Henyard has continued the Zuccarelli Assistance Program (ZAP), renaming it the Henyard Assistance Program (HAP). This program gives teenagers above the age of sixteen summer jobs mowing the lawns of senior citizens.

In February 2024, with Henyard's backing, the township board earmarked $1 million dollars for assistance to those behind on their rents and mortgages through the township's general assistance department. Henyard described the program as providing a maximum of $3,000 in aid to individuals at least two months behind on such payments, but not those already in the process of being evicted. Sources of funding for the program were not explicitly identified. That month, Henyard publicized a "$1 million dollar giveaway" on Facebook in honor of Black History Month. After this generated controversy, it clarified that the Facebook post was meant to hype the general assistance fund, rather than announce a contest (as many believed).

In both April 2023 and March 2024, Henyard and the township board presented voters with ballot referendums on whether create a 0.15% township property tax that would have been earmarked for mental health services. It was estimated that the tax would generate $3 million annually. In April 2023, voters rejected the proposal by a vote of 51% to 49%. Ahead of the March 2024 vote, mayors eleven out of the seventeen municipalities in the township co-signed an open letter urging for residents to vote against the referendum. The mayors cited what they say was a lack of details from Henyard on how the funds would be spent. In that vote, voters again rejected the proposal, this time by a double-digit margin.

Salary, and decrease for future supervisors

Henyard's annual salary as supervisor is $224,000, equal to her predecessor's since 2017. It is greater than the gubernatorial salaries of 49 out of 50 U.S. states (with the exception being New York). In addition to her salary, Henyard has also been given large amounts of reimbursement by the township government for expenses.

At Henyard's urging, in December 2023 the township adopted a resolution that will result in a future 90% decrease to the supervisor's salary. However, this decrease is only to come into effect for the next supervisor, meaning that the supervisor salary will remain the same as long as her tenure continues. While Henyard will retain an salary $224,000 so long as she (as the incumbent) continues to hold the office of township supervisor, any successor will be paid a $25,000 salary in the same office. Similar salary decreases were passed for future township trustees, also retaining current salaries for incumbents so long as they continue to hold office.

Critics have alleged that the motivation for decreasing salaries for township offices only once a successors to the incumbents take office is to make the position less appealing to others so as to disincentivize potential challengers from running against the incumbents. The editorial board of the Chicago Sun Times called this action by Henyard and the township board, "about as politically rotten and self-serving as it gets." They further opined that, "this and other shenanigans illustrate how the southern suburbs [of Chicago] have been plagued by corruption and bad government for decades."

Municipal attorney Burt Odelson, who stands in political opposition to Henyard, called the move, "so illegal in so many ways," claiming, "it violates so many tenants of the law." Odelson called it, "maybe the worst attempt to try to dissuade people from running [for office as challengers] that I've ever seen." He argued that equal protection requires salaries to be "identity blind", meaning that they cannot change based upon who holds the office.

Accusations of retaliation

In August 2023, Henyard was accused of having locked the township assessor, a political adversary, out of the assessor's own office in an apparent act of retaliation. In late-February 2024, reporters were barred from attending a public township Black History Month event, being told that they would need to sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to be granted admission.

In 2024, a lawsuit was filed against Henyard and the township by a former township employee alleging that they had faced retribution for their refusal to compile a document for Henyard detailing "dirt" on township employees and their decision to take a leave of absence which they were entitled to under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The plaintiff alleges that, after the end of her leave, she was refused entry into the township building and forced to complete her work in her car. The plaintiff alleges that her employment was terminated after complaining about six weeks of pay she had not received.

Tiffany Henyard Cares nonprofit

Henyard founded Tiffany Henyard Cares, a charitable nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to assist individuals with cancer. CARES is a backronym for "Cancer and Remission Empowering Survivors". Henyard's nonprofit has received significant promotion on her government websites and government social media accounts.

In May 2023, an investigative report by Fox 32 Chicago made allegations of misconduct regarding municipal government interaction with the foundation, alleging that Henyard had, "funneled thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to a private foundation that bears her name." The report noted that thousands of taxpayer dollars had been spent on a group bicycle ride to the state capitol in Springfield, Illinois to support a bill related to breast cancer, despite the fact that the state legislature was not in session at the time and that the cited bill was never formally filed. The report also pointed out that the officers of the organization also worked for the city government.

A January 2024 investigation by WGN-TV's investigative journalism team reported that, "the Tiffany Henyard Cares Foundation benefited from money, manpower and promotion from the village of Dolton and Thornton Township, two municipalities led by Henyard." Their reporting noted that the registered agent of the nonprofit is Keith Freeman, who is also the village administrator of Dolton and an advisor to Henyard in her Thornton Township position. It also noted that the township spent $10,248 on hotels that were on the route of a 2022 protest traveling between Dolton and Springfield, Illinois that was sponsored by the nonprofit, and there have been instances where township trustees were requested to approve large sums of funding to be directed to the charity.

In January 2024, it was reported that the nonprofit had not been filing the required basic financial reports that charities and non-profits are required to, even after the Office of the Attorney General of Illinois had previously written to the nonprofit about this failure. In a follow-up letter dated January 17, 2024, the office's charitable trusts bureau informed the nonprofit that if they failed to comply by February 16, the bureau would pursue, "all available legal remedies in obtaining compliance with the Illinois charitable organization laws." After the charity failed to meet this deadline, the Illinois Attorney General's Office ordered it to cease soliciting donations, and threatened to take action to recover money that had been paid to its board members and staff. The Illinois Attorney General's Office also noted that the nonprofit is not in good standing nor registered with the state.

In a late-February 2024 interview with Roland S. Martin for his YouTube program, Henyard denied involvement or connection with the charity, despite evidence to the contrary.

In March 2024, a representative of the nonprofit responded to the Illinois Attorney General's Office, but provided an incomplete filings that lacked key records on its finances. The incomplete filing illustrated that nearly all of the nonprofit's funding came from township and village taxpayer money.

Personal life

When she took office as mayor, Henyard was described as being a single mother. As of March 2024, Henyard has continued to describe herself as such.

Henyard previously owned a restaurant named "Good Burger". The restaurant originally operated in Calumet City. This location closed by the time she became mayor, with plans to open a new location on the campus of South Suburban College. However, the restaurant bounced a check for obligations it owed to South Suburban College.

Awards and recognition

Henyard received the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign/Human Rights Defender Award. She was named "Community Activist of the Year" by Chicago Honors. Dorothy Brown & New Millennium of Women for Change awarded Henyard their "Government Commitment Award". She also received Queens Award for "Service to Community". In 2022, the organization Hook a Sista Up included Henyard as one of five women honored by their "Making the List" recognition. At a local "Martin Luther King Jr. Business Brunch" in 2024, Henyard received the "Martin Luther King Service Award".

Electoral history

2013 Dolton village trustee

2013 Dolton village trustees election Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tiffany Henyard	692	35.04
	Democratic	Robert E. Hunt Jr.	663	33.57
	write-in	Mary Kay Duggan	338	17.11
	write-in	Stanley "Stan" Brown	282	14.28
Total votes			1,975	100

2013 Dolton village trustees election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert E. Hunt Jr.	1,648	17.29
	Democratic	Tiffany A. Henyard	1,574	16.52
	Democratic	Stanley "Stan" Brown	1,479	15.52
	People's Party Of Dolton	Deborah Green	873	9.16
	Unified for Progress	Denise Harris	707	7.42
	People's Party Of Dolton	William Lochart	652	6.84
	Unified for Progress	James T. Jefferson	600	6.30
	People's Party Of Dolton	Willie Lee Lowe Jr.	576	6.04
	Unified for Progress	Charles Walls	560	5.88
	Independent	Garrett Ghezzi	278	2.92
	Visionary	Katina Washington	205	2.15
	Visionary	Aaron Brown	199	2.09
	Visionary	Krystel Russell	171	1.79
	write-in	Others	7	0.07
Total votes			9,529	100

2019 Dolton village trustee

2019 Dolton village trustees election Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Deborah M. Denton	1,716	16.11
	Democratic	Tiffany A. Henyard (incumbent)	1,606	15.08
	Democratic	Jason House	1,483	13.92
	Democratic	Robert E. Hunt Jr.	1,407	13.21
	Democratic	Meryl "Deneen" Williams	1,372	12.88
	Democratic	Ernesto E. Mickens	1,278	12.00
	Democratic	Felita D. Crayton	475	4.46
	Democratic	Mary E. Avent	390	3.66
	Democratic	Stanford J. Culp	340	3.19
	Democratic	Kevin A. Boens	272	2.55
	Democratic	Willie L. Lowe Jr.	211	1.98
	Democratic	Helaine Yates	103	0.97
Total votes			10,653	100

2017 Dolton village trustees election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Deborah M. Denton	897	34.41
	Democratic	Tiffany A. Henyard (incumbent)	807	30.96
	Democratic	Jason House	856	32.83
	write-in	Others	47	1.80
Total votes			2,607	100

2021 Dolton mayoral

2021 Dolton mayoral Democratic primary election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tiffany A. Henyard	1,001	34.28
	Democratic	Riley Rogers (incumbent)	888	30.41
	Democratic	Andrew Holmes	862	29.52
	Democratic	Robert Shaw	169	5.79
Total votes			2,920	100

2021 Dolton mayoral general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tiffany A. Henyard	2,036	82.03
	Independent	Ronnie Burge	446	17.97
Total votes			2,482	100
	Democratic hold