Tiffany Henyard and the Art of Improperly Commingling Public Funds/Resources –

Dolton & Thornton Twp – (ECWd) –

Tiffany Henyard’s rampant commingling of public funds, property, and personnel is nothing less than a contractual relationship, albeit an unwritten relationship, between two local governments spearheaded by the same person elected to head both units of local government.

Although the Attorney General has not (yet) written an opinion on the possible incompatibility of the office of Mayor and that of Township Supervisor, we doubt any one person has pushed the envelope this far in the history of this state.

While we admit the Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act does not prohibit a Mayor or Township Supervisor from holding an elected office in another unit of local government, the holding of the other elected office is conditioned on the fact that neither unit of local government have contractual relationships with each other. The Village of Dolton and the Township of Thornton have had weekly, and almost daily, “contractual relationships” with each other – even though not formalized relationships – thanks to Tiffany Henyard’s rapidly failing “leadership” model.

These commingling activities should be considered “conflicts of duties” which create incompatibilities in public offices.

This is but one of many forthcoming articles demonstrating that Tiffany Henyard, as the Mayor of Dolton and the Supervisor of Thornton Township, is currently serving in incompatible offices, based on her frequent and repeated actions of commingling funds, property, and personnel at a whim and without any board approval. We believe an informal or verbal “contract” has been established inside the mind of Henyard as she obviously cares not to separately protect the valuable taxpayer resources of the village and township and is not faithfully performing with undivided loyalty to her elected duties to each of the units of local government she serves.

“`[T]he common law doctrine of incompatibility * * * insure[s] that there be the appearance as well as the actuality of impartiality and undivided loyalty.'” (quoting O’Connor v. Calandrillo (1971). Another good case to read comes out of Harvey, Illinois, and explains the issues pretty well (here).

In the following photos and videos submitted by residents of Dolton and Thornton Township – and by Henyard’s own social media postings, you can clearly see improperly used township and village vehicles to perform work for each other, illegally used township road district funds to purchase two police cars and title them in the township’s name (instead of the road district), illegally placed police license plates on them and illegally used the activated police lights for personal gain, used at least six vehicles from the two local governments on a 10-day look-at-me trip to Springfield (pay special attention to the safety and traffic violations on the township trailer during this trip), and used government vehicles in an impromptu “parade” to intimidate people after the appellate court said she could stay in office.

Various photos and videos from the past few months – we will concentrate on each individual event in future articles:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Video clips of the various events and locations where village and township resources were commingled, including their unauthorized use on a 10-day event of Henyard’s newly formed alleged nonprofit. We will discuss these individually in future articles:

***

Incompatible Offices / Conflicts of Interest

From the Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act:

(50 ILCS 105/2) (from Ch. 102, par. 2)

    Sec. 2. No alderperson of any city, or member of the board of trustees of any village, during the term of office for which he or she is elected, may accept, be appointed to, or hold any office by the appointment of the mayor or president of the board of trustees, unless the alderperson or board member is granted a leave of absence from such office, or unless he or she first resigns from the office of alderperson or member of the board of trustees, or unless the holding of another office is authorized by law. The alderperson or board member may, however, serve as a volunteer fireman and receive compensation for that service. The alderperson may also serve as a commissioner of the Beardstown Regional Flood Prevention District board. Any appointment in violation of this Section is void. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit an elected municipal official from holding elected office in another unit of local government as long as there is no contractual relationship between the municipality and the other unit of local government. This amendatory Act of 1995 is declarative of existing law and is not a new enactment. (Source: P.A. 102-15, eff. 6-17-21.)

Sec. 2a. Township officials.

    (a) No township supervisor or trustee, during the term of office for which he or she is elected, may accept, be appointed to, or hold any office by the appointment of the board of township trustees unless he or she first resigns from the office of supervisor or trustee or unless the appointment is specifically authorized by law. A supervisor or trustee may, however, serve as a volunteer firefighter and receive compensation for that service. Any appointment in violation of this Section is void. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit an elected township official from holding elected office in another unit of local government as long as there is no contractual relationship between the township and the other unit of local government. This amendatory Act of 1995 is declarative of existing law and is not a new enactment.

    (b) On and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly, a person elected to or appointed to fill a vacancy in an elected township position, including, but not limited to, a trustee, a supervisor, a highway commissioner, a clerk, an assessor, or a collector, shall not be employed by the township, except that a supervisor or trustee may serve as a volunteer firefighter and receive compensation for that service as provided in subsection (a). (Source: P.A. 100-868, eff. 1-1-19.)