Henyard Filed Another Frivolous Suit Against Thornton Township Trustees –

South Holland, Ill. (ECWd) –

The embattled and failing Thornton Township Supervisor, Tiffany Henyard, has filed another complaint against two Thornton Township trustees, which complains of some of the same actions Tiffany Henyard herself has participated in – not attending public meetings.

The complaint is a “mandamus” – which by its very definition seeks the court to compel defendants to do, or not do, something the laws of this state mandate they do or prohibits them from doing. In this case, it is attendance at regular, special, and emergency meetings of the Thornton Township Board of Trustees – which no state law mandates.

We predict this complaint will be dismissed if not withdrawn prior to any court hearings.

Here is why we believe it will fail:

• The Illinois Township Code DOES NOT require, or mandate, any trustee to attend any Special or Emergency meetings of the township, and therefore the court would lack the authority to mandate attendance at those meetings
• The Illinois Township Code DOES NOT mandate any trustee to attend any Regular meetings of the township, and therefore the court would lack the authority to mandate attendance at those meetings
• There is a “refusal to serve” in section 55-30 of the township code which does not apply to a township trustee, but the only penalty for “refusing to serve” is forfeiting $25 to the township. The definition of “refusal to serve” is not found in the township code
• There is section 55-37 which talk about misconduct and a palpable omission of duty and other things, but since the township code does not make attending a meeting a “duty” of a trustee, we doubt this could be applied
• The Illinois Township Code DOES, in paragraph 60 ILCS 1/80-10(c), provide for a mechanism to remove trustees for failing to attend FIVE consecutive regular meetings of the township board, however, the action of removal is a “board” action. This is not a mandatory action of the board, it is a discretionary action and cannot be mandated by the courts. Which means that a majority “of the board” could (if they wanted to) remove a member for missing five consecutive regular meetings, but it would also require at least three affirmative votes. Henyard cannot obtain those three votes for removal of a trustee for failing to attend five consecutive regular meetings
• The two defendant trustees have not missed five consecutive “regular” meetings of the township, and there are no “regular” meetings scheduled for 2025 since the regular meeting schedule has not been approved by the majority (three) of the township board
• Henyard lists several regular and special meetings the defendants missed but fails to list the most recent special meeting that the plaintiff Henyard did not attend

On a side note, Attorney Solomon has never been hired by the Thornton Township Board of Trustees, so it is unclear to us how he plans on getting paid for representing Henyard unless she personally pays him.

Read the Complaint below: