‘It’s a shell game’: Thornton Township trustees continue to skip meetings called by Tiffany Henyard
Thornton Township Board members continue to skip meetings mainly due to a dispute on filling a board vacancy.
Continued tensions within the Thornton Township Board led to the cancellation of two meetings with almost identical agendas this month due to a lack of quorum.
Trustees Christopher Gonzalez and Carmen Carlisle, who have become sharp critics of Henyard’s administration in the years since her 2021 appointment, have raised concerns in about receiving little to no information about proposals up for vote, such as a “100% tax refund for all homeowners” and bonuses for all township employees. They released joint statements ahead of a Nov. 19 scheduled meeting and a special meeting Henyard called for Monday to explain their absences.
“Unfortunately, this meeting’s agenda has not been properly vetted and includes items that are likely to provoke unnecessary conflict rather than create solutions,” the statement read.
Gonzalez said last week the lack of information forces Carlisle and him to essentially vote blind on issues that could have a meaningful impact on residents’ lives.
“The best analogy I’ve come up with is that it’s like a shell game, which is obviously not how things are supposed to be,” Gonzalez said.
But a major stumbling block may be Henyard’s desire to appoint a new trustee, potentially taking away her opponents’ voting power ahead of the April 2025 election. Recent meeting agendas have included voting on Henyards pick to replace Gerald Jones, who resigned last month.
“I would assume because she’s pushing it forward that she could get (the votes) either way — that’s why she’s so desperate to get this meeting going,” Gonzalez said Nov. 19. “We just want to get someone in there who’s neutral.”
Because the board is one member short, votes have often been Gonzalez and Carlisle versus Henyard and Trustee Darlene Gray Everett. Gonzalez said when appointing a trustee, Township Clerk Loretta Wells will have a vote and could decide the outcome.
Gonzalez said he instead hopes to wait and allow the decision to be up to residents, who will be given the opportunity to directly vote for a trustee at a town hall meeting if the doesn’t make an appointment by Dec. 7.
“Either way, that’s going to change everything,” Gonzalez said. “Either (Henyard is) going to get everything she wants or we’re going to have someone who’s more objective and is going to look at these things a little more realistically.”
Gonzalez later said if the new trustee votes against Henyard’s proposals, it will allow the board to focus on paying bills and keeping important township services going until the spring election, during which all trustees seats, the clerk and supervisor will be on the ballot.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
What's Your Reaction?
