Mayor Tiffany Henyard files reelection petitions, will face Trustee Jason House in February primary; 9 seek candidate seek 3 trustee spots

Mayor Tiffany Henyard and Trustee Jason House both filed petitions by Monday’s deadline to run for Dolton village president in the February primary, and nine candidates have filed to run for three village trustee seats on the ballot.

Candidate filing information for township offices was not immediately available Tuesday as the offices in South Holland were closed for the day to honor the birthday of former longtime Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli.

But it appears several trustees and perhaps Henyard are not planning to run in the primary, instead focusing their run as Independents in the April election.

Henyard is under federal scrutiny both as Dolton mayor and as Thornton Township supervisor.

Federal investigators have, since this spring, delivered subpoenas seeking records about Henyard, people affiliated with her and organizations under her control at Dolton Village Hall and township offices in South Holland, as well as at Thornton Township High School District 205.

An attorney representing Henyard has declared she’s done nothing wrong.

Filing in the primary for Dolton village clerk are incumbent Alison Key and challenger Tannika Hughes.

Candidates seeking trustee spots are incumbents Kiana Belcher, Brittney Norwood and former trustee Edward “Ed” Steave, who are running on a slate with House and Key. Steave is a former trustee who lost his bid for reelection last year.

Challenging them are Joslyn King, Devon Lewis, Charles Rayburn, Christina I. Spraggins, Linda Terrell and Vanessa R. Wesco, according to the village clerk.

Elected to her first term in April 2021 as Dolton’s first Black female mayor, Henyard was appointed supervisor following Zuccarelli’s death Jan. 3, 2022.

House, who initially supported and ran with Henyard in 2021, is seeking to oust her and is running with his own slate of candidates.

House is up for reelection as a trustee, so will be off the Village Board if defeated in his mayoral bid.

Trustee Andrew Holmes was reelected last year, as was Trustee Tammie Brown. Stanley Brown was elected to his first term, and is not up for reelection.

Henyard announced this month on Facebook she would seek reelection as Dolton’s mayor and that an event announcing her slate of candidates would be scheduled in November.

Apart from the federal investigation from outside, Dolton government has been wracked by fighting among trustees and with Henyard, and lawsuits filed over issues such as where Village Board meetings should be held.

Appointments to key positions such as police chief are up in the air, and former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot this summer painted a bleak financial picture of the village, which has gone from fund surpluses to a multimillion-dollar deficit.

Dolton faces a forced audit by the state comptroller’s office, which is calling in an outside accounting firm to go over finances.

State campaign finance disclosure reports show Henyard’s campaign committee not receiving a single contribution for the last several months.

Friends of Tiffany Henyard did not record any contributions or expenses for the recently ended July-September quarter, and showed no income coming into the campaign since before the final three months of 2023, according to reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Henyard made a personal loan of $20,000 to the campaign March 6, and the campaign had just under $64,000 to spend at the end of September, according to filings.

In Thornton Township, Nate Fields, 33, who previously worked for the township under Zuccarelli and said his position was dissolved under Henyard, confirmed he will file as an Independent candidate for the April election rather than the primary.

Fields, of South Holland, said he is running to improve transparency and involve the community more in township decision making. He said he hopes to launch an app that will allow residents to access important township information in one central place.

“I’m hoping the community that is outraged about how Tiffany is acting is going to get up now and say, ‘OK, choose him now,’ because I need to get up and make a difference now,” Fields said.