Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard filed a lawsuit against a majority of the village's trustees this week over the location of official village business.
The filing follows a contentious set of meetings Monday, in which separate village board meetings were held at Dolton's village hall and park district, respectively.
The lawsuit, which was joined by trustees Andrew Holmes and Stan Brown, alleges that the meeting held at the Dolton Park District was illegal. The meeting held at Dolton's village hall was canceled due to a lack of quorum.
Henyard was heckled upon her arrival at the meeting held at the park district.
“We believe that meeting was improperly called and improperly held,” their attorney, Max Solomon, told NBC Chicago. “The residents of Dolton were confused. We believe that the courts can help declare this meeting be held where it is supposed to be held, at village hall.”
Henyard and the two trustees are asking a judge to declare Dolton’s village hall as the primary place for conducting village business. They also want some of the business items approved at the meeting to be voided.
Trustee Jason House, who is mayor pro-tempore, said a majority of trustees held the meeting at the park district because the village had recently been cited by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office for failing to make meetings convenient or open to the public.
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Residents have long complained about barricades at the village hall on the day of meetings and not enough seats. Solomon said that changes were made to rectify these concerns.
“The mayor took steps to correct those things that the attorney general required. And so we believe that for that reason, the meeting was supposed to have been here, and if it wasn't going to be here, there were steps that could have been taken,” Solomon said.
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Burt Odelson is the attorney for the majority of trustees.
“The lawyer who prepared it (the lawsuit) should go back to school, because it is a frivolous lawsuit. We did what the attorney general told us to do and that was to move the meetings to a place accessible to the public – that is exactly what we did,” Odelson said. “They moved it to the park district where it is handicap accessible – 300 people can get in – there is parking – there is no problem.”
The village clerk, village administrator and park district are also named in the Mayor’s lawsuit.
No court dates have been set, though the next Village Board meeting is set for Oct. 21.
