Tiffany Henyard, the scandal-ridden Democratic mayor of Dolton, Illinois, who has been engulfed in controversy in recent months, is now facing a new headache involving allegations of her “targeting” the town’s own park district.
FOX 32 Chicago reported Tuesday that the Dolton Park District is sounding the alarm about $2,000 worth of citations it has received from the Village of Dolton over allegedly doing work without a permit. Two of the four tickets were issued for installing new playground equipment with the other two for spreading new mulch on the playgrounds.
“Every year we replenish the mulch in the park to ensure the kids are playing on a safe surface—healthy mulch, and we do this every year,” Dolton Park District President Cleo Jones told FOX 32 Chicago.
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Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard is being accused of politically targeting the town’s own park district.
Jones suspects the Dolton Park District, which FOX 32 Chicago notes is a separate government entity from Henyard’s office, is being targeted because it allowed her political opponents on the Dolton Board of Trustees to hold meetings on Park District property after being shut out of Village Hall.
“We do not play politics here. And do not put us in the middle of politics by issuing us these political citations,” Jones told FOX 32 Chicago.
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Henyard is also accused of holding up two grants worth a whopping $600,000 for park improvements by blocking the necessary permits.
“We’ve gone to the village for permitting, and they’ve been unresponsive,” Dolton Park District executive director Stephanie Wiedeman said. “I have a project manager that’s working on that, and they just refuse to give us the permits.”
Tiffany Henyard accused of extravagant spending that could bankrupt Village of Dolton, Illinois (Photo illustration). (Village of Dolton | stylemebrandon – Instagram/screenshot )
A $400,000 grant meant to rehabilitate Blackstone Park is on the brink of expiring if the permits aren’t issued by Henyard’s office within the next few weeks and the $150,000 in money already spent on the project will have to be footed by the taxpayers instead.
Wiedeman, an outspoken critic of Henyard, believes she’s being targeted by the mayor as a result.
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“What resident wants to look outside of their house and see beat up stuff? If we can upgrade these things, and you’re preventing it with a permit, the residents are suffering. They don’t get to look out their door and see nice things because you’re stopping it,” Wiedeman told FOX 32 Chicago.
Henyard’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital‘s request for comment.
Tiffany Henyard, a politician who has been embroiled in numerous controversies, had yet another contentious meeting with her constituents this week. (Screencap courtesy of video from Fox32)
Henyard, the self-proclaimed “supermayor” of a small town south of Chicago, has made national headlines over ongoing probes looking into her lavish spending.
Henyard has been dubbed the“worst mayor in America”by critics after being accused of financial misdeeds as well as weaponizing police raids. Most recently, she has also come under fire for an alleged sexual assault by one of her allies during a Las Vegas trip, where the alleged victim claims to have been fired after speaking out. Henyard’s cancer charity is also facing scrutiny.
Fox News Digital previously reported that Henyard has been living like a royal with a combined salary of nearly $300,000, more than the state’s governor, and the frequent use of beauty vendors, despite the town’s residents having a median income of $24,000.
In February, it was reported that theFBI was investigatingHenyard after six people had spoken to the agency about her alleged misconduct, including business owners, a former village employee and one or more public officials.
Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.