After tit for tat calls for accountability during heated exchanges between Thornton Township trustees and Supervisor Tiffany Henyard, officials approved audits of all township departments along with a former official’s credit card during a board meeting Tuesday evening.
As Trustees Carmen Carlisle and Chris Gonzalez called out Henyard for continued unauthorized spending and general lack of transparency regarding township operations, Henyard shot back by questioning Carlisle’s spending when the trustee worked as her assistant. She motioned to conduct a “forensic audit/investigation” of former Thornton Township administrator Keith Freeman’s credit card “and Carmen Carlisle’s use of said card.”
“Let’s talk about your entanglement with Keith Freeman,” Henyard said to Carlisle during the meeting. “Let’s open the door so everyone knows what’s going on here in Thornton Township. We are going to tell the truth.
Carlisle said she welcomed any investigation into her spending as Henyard’s assistant, which she said was directed by the supervisor herself.
“I have no problem in sitting down and talking to an investigator about any of the purchases I made on behalf of Thornton Township or Supervisor Henyard — the multiple trips I booked for her, the expensive hotel suites, the first class flights, the expensive dinners, you know, the different amenities that she received that were provided to her on behalf of Thornton Township residents,” Carlisle said.
With two trustees absent from Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved the investigation, though members did not discuss who will audit the credit card or how much it will cost.
The board approved another audit into all Thornton Township departments going back three years, but Henyard opposed other proposed accountability measures brought by trustees, including changing salaries for elected officials, creating an Accountability Department and establishing a whistleblower protection policy.
Carlisle also said she would support hiring Lori Lightfoot to investigate spending at Thornton Township following the former Chicago mayor’s report about Henyard’s administration as mayor of Dolton.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
