Thornton Township trustees are putting limits on spending for township events by Supervisor Tiffany Henyard’s administration, and enacting rules for use of credit cards by township staff.
The actions came during a township board meeting Tuesday that actually started out as two meetings, both held in the township’s South Holland offices but in different rooms on different floors.
An ordinance regulating spending for township sponsored events gives township department chiefs a spending cap of $1,000 per week or $10,000 per month, and requires the board to sign off on event budgets before money is committed or spent.
A second ordinance is intended to regulate use of credit cards by township staff. Details of the ordinance were not immediately available.
Township meetings are typically held on the second floor of the township building in South Holland, and there were people seated there along with Trustee Darlene Gray-Everett and Clerk Loretta Wells.
People attending the meeting, however, were shunted to a large room in the building’s basement, where large video monitors showed a live feed from the board room as well as a live video feed from the room downstairs.
Three trustees who are at odds with Henyard — Carmen Carlisle, Chris Gonzalez and Gerald “Jerry” Jones — sat at long tables in the downstairs overflow room. At one point Henyard came downstairs and spoke briefly with Jones and Gonzalez before leaving, as people repeatedly chanted “meeting downstairs.”
There was something of a standoff, and a few minutes later, Carlisle explained to those waiting that because they needed the clerk to call the roll on votes and record the meeting, they couldn’t begin despite having enough trustees for a quorum.
As roughly 160 people waited downstairs, the other board members were seated upstairs, and Henyard could be seen on the video feed with her back turned and conversing with the board’s attorney.
The meeting, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., didn’t get underway until just before 7 after Henyard, Wells and Gray-Everett joined the three trustees downstairs.
The board’s vote to set caps on event spending drew harsh remarks from Henyard, who said trustees were trying to do away with popular township events such as bingo, Black History Month observances and food giveaways.
Gonzalez said the ordinance is “in no way looking to eliminate these things” but establish financial oversight.
“We’re not looking to necessarily cut things out,” he said.
Departments would have to file detailed plans with the board, including costs for event planning, venue rental, equipment and prizes and awards, according to the ordinance.
The township’s finance department will be required to conduct regular audits of event-related expenses and departments would need to file monthly reports detailing spending, according to the ordinance.
The ordinance approved on a 3-2 vote with Henyard and Gray-Everett voting no.
In setting rules for use of credit cards, Gonzalez said “we need to put some safeguards in place to regulate what’s spent on credit cards.”
Henyard said Gonzalez and other trustees should have consulted with department heads.
The ordinance includes the supervisor as cardholder, and Henyard insisted she wanted no part of that and demanded trustees remove her from the ordinance. A motion made by her to do that was supported by just her and Gray-Everett.
“I do not want a credit card,” Henyard said. “I do not deal with money.”
She said each department head has a card and “they are accountable for their spending.”
Trustees held off taking action on a budget and appropriation ordinance for the township, but did not give a clue as to when it might be reconsidered.
Carlisle said she and other trustees needed more time to review and make revisions to the budget.
Gonzalez said “this budget is a little bloated.”
Henyard criticized trustees for not taking action on the spending plan, saying a tentative budget had been available for trustees’ review since April.
“They still don’t have an idea of what they want to do or what they want to change,” she said.
Henyard insisted the trustees needed to set a date for when a budget might be considered.
“You’ll be notified,” Gonzalez said.
A motion to table action was approved on a 3-2 vote, with Henyard and Gray-Everett opposed.
