Thornton Township trustees fire 2 employees, Tiffany Henyard allies at first meeting since brawl
Just over a week after a Thornton Township meeting broke out in brawl involving Supervisor Tiffany Henyard, anti-Henyard activists and others, township trustees met Thursday to discuss their budget proposal and fire two employees.
Trustees Christopher Gonzalez, Stephanie Wiedeman and Carmen Carlisle required members of the public watch Thursday's special meeting from the township basement while the board convened upstairs 'to ensure a safe and orderly board meeting' following last week's chaos. Gonzalez was appointed supervisor pro tem in Henyard's absence.
About a dozen people showed up to watch the meeting in person, a stark contrast from the last meeting's packed basement.
Neither Henyard nor Trustee Darlene Gray-Everett showed up to vote on the short agenda, and trustees spent much of the time in closed session discussing two members of Henyard's administration, Kamal Woods and William Moore.
The board voted unanimously to fire the two employees, who were previously put on paid administrative leave. Wiedeman said Woods' participation in the prior meeting's brawl warranted his termination.
She said both Woods and Moore acted in ways that failed to meet standards required of 'any government employee who is paid with taxpayer funds.'
'There are different levels of respect, different levels of patience and different levels of all kinds of things that we expect to be upheld,' Wiedeman said. 'I just feel that those things weren't met.'
The board briefly discussed its 2025 budget proposal, revised from the budget repeatedly put forth by Henyard, but decided to table it.
Wiedeman said the three trustees at the meeting have worked with Finance Director Robert Hunt to create a balanced budget, which Henyard's proposal was not. She said trustees continue to scrutinize specific line items, but she hopes the budget will be ready by the next regularly scheduled meeting.
The proposals for general fund, general assistance fund and road and bridge fund are available to view at thorntontownship.com.
Trustee Gonzalez said the board will meet next week, though details have not yet been posted.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
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