A defiant Mayor Tiffany Henyard swaggered into Dolton Village Hall Monday night and flaunted her appellate court victory Friday that found June 28 votes to recall her were invalid.

Henyard showed no signs of being humbled by costly and wasteful legal battles that have divided the impoverished community of about 22,500 residents. She danced in place where the mayor presides over Village Board meetings while the 1979 disco hit “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” by McFadden and Whitehead played loudly over a sound system.

“I am and forever will be Dolton’s mayor,” Henyard told a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people packed into a space where there was seating for perhaps 50.

There was no doubting Henyard’s statement that she intends to remain mayor for life. She not only spoke the phrase as the capstone of a victory speech, she had it printed upon an 8-foot tall poster that bore the headline, “Recall Null & Void.”

“No mayor has done the things I have done in the short time of being mayor,” Henyard said. She was elected to a four-year term in April 2021 after narrowly winning a three-way Democratic primary in February 2021.

Henyard publicly hurled unfounded claims of misogyny at her political opponents.

“I want to be inspiration for young women of America,” she said. “I am living testimony that if it’s for you, no man can remove you from that seat.”

Henyard has been at odds with a board majority of five of the six elected trustees. Three of the five in the majority — Trustees Kiana Belcher, Tammie Brown and Brittany Norwood — are women.

Trustee Edward Steave publicly spoke on behalf of the board majority and graciously congratulated Henyard on the appellate court’s decision.

“I commend the mayor on her fight,” Steave said. “I congratulate her on her outcome. I only pray that this experience serves as a lesson that this seat that she holds or we hold is not ours, it belongs to the residents.”

Henyard responded with a juvenile, personal attack on her foes.

“My board has been obsolete as it relates to unity and they have divided our community because of their personal hatred for their mayor, their jealousy toward their mayor,” she said.

Henyard appeared to use a nonpartisan government public meeting for political purposes by calling on residents to oust her opponents in the upcoming spring municipal election.

“His seat is up come February of 2023,” Henyard said of Steave. “You all need to make sure you get to the polls and vote.”

Monday’s meeting seemed to indicate gridlock between Henyard and the board majority will continue for the foreseeable future. The mayor and trustees have battled over hiring, spending and other issues.

The board majority voted Monday to not pay any bills submitted for approval on a list of warrants, other than the biweekly payroll for village employees. Trustees needed more time to review the warrant list and would call a special meeting to consider items, Trustee Jason House said.

“A year ago our deficit was $380,000, now it’s $1.5 million,” House said.

Dolton and many other suburban municipalities typically are squeezed this time of year. Fund balances tend to run low as towns await disbursements of real estate taxes collected by the county treasurer.

This year, the Cook County assessor’s office was late sending out tax bills. Cook County offered no-interest loans to communities that needed funds to pay bills, and Dolton applied for and received the largest grant awarded.

“If this administration was responsible we would not need to take out loans to pay bills,” Steave said.

Henyard said many communities routinely issue tax anticipation warrants this time of year to make ends meet while awaiting property tax payments. She accused trustees of wasting public funds in legal fees over the recall issue.

“They could have done several things with the funds used to recall me,” she said. “That’s what you call wasteful spending.”

However, Henyard initiated the legal fight by filing a lawsuit April 25, and trustees said their legislative counsel has not been paid for seven months. House has said trustees wanted to consult with their attorney before deciding whether to appeal the appellate court ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Monday’s meeting consisted of more arguing, talking over one another, bickering, sniping and circular back-and-forth exchanges that have characterized Dolton public meetings for the past year.

The crowd appeared about evenly split between supporters of Henyard and the board majority. Some spoke during public comment in support of the mayor, while others expressed support for trustees.

Henyard may have lured supporters to the meeting with the promise of free food. Vendors served free tacos in the parking lot outside Dolton Village Hall before and during Monday’s meeting.

If no other developments break the present stalemate, the next chance to change the dynamic may be the spring elections. In addition to Steave, seats up for reelection are Henyard ally Andrew Holmes and board majority member Tammie Brown.

Dolton municipal elections are among the most competitive in the Southland. Eleven people ran for three seats in 2019, and nine ran for three seats in 2021.

Ted Slowik is a columnist at the Daily Southtown.

tslowik@tribpub.com