Thornton Township hall in South Holland set to shutter due to insurance lapse

Due to an insurance lapse, Thornton Township services begin to grind to a halt. Trustees Carmen Carlisle and Chris Gonzalez continued their meeting boycott at a regular meeting, Dec. 17, 2024.

The board was once again left without a quorum to approve its budget or renew its insurance.

“You residents, when you come here and ask for help, whether it’s upstairs for your lights, your gas, your water, your mortgage, your rental assistance, your burial system, also transportation, also the food pantry — all these things are in jeopardy,” Henyard said. 

Cutting township services hit close to home for Harvey resident Diane Alexander, whose mother often used the township’s free transportation service for seniors. 

“My mother used to use the services,” Alexander said, “so I hate to think that somebody else’s mother is not able to use it because we’re not able to pay bills,” Alexander told the HWH.

Alexander was inspired by dysfunction at Harvey’s City Council to start attending Thornton Township meetings to see what’s really going on. She has been live-streaming the meetings, urging her neighbors to stay informed on local government. 

But she doesn’t always know what to think. Alexander doesn’t trust Henyard’s word on the impending township shutdown without seeing the paperwork herself. 

“How much of it is true? How much is not true?” Alexander said. “Because they never, might never, show you the paperwork to say ‘this is the expiration date.’” 

The night’s agenda included motions to approve an insurer starting Jan.1, approving  both the 2024 and 2025 fiscal budgets, and the township’s tax levy for general fund, general assistance fund, and road and bridge fund.

That evening, the board was also set to consider accepting the resignation of Gerald “Jerry” Jones, who resigned in October 2024. Until then, the board won’t move forward with consideration of a vacancy appointment.

“The lawyers are saying that we cannot move forward as relates to the township because we don’t have insurance,” she said, “which the Board of Trustees did not come and vote for the insurance when we put it on there several different times.”

“No bills have been paid,” Henyard said. “That includes our food pantry, for those that rely on the food pantry […]”

Days later, residents seeking assistance with utility bills and other township services couldn’t access the building as it was closed, NBC5 Chicago reported.

Attendees began speaking loudly over supervisor Henyard toward the end of her comments. Cries of “liar” and “bully” rang through the room as Henyard walked out. 

Beth McBride, a longtime Dolton resident, stood in the middle of the room and spoke loudly. 

“I am so proud of Carmen Carlisle and I am so proud of Chris Gonzalez for taking a stand on behalf of the people of Thornton Township,” McBride said. 

McBride wants Henyard to resign from both of her positions as Dolton mayor and township supervisor as “the needs of the people are not being met” under her leadership. 

That preceded an uproar by Vivian Allen, a Dolton resident and frequent critic of Henyard’s, over a social media post by township food pantry manager Keith Price.

Price wrote that Allen was sick because of her “bitterness” and “wickedness.” Allen’s a cancer survivor. Price added that her “cancer will come back ten times harder” if she continued stirring drama, adding that she’s a “paid rebel rouser.”

The meeting also marked the first since Henyard officially filed a lawsuit against Illinois Senator Napoleon Harris (15th) over caucus results earlier that month.

She is represented by Max Solomon, a South Suburban College adjunct professor.