Henyard pledges to bring factions together within community

Tiffany Henyard held a commanding lead Tuesday night over Ronnie Burge in her quest to be the first female mayor of Dolton.

Unofficial results show Henyard had 82% of the vote with independent Burge’s at just 18%.

Henyard wouldn’t only be the first woman mayor of Dolton.

“I am also the youngest mayor in Dolton history,” the 37-year-old said.

At a postelection party, complete with McFadden and Whitehead’s “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” playing on the speakers, Henyard walked up to the podium thankful for the opportunity to step up after being a trustee in the village.

“I am grateful, honored and blessed that the voters came out and voted for me to be the next mayor of Dolton,” she said. “I do not take being the first female mayor of Dolton lightly. It is an awesome task bestowed on me.

We went through the storm and we made it.”

She is ready to get started by bringing factions of the community together.

“My main thing is to be the glue for my community,” she said. “I want to work with and bring together the park district, school board and library board. Right

Henyard now, my community is divided.

“I want to show them this board has compassion and transparency, and I want to give them that from Day 1.”

The two-term trustee figured to have her toughest competition during a Feb. 23 primary, in which she held off three opponents, including incumbent Mayor Riley Rogers.

“Our campaign was able to not only articulate our platform message to voters, but we were equally inspired to hear from the residents of their concerns for our beloved town,” Henyard said Tuesday in a news release.

Burge, a former police chief in Dolton and current police chief in Dixmoor, could have his position in that community in jeopardy as Fitzgerald Roberts won that race, with incumbent Dixmoor Mayor Yvonne Davis receiving only 5% of the vote in the three-way race. Roberts was one of two trustees who filed a lawsuit against Burge and other officers in 2020.

A judge dismissed the suit a year later.

In the Dolton trustee races, Jason House, Brittney Norwood and Kiana Belcher ran unopposed and Allison Key ran unopposed for clerk.