Police chief plays role in Dolton, Dixmoor mayoral elections

2021-03-30 - By Jeff Vorva For Daily Southtown

Ronnie Burge is going to be busy enough checking the results of the Dolton mayoral election April 6.

The independent candidate is running against trustee Tiffany Henyard, who won a four-person Democratic primary that included incumbent Riley Rogers.

But Burge will also be watching the mayoral race in Dixmoor, where he is the police chief. Incumbent Yvonne Davis and trustees Fitzgerald Roberts and Cynthia Mossuto are running for mayor. Because the mayor appoints police chiefs, Burge has a vested interest in that race.

Davis appointed him chief in 2017. But in January 2020, Roberts was one of two trustees who filed a lawsuit against Burge and six other officers for harassment, retaliation and intimidation for speaking out on alleged unwarranted salary payments the mayor, chief and officers were receiving. A year later, Judge Charles P. Kocoras dismissed the complaint.

“You can guess where I’m going,” Roberts said when asked about the chief ’s future. “Just Google up Ronnie Burge’s name.”

Roberts lost to Davis 174-146 in a five-candidate race in 2017.

Burge said that until April 6, he is putting his efforts into the Dolton mayor race.

“They are going to run their election in Dixmoor and I’m going to run mine in Dolton,” he said.

While the two elections are separate, some voters in Dolton can’t help but notice a publicized unconventional choice he made in Dixmoor in February, when he told his officers not to go out on patrol because the village is not supplying his officers with sufficient equipment.

“You have to provide certain equipment to police officers,” Burge said. “I could not allow officers go on the street when they don’t have protective gear. You have trustees who are posturing because they want to run for a position. Leave posturing out of the police department.”

Dixmoor election

The village also picked up some unfavorable publicity in 2020 for some trustees claiming Davis received double her monthly salary for two years. Roberts said the matter is in the hands of the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and has not heard a decision, yet.

Davis said there is no ruling pending, that there was a glitch in the system and she received two checks a month. She said she thought she was being paid for being both the mayor and the liquor commissioner.

“I truly believed that was my stipend,” she said.

She said once she found the error, she held a town hall meeting in September 2019, to explain the situation publicly and vowed to pay the money back. She said that the glitch also happened with trustees’ pay.

Also in February, the village received more bad publicity because residents complained of reduced water pressure or, in some cases, no water at all.

Taking showers, washing dishes and doing laundry have been a nightmare for some.

“It affects me,” Mossuto said. “Before I’m a trustee, I’m a resident.”

She said that improving the water system is on her Dixmoor Deserves Better Party’s mission statement along with revitalizing the economy and providing full staffing of the police department.

Roberts said he has already spoken to an engineering firm and is working on getting a grant to work to improve the water situation.

Davis said at one point engineers thought they found the problem with leaks, but that wasn’t the cause.

“Now they are looking at work that the state has done,” she said. “We are looking at the area of I-57 where they have been doing work near the highway. When they started work is when we started having problems.”

Meanwhile, the negative publicity surrounding the village that has gone on for at least 10 years is something Roberts and Mossuto want to stop.

“We just want to move the village forward with better services for our residents,” Mossuto said. “That is our main goal. I just want to spread the positivity of what we can do. We’re in a positive mode and we see a lot of things that can happen in the village. The village can really do well with the right leadership.”

Roberts said he is willing to cooperate if he is elected.

“God’s will, I will work together with everyone good or bad,” he said. “I would like to see everyone in this town getting along. I walk and talk with everyone out here. We would like to move the town forward and have fun in Dixmoor. It’s a nice place to be.”

Roberts said he would like to see new home construction and businesses coming into town.

Davis called the past four years the worst four years of her life in politics.

“I have four trustees from hell. The citizens called them that and I agree,” Davis said. “The saddest part is that they were so kind and sweet when I first met them. Once I became mayor, they made it clear that it was nothing personal, but they weren’t going to vote for anything I wanted.

“I’m a very direct and to-the-point person and I don’t think they are used to that.”

Running for clerk are incumbent Juanita Darden and former Mayor Keevan A. Grimmett.

Running for three fouryear terms for trustee are Raymond Lavigne, Alda Leavy-Skinner, Lizette Delgado, Dwayne Tyson, Jr., Charlene McFadden, Angela Franks-Muse and Iliana Guzman.

Cynthia Mossuto

Age: 61

Occupation: Security for Smith Mobile Homes

Lived in Dixmoor: 19 years

Civic experience: Village trustee; hosted senior citizen’s dining event for seven years

Fitzgerald Roberts

Age: 56

Occupation: Semiretired owner of multiple housing units

Lived in Dixmoor: 20 years

Civic experience: Village trustee since 2011; deacon at Restoration of Faith Church in Flossmoor

Yvonne Davis

Age: 61