The corruption- and scandal-plagued village of Dolton has failed to pay "a number of insurance premiums" in recent days, leaving the village "at risk of having no liability insurance," according to a lawyer representing the village's board of trustees.
"The Village is broke," wrote attorney Michael McGrath, of the firm of Odelson Murphey Frazier & McGrath, in a recent email to lawyers representing a group suing the village for violating the state's open records law.
The Cook County Record obtained a screenshot of the email.
Michael McGrath
| Odelson Murphey Frazier & McGrath
For years, the village of Dolton in Cook County's south suburbs has generated headlines both within the region and increasingly across the country for its governmental dysfunction and perceived mismanagement.
For years, Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard has stood at the center of the controversy, a lightning rod for complaints of misgovernance and accusations of public corruption.
According to published reports, Henyard's actions have drawn the attention of federal agents. The FBI has lodged subpoenas against Henyard, the village and Thornton Township, where Henyard also serves as township supervisor. The subpoenas also reportedly target her aides, personal associates and other organizations that surround her, amid a potentially sprawling investigation, with Henyard at its heart.
Amid the corruption accusations, Henyard has fought with the Dolton village board of trustees from the start of her vitriolic tenure as village president, as they have repeatedly been among those most loudly denouncing Henyard's pattern of alleged corruption, misgovernance and lawlessness.
Trustees have accused Henyard of attempting to rule the village by executive fiat, often ignoring the board or refusing to abide by village ordinances or the law. The breakdown in order has been illustrated in the hiring of attorneys to represent the village in legal matters.
While official village attorneys have answered to Henyard, the village board has also stuck with its own choice for lawyers.
Until April 2024, Henyard and the village were officially represented by attorneys with the firm of Del Galdo Law Group, of Berwyn. That firm is led by attorney Michael Del Galdo, a municipal and political lawyer with longstanding ties to now-indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and his associates. The Del Galdo firm represents numerous other Cook County suburban communities, typically raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from those contracts, according to past billing records.
In late April, however, Del Galdo withdrew from representing the village, claiming the village board had "voted to stop paying" them.
In at least one recent appearance in Cook County court, the village was represented by prominent Illinois Democratic Party lawyer Michael J. Kasper, of Chicago. Kasper was joined in that case by attorneys with the firm of Clyde & Co., also of Chicago.
Kasper has for decades operated at the highest levels of the Illinois Democratic Party, representing Democratic candidates and interests in court, particularly under Madigan. Currently, Kasper is also representing current Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch as he seeks to overturn a Springfield judge's ruling declaring unconstitutional a new state elections law which would effectively block dozens of Republicans from the ballot this fall.
In the meantime, while Henyard is represented by attorneys with ties to Madigan and the state Democratic Party, the village board has secured counsel of its own, through the Odelson firm.
The list of lawsuits against which the village must defend itself is already lengthy and growing.
The village has been hit by legal actions from a growing number of current and former village employees who have accused Henyard of misconduct, including illegal retaliatory discipline and terminations.
For instance, the village's former police chief said he was fired because Henyard believed his wife was too friendly with Henyard's political opponents.
Many of the lawsuits, however, have also centered on Henyard's alleged refusal to allow village employees to abide by the requirements of Illinois' Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), leading to the repeated refusal by village employees to turn over village government documents and other information they were required to release under FOIA. In communications replying to such requests - in the instances in which responses are sent - village employees have indicated they are acting under Henyard's orders to either refuse the requests or ignore them entirely.
Public interest investigators known as the Edgar County Watchdogs have been among those filing such lawsuits against the village for refusing their public information requests under FOIA.
In those lawsuits, they assert the village has refused to provide copies of village credit card statements and for payments made to Dolton Village Administrator Keith Freeman in 2023, all of which qualify as public information subject to FOIA. The lawsuits further note the Illinois Attorney General's office has issued binding opinions directing the village to issue the documents, and still the village has refused to honor the FOIA requests.
In the email obtained by The Cook County Record, McGrath told attorneys representing the Edgar County Watchdogs that as "legislative counsel" representing the village board he is "attempting to resolve a number of litigation matters that the Village cannot afford to defend, and cases like this matter, which should be resolved."
He said he was "open to agreeing to settle this matter so your client gets a court order and can get the records they requested many, many months ago."
But he cautioned the lawyers that they should not expect quick resolution if they are pushing for attorney fees, saying such fee demands would be "a major stumbling block."
"My firm hasn't been paid in over two years," McGrath said. "The Village is behind in its waste disposal contract, lost its Third Party Administrator, and I learned yesterday (the village) failed to make a number of insurance premiums," he said.
Third party administrators assist organizations, like governmental bodies, with processing claims and insurance actions.
"The Village is at risk of having no liability insurance," McGrath said.
"This is the type of information I can share with you as the public deserves to know this," McGrath added.
McGrath's email echoes statements made in April by Del Galdo in a letter announcing the firm's withdrawal. In that letter, Del Galdo said the village was "quickly approaching the point of being uninsurable," adding: "No one wants to represent the Village."
McGrath did not respond to a message left by The Cook County Record.
Dolton Village Administrator Freeman also did not reply to an email from The Cook County Record asking him to confirm if the attorney's comments regarding the status of Dolton's waste services contract and its insurance were accurate and factual.
Edgar County Watchdogs are represented by attorneys Edward "Coach" Weinhaus and Adam Florek, of LegalSolved LLC, of St. Louis.
In response to The Cook County Record, Weinhaus said: "Yes, the public does deserve to know it. And the public only does know because of the courage of citizens like the ECW (Edgar County Watchdogs.)"