SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill. (WLS) — Thornton Township Supervisor Tiffany Henyard was absent from seeing the vacant trustee position filled during Tuesday night’s meeting.

It is a process she has been against. Now, some trustees say, the next move is to get a budget approved and insurance paid.

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A position that hasn’t been filled since October was decided on within minutes as electors, packing a South Holland fieldhouse, made a resounding choice.

Stephanie Wiedeman received the majority vote to fill a vacant Thornton Township trustee position, effective immediately.

Wiedeman beat out two other nominees during Tuesday night’s special meeting. She had served under Thornton Township’s previous administration since 2003, but Henyard fired her when she took office three years ago.

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“You don’t pour your entire adult life into 17 communities for somebody else to come in, and watch it fall apart,” Wiedeman said.

“She was already on the inside, and she’s more familiar with it. I don’t know why she fired her in the first place,” said Thornton Township elector Randy Smith.

Getting to this point has been contentious, for months, with Trustees Chris Gonzalez and Carmen Carlisle skipping out on meetings, fearing Henyard would appoint one of her allies to fill the vacancy.

That resulted in a local government shutdown. Bus services have been paused, township buildings have been locked down and insurance policies have been left unpaid.

“We might have to wait until the next regular board meeting, but we’re hoping to get all of that stuff going as soon as we could,” Gonzalez said.

Wiedeman will fill the trustee position until May after the April 1 election. It is an election she says she does not plan to run in. ABC7 reached out to Henyard for a comment, but did not immediately hear back.

READ MORE | Tiffany Henyard says Thornton Twp. shutdown protocols in place: ‘I am your Rosa Parks’ | EXCLUSIVE