Winnetka Park Board President Elise Gibson publicly demanded Commissioner Colleen Root's resignation on July 23, calling her "unfit to serve" after the board voted 6-0 to discipline Root for a personal email exchange with a resident about park district business.

It was the third time the board has disciplined Root since 2024. The vote took place more than four hours into a five-and-a-half-hour session at the Park District administrative office on Hibbard Road, where the underlying dispute centers on the future of Winnetka's parkland and open spaces.

The triggering incident: a July 8 email in which Root, replying from her personal account to resident Robert Mucci, called the board majority "compromised" and urged Mucci to spread the word and attend the July 23 meeting. Root abstained from the discipline vote; the remaining six commissioners voted unanimously in favor.

"I call on you to show some humility and accountability and to resign," Gibson said at the meeting, according to The Record North Shore. "You are unfit to serve. Your desire to hurt this board prevents you from properly serving this district's residents."

Root refused.

What the email said

The email exchange, included in the July 23 meeting packet as a public document, shows Mucci writing to Root's personal account alleging the Park Board's mission-and-vision survey was designed to achieve "personal enrichment." Root replied that taxpayers spent nearly $200,000 on a Comprehensive Master Plan by consulting firm Berry Dunn, which the board unanimously approved in October 2025, and accused the majority of trying to "walk back" that plan.

Root also wrote that she had a harassment complaint filed against her for fighting to include open-land preservation as a focus area in the master plan.

Both emails encouraged circulation. Mucci wrote "feel free to disseminate." Root wrote "please let your contacts know what is going on."

Gibson's case and Root's defense

Gibson alleged Root violated three provisions of the Park Board's code of conduct: failing to support majority decisions, failing to bring the resident's email to the board's attention and failing to direct the resident's complaints through proper channels. She called Root's email actions "libelous and destructive."

Root read a prepared statement calling the exchange a personal conversation with a friend and defending her right to express an opinion. She asked how a private correspondence ended up in a public meeting packet. Gibson's response: "You were caught; sorry you don't like it."

Root's rebuttal was continually interrupted by Gibson and Commissioner Scott Corley.

Commissioner Cynthia Rapp, who voted with the majority, offered a different take. "I do view it as an example of the petty cruelty of local politics on both sides," Rapp said. "It's unfortunate we need to deal with it."

A pattern of discipline

The July 23 vote was unanimous. The February 2026 discipline, which followed a months-long third-party investigation into a complaint by Executive Director Shannon Nazzal, passed only 4-3. That investigation did not support most of Nazzal's claims, but the board still limited Root's contact with park staff.

The first action came in April 2024, when then-President Christina Codo led a censure motion that restricted Root's staff interactions and placed her park district email under monitoring through April 2025.

Former President Warren James also called for Root's resignation on multiple occasions between 2021 and 2023. Gibson is the second board president to make that demand.

What residents can do

Under Illinois law, there is no recall mechanism for local park district commissioners. Root, who began her first term in 2021, cannot be removed by the board. Residents who want a change have one option: vote her out at the next election.

The discipline motion, proposed by Commissioner Christina Codo, requires Root to submit a letter of apology to the Park Board and a letter of correction to Mucci. The board agreed to review the draft correction letter before its release. No deadline for those letters has been publicly specified.

The next Committee of the Whole meeting is Aug. 14 at 6 p.m. at 540 Hibbard Road. The next regular Park Board meeting is Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. at the same location.