Park Board seat to open as Todd Shissler announces Aug. 1 resignation

Wilmette Park Board Commissioner Todd Shissler will resign effective Aug. 1, according to Park District Executive Director Steve Wilson.

Shissler did not immediately return a phone call from The Record; however, Wilson said Shissler sent him a resignation letter on Monday, July 26, that stated the commissioner was relocating.

At the board’s July meeting, commissioners discussed a possible vacancy but stayed quiet on specifics, such as who and when; though, community members, including former Park Board member Bryan Abbott, informed The Record the commissioner in question was Shissler.

At the time, multiple messages from The Record to Shissler were unreturned, but an online listing showed his Wilmette home was “contingent.”

Shissler, who was elected in 2019, is the chairman of the board’s golf operations committee and also sits on the lakefront and real estate committees. In noteworthy decisions since the new board took office in May, Shissler voted to name Mike Murdock board president and subsequently to approve Murdock’s new committee structure.

The Park Board will seek to appoint a new member to fill out its seven-person board. According to the board’s attorney, Andrew Paine, during the July meeting a new commissioner must receive a majority vote from the remaining board members.

Paine said at the meeting that the board’s organizing document guides the board to publish the vacancy, collect applications and conduct interviews for prospective candidates.

In the April election, nine residents competed for three seats on the Park Board. Newcomers Allison Frazier, Patrick Duffy and Kara Kosloskus were the top vote-getters, just ahead of the race’s only incumbent, Bryan Abbott.

Residents Andrew Levy and Mike Doyle finished behind Abbott, and Mark Schumacher, Rich DeLeo and Walter Keats rounded out the field.

Abbott previously told The Record he was contacted by a Park Board member in May to gauge his interest of a possible vacancy to the board. It is unclear if other candidates from the April election were contacted.

Board President Mike Murdock did not immediately return a request for comment.

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Subscribe to The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a subscriber? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.