Village of Shorewood Hills via Facebook
Shabnam Lotfi, center, talks during the Village of Shorewood Hills Board of Trustees Meeting on December 16, 2025.
Shorewood trustee Shabnam Lotfi, center, talks during the Dec. 16 board meeting.
Village of Shorewood Hills trustee Shabnam Lotfi verbally abused staff, slammed her fists on a desk, and threatened employees’ jobs at the village hall in an attempt on Nov. 25 to receive documents she was searching for, according to a report prepared by village Police Chief Jaime Weitzel that included witness statements gathered by Weitzel and the village administrator.
“During these two hours, [village treasurer and finance director] Julie Fitzgerald was so upset she was crying, which in turn made me tear up,” Chrissy Kahl, village clerk and deputy treasurer, wrote in her statement. “During these two hours, Jaime Weitzel teared up as well. It was like riding a rollercoaster, one minute we were talking calmly and the next minute Shabnam was yelling at us.”
When the police report was discussed at a Dec. 16 meeting of the Board of Trustees, Weitzel said that Lotfi’s behavior “rose to the level of disorderly conduct. I used discretion not to arrest you.”
“I did that because I thought we could calm down, make some sort of resolution, try to work together,” Weitzel added. “I thought that was the best option moving forward, because I see the disarray that this whole village is in. I thought if I arrested you, it would have erupted in chaos.”
According to witness statements, Lotfi, an immigration attorney, entered Shorewood’s village hall in search of a “profit and loss” statement for the company that previously owned the Lodgic building on University Avenue. The village had sought to purchase the building for a new village hall this summer, but trustees abandoned the idea of the $6.5 million purchase in October due to resident pushback.
It’s not the first time Lotfi, first elected to the board in 2019, has been accused of abusive behavior toward village staff. In July 2024, the board weighed, but ultimately rejected, censuring Lotfi after she accused the former village administrator of racial discrimination, according to Madison365. Lotfi is a naturalized U.S. citizen of Iranian descent.
Lotfi has alleged that the Lodgic spreadsheet was withheld from village trustees prior to their vote on Oct. 21 to rescind the purchase. Village President John Imes disputes that claim, telling Isthmus in November that “every trustee had access to the same information throughout the Lodgic process” and that “the village never received that document.”
It’s the latest incident in a series of events that has riled up tensions in the village. Residents have organized against the approval of two new single family homes over qualms related to their setbacks. Lotfi and other trustees have also called for Imes to resign in relation to his “leadership with respect to the Lodgic building deliberations.” He has refused to do so.
Asked for comment, Lotfi says that “I said everything I needed to say at the board meeting, which can be watched on the village's Facebook page.”
She says the village administrator launched an “investigation” into her behavior only after she emailed Kahl and Weitzel on Nov. 25 asking "what about the situation caused Jaime’s presence to be warranted."
“To reiterate what I said then, it was my email asking what warranted contacting the police that triggered a police investigation to be initiated. That fact speaks for itself.”
According to the witness statements, Lotfi arrived at the village hall around 9 a.m. on Nov. 25 and told front desk workers, both of whom are recent hires, that she was looking to speak with Julie Fitzgerald, the village’s finance director and treasurer. Lotfi reportedly said it was “OK to let her in because she was a trustee,” Fitzgerald wrote.
Fitzgerald wrote that Lotfi expressed frustration at the time it was taking to get her written records request, which she submitted on Oct. 21, fulfilled. In her request, Lotfi asked for “all emails” from Tim Rikkers, a principal at real estate firm Cresa Madison who negotiated with the village on the Lodgic purchase, “addressed to any and all trustees and/or staff, related to the purchase of Lodgic, between May 1, 2025, to October 22, 2025,” as well as “all emails to and from trustees related to Lodgic that have attachments.”
Fitzgerald asked for a more specific explanation about what records Lotfi was seeking, at which point she wrote that Lotfi “yelled at me to ‘Just give me the spreadsheets!’ and pounded both of her fists on my desk.”
Fitzgerald offered to look through her email “in an effort to defuse the situation.” The search came up with nothing, according to Fitzgerald, at which point Lotfi asked if “she could sit at my desk and look for herself.” Fitzgerald allowed her to, but asked “why this was so important to her when the Lodgic issue had been over for more than a month.”
“She again pounded on my desk yelling, ‘It IS important. The truth is important!’” Fitzgerald wrote.
Weitzel, whom the front desk workers had asked to help mediate the situation, then entered the office, at which time Lotfi yelled at her, “Jaime, do you have the spreadsheet?!” Kahl, the village clerk, entered the office and Lotfi, according to Fitzgerald, also yelled at her to “Just give me the spreadsheets!"
Lotfi “continued berating staff,” according to Fitzgerald, and then said that “if staff don’t do a better job with open records” she would look to pass a resolution forcing staff members to comply with records requests within 10 days. State law requires open records requests to be fulfilled “as soon as practicable and without delay,” but does not put a specific timeline on the fulfillment of such requests.
Fitzgerald also noted that Lotfi asked whether Kahl had muted her microphone when she asked Imes to resign during a Nov. 24 village Board of Trustees meeting and “then seemed baffled by the fact that [Kahl] was offended by the accusation.”
“Both Weitzel and I explained that her question was in fact an accusation which was not only extremely unlikely and unfounded, but questioned [Kahl’s] honesty, integrity and professionalism as a clerk,” wrote Fitzgerald.
Lotfi asked Fitzgerald to directly contact Computer Magic, the IT vendor the village works through for open records requests, to obtain any records responsive to her request. Fitzgerald said that would not be appropriate, as “staff needed to be the ones to authorize requests with village vendors.”
“Lotfi then asked to hug the three of us. Both Chrissy and Jaime declined, but I reluctantly agreed hoping to maintain a good working relationship in the future. She then left my office where I heard her give a cheery farewell to the front office staff,” Fitzgerald wrote.
Fitzgerald wrote that Lotfi later called her and said “there was an email waiting for me from Computer Magic to authorize her request,” contrary to her instructions “not to contact our vendor directly.” Fitzgerald authorized the request “in an attempt to put an end to a difficult situation.” The “ONLY” email responsive to the request, according to Fitzgerald, was from Lotfi.
“Lotfi had disrupted the entire administration office of the village for over two hours, caused staff unnecessary stress, and attempted to shame staff for not providing her with records that she already had in her possession,” wrote Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald and Village Administrator Brian Mooney later received an email from Computer Magic requesting “a meeting ASAP regarding ‘a rather hostile and unprofessional encounter with one of the village trustees.’” As of Dec. 13, Fitzgerald wrote that Lotfi still has not picked up the files nor “provided the payment that she stated multiple times she was willing to pay.”
Brandon Gracyalny, vice president of Computer Magic, wrote in a Dec. 11 email to Mooney that Lotfi “threatened us and Julie [Fitzgerald] saying that we should be fired."
Lotfi, in her witness statement, wrote that she was responding to residents’ concerns about records requests not being fulfilled. She wrote that “while it is unreasonable for any resident to expect immediate response to open records requests, it is equally unreasonable for requests to remain unanswered indefinitely.”
She also wrote that she felt “offended” that the front desk workers requested that Weitzel come to monitor her actions. “I made no verbal threats. I did not physically contact [Fitzgerald]. She did not ask me to leave,” wrote Lotfi. “As there was no indication to me that Fitzgerald feared for her safety, I could not understand why police were called.”
Added Lotfi: “I followed up to ask for clarification but did not receive any response. Instead, there now appears to be the need for an investigation. In other words, my attempt to understand why police were called has resulted in scrutiny of my conduct.”
Lotfi wrote that her actions were “focused on obtaining public records and fulfilling my responsibilities as an elected official.”
“History has shown, most notably in Watergate, that the erosion of public trust does not begin with dramatic wrongdoing, but with small acts of secrecy and obstruction,” Lotfi wrote. “I will not allow for the normalization of withholding information to continue.
“History shows that equality is never freely given,” she added. “It is fought for, demanded, and sometimes seized against resistance. From Selma to Montgomery marches to Kathrine Switzer dressing as a man to run the Boston Marathon in 1967, people have taken bold actions to claim fairness.”
The police report filed on Lotfi was on the agenda of the village Board of Trustees’ Dec. 16 meeting. Village Attorney Bill Cole suggested the discussion be done in closed session, as it could “impugn” the reputations those involved and involved allegations of a “hostile work environment.”
Lotfi argued against that, noting that the report detailed allegations made against her, not village staff.
“I’m the one who should want this in closed session,” said Lotfi. “I have nothing to hide.”
She suggested that some of the allegations made against her were motivated by racial bias. Resident Gloria Beach said during the public comment period that she was in the village hall on Nov. 25 incident and heard an employee describe Lotfi as “not of American descent.”
“Free speech allows you to be rude, and I don't want to lose the fact of the double standard,” said Lotfi. “Black women in this country, there's a problem where, when they advocate for themselves, it's perceived as anger. But they're talking the same as a white person would.”
Speaking at the meeting, Fitzgerald challenged that assertion, saying that “your behavior had nothing to do with your race. I don't even see that — you're just a person to me.”
“But it is not acceptable for you to yell, to beat on my desk, to intimidate me and the rest of my staff, and use your position the way you did,” said Fitzgerald. “You scared the shit out of my brand new staff.”
Lotfi said Fitzgerald was owed an apology, but, regarding the front desk workers, said “I owe them nothing.”
She likened Mooney, the village administrator, asking Weitzel to collect statements about the incident to “it's the same thing as [U.S. Attorney General] Pam Bondi weaponizing the Department of Justice and taking their orders from [President Donald] Trump."
She said she was exercising her right to “free speech” when contacting the vendor, even if it was not expected behavior of a village trustee.
“I don't know why it matters what I say or what I don't say to a vendor,” said Lotfi. “It’s free speech. ‘Yeah, I'm mad at you for not fulfilling my open record request. I am angry. I'm gonna fire you.’ It's free speech.”
Trustees did not vote on any action related to the item at the meeting. Cole said the board could censure Lotfi, which would be a symbolic measure. Imes, the village board president, suggested that trustees make revisions to its elected officials ethics code to restrict future incidences of such behavior.
Lotfi’s board colleagues condemned her behavior and suggested it could negatively impact morale among village staff and the village’s relationships with vendors.
“I'm very troubled by this, especially when I read that our staff is now afraid to have [Lotfi] in the room,” said trustee Bob Falk. “From what I've read here, you were very rude, demanding, pounding your fist, yelling and screaming to the point people were in tears. That is not acceptable.”
