If ever there was a telling moment when Lake County and Illinois converged on a downward vortex, it is William Panos dashing from the Prairie State to the Peace Garden State. It’s a sad day in the Land of Lincoln when we lose workers to, of all places, North Dakota.
Panos, a well-traveled civil servant, was the newest Lake County administrator who was hired July 9. He was picked by the Lake County Board from nearly 50 applicants for the job following the proverbial nationwide search.
Yet, Panos spent just about a month in his downtown Waukegan office before giving notice of his plans to flee to North Dakota. Let that sink in for a bit.
He chose North Dakota over urbane, suburban Lake County, 40 miles between the world-class cities of Chicago and Milwaukee. That’s got to be another red flag for county boosters.
If you have ever been to North Dakota, you have seen for yourself it is a state with a lot of nothing. That is unless you have driven to its far western border, where the badlands of Theodore Roosevelt National Park are a visual surprise.
Unlike its twin to the south, which has the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, the more well-known Badlands and a state tourism bureau that works overtime to lure folks, North Dakota is a desolate location and one of the least-visited states.
The state also is known for some excellent upland game hunting. Or so I’ve been told.
Which is not to say that’s all bad. Some people like that sort of bleak landscape. Or, as Texan Lyle Lovett croons in a ballad of unrequited love: “The boys from North Dakota, they drink whiskey for their fun.”
Apparently, Panos likes a state with less population, 760,000 or so, according to 2018 U.S. Census figures, which makes it smaller than Lake County. North Dakota, according to the Census Bureau, is the fourth least-populous state in the nation. Only Alaska, Vermont and Wyoming have fewer residents.
Or perhaps he was looking at homes and discovered county property taxes — your second installment for the year is due Sept. 6 — are the highest in Illinois. Overall, the tax hit in North Dakota is far less than Illinois, including its 5% sales tax.
Or maybe he misses the open range, having led from 2008 to 2012 the Department of Transportation in sparsely populated Wyoming. Granted, he’s bolting Lake County for the green pastures of Bismarck, the North Dakota capital city, population 72,865, to run a statewide agency beginning Oct. 21.
Whatever reason, he’s going and has snubbed Illinois and Lake County for the grasslands of North Dakota. He has been named director of the North Dakota DOT at a salary of $172,400 a year.
His new salary is probably comparable, maybe even less, than his Lake County earnings, although his predecessor, Barry Burton, was in the $225,000-a-year range before he emigrated to the warmer clime of Pinellas County, Florida. Considering climate, North Dakota’s winter is harsher than our own.
As Lake County’s chief administrative officer, Panos oversees until mid-October a $525 million annual budget, with more than 2,700 employees. In comparison, North Dakota’s transportation department has nearly 1,000 employees, and a two-year budget of $1.4 billion.
North Dakota roads, at least the paved ones, normally are concrete. They don’t mess with asphalt on their approximately 8,622 miles of roadway and 1,722 bridges.
Panos picking North Dakota and slighting Lake County must have stunned the progressives on the County Board. With Lake County offering so much compared to a state whose northern neighbor is a Canadian province, his decision must have left those on the administrator’s search committee in a daze. They may still be staggering around.
But what if Panos is onto something? Unlike Illinois and Lake County, North Dakota is growing, albeit snail-like.
Since the 2010 Census, the state has seen its population increase by just over 13%, making it the state with the largest percentage growth in population since 2011. Its resurgent oil industry is one reason the U.S. once again is self-sufficient in home-produced petrol products.
One never hears of North Dakota public officials being investigated by federal agents or indicted by grand juries or sentenced to prison. The state’s financial health is sterling, ranking 48th in indebtedness, compared to the profligate red ink Illinois has accrued.
County officials say they are certain they can attract another elite candidate for the administrator’s job. Perhaps they need to start beating the bushes in North Dakota.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
