Lee County’s Ryerson retiring from administrator position

DIXON — When Wendy Ryerson accepted a position as part-time clerical support staff in the Lee County Assessor’s Office in 1986, she didn’t stop to ask about her wages.

She left elated, because she finally had the job she’d been looking for, Ryerson recalled. But when she told her husband, and he asked if she was satisfied with what she would be making, she couldn’t answer.

“So I came sheepishly back into the office that same day and got the supervisor and said, ‘Just out of curiosity, what will my wage be?’” Ryerson said.

Thirty-seven years later, Ryerson is preparing to retire from Lee County. Only now, she’s not a part timer; she’s leaving as the head of it.

“The great thing about Wendy is, she literally rose from the ground floor of the county to be the leader of this county as the Lee County administrator, and that is a phenomenal story,” said Jeremy Englund, who is succeeding Ryerson as county administrator. “The tenure that she has had here with the county, her knowledge, her experience, the relationships that she’s been able to build are going to be very hard to replicate, especially early on.”

Ryerson was appointed the chief county assessment officer after 14 years in the assessor’s office. She held the position for 21 years.

While there, Ryerson chaired the legislative team of assessment officials that worked toward a statewide taxing standard for wind energy, and ultimately solar energy taxing standards. She also was president of the State Association of County Assessors and president of the Illinois County Officials Group.

“In the assessment world, Wendy was ‘It’ in the state of Illinois,” Lee County Board Chairman Bob Olson said. “She was the go-to.”

When the county administrator position was created in 2014, a process Ryerson helped lead, it wasn’t one that Ryerson aspired to hold. She merely wanted someone who could provide a higher level of professionalism for Lee County.

In 2021, when the job was open, Olson asked Ryerson to apply.

“She was perfect for the position,” Olson said. “She knew all the departments, the elected departments, the appointed departments. She knew her way around the county like nobody else.”

As county administrator, some of the biggest changes Ryerson has overseen are the technological upgrades.

Lee County Board members now have tablets instead of 100-plus page paper meeting packets, there’s a new accounts payable system in place, updates to the County Board room and digitizing of county files – all of which allow them to be more easily transparent with the public.

“In all honesty, my goal is to keep pushing this county forward,” Englund said when asked what he wants to accomplish as county administrator. “We’re going to continue taking the foundation that has been laid. We have one of the best board dynamics that I can remember and they are very forward-thinking.”

Englund started Nov. 13, and he and Ryerson currently are working together, with Ryerson sticking around to help him acclimate until sometime in January.

County government is “quite different than anything else I have been involved with to date, and that is the honest truth,” Englund said. “In the first short three weeks here, that is apparent. But it’s a good thing.”

Englund served as executive director of the Dixon Chamber of Commerce and Main Street from June 2019 to May 2023. Through that work, he said he was able to build relationships with folks and organizations throughout the region.

One of the biggest things that sold him on the position was the foundation Ryerson has built, he said.

“I’ve come into organizations or businesses that there was nothing there,” Englund said. “You’re picking up the broken pebbles and trying to put it back together, and this is not the case [in Lee County]. So I’m super excited that I was selected.”

An analogy Ryerson said she likes to use is that her goals as county administrator were the foundation of a structure. Now it’s time for someone else to take that and start framing up what the rest is going to look like, she said.

Englund said he has witnessed the wonderful relationships Lee County’s staff, department heads and elected officials have forged with each other.

“It seems like everybody’s really striving to create and grow this county, to bring it to the next level,” he said. “That’s exciting for me, and I’m coming in at an exciting time. I hope that I can just fill Wendy’s shoes just a little bit.”

“I told him to get his own darn pair,” Ryerson said jokingly. “He doesn’t need to fill mine. He’s got his own pair, and they will look fabulous.”

“I don’t know. I’m not really good in heels, but I’ll try,” Englund replied with a chuckle.

Englund instantly builds good working relationships, which is a critical component of being a successful county administrator, Ryerson said.

“This job is to be that collaborator that builds good, strong relationships,” she said, “because he can’t do it all himself. He needs help. And to get that help, you’ve got to have those good, strong relationships. For me, that’s what I would say is Jeremy’s greatest strength and why I’m excited for him to take off and run with this position.”