Leonard Dixon, who’s run Cook County’s temporary juvenile detention facility for the past decade, told a reporter outside a Cook County board meeting after declining interview requests that he lives in Chicago. But he maintains another home in the Detroit suburbs, which he and his wife have listed until the present day as their primary residence for tax purposes. On an official Florida form moving an investment property they own in that state into a trust, they listed their Michigan home as their residence.
The issue is important because Dixon is required to live in Cook County in order to work as superintendent of the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center on Chicago’s Near West Side. It’s a job that pays $280,000 a year, making Dixon one of Cook County’s most generously compensated officials, according to Injustice Watch, which exposed this situation.
The facility is under the purview of the Cook County chief judge’s office, led for the past 24 years by Timothy Evans, who was ousted last week by his fellow judges in favor of Judge Charles Beach.
Evans’ office told Injustice Watch they looked into the issues regarding Dixon’s residence and satisfied themselves that he lives “in Illinois.” They wouldn’t respond to the reporter’s follow-up questions about whether Dixon lives in Cook County, as required, or in Chicago, as Dixon stated. That’s intolerable.
Beach doesn’t take office as chief judge until Dec. 1, but when he does, we would suggest that one of his first priority items should be to ensure that Dixon indeed has a primary residence in Cook County — and is not just bunking here part time. Either way, the office should be far more forthcoming with the public than Evans has about what it’s found.
And, assuming Dixon satisfies them, the office might want to alert Michigan tax authorities that Dixon insists he lives here. He and his wife have saved $13,000 on their property taxes by claiming the Michigan home as their primary residence since taking the Cook County job, Injustice Watch alleged.
The level of arrogance and evasiveness Evans and Dixon have demonstrated so far on this issue unfortunately is something we’ve come to expect from the chief judge’s office during Evans’ long tenure. The consistent attitude of, “take our word for it,” is disrespectful to the public and to journalists asking perfectly valid questions.
The judges who voted last week to replace Evans as chief judge didn’t give reporters much other than generalities and platitudes when asked the reasons for the surprise outcome in his bid for a ninth term. But we imagine this high-handedness and lack of transparency were part of their rationale.
The questions about Dixon shed light on Evans’ management style, but they also open a window into a larger issue in post-pandemic American work life. The ramp-up of workplace systems enabling remote work during the worst of the lockdown period has morphed at times into a cat-and-mouse game between employers and employees over where and how people are doing their jobs.
There is nothing wrong with a public employee having a vacation house. But the issue of one’s primary residence is particularly fungible. It tempts manipulation because there are disparities in property taxes between regions and available breaks on mortgages for one’s primary home.
Disagreements between management and labor over time in the office have led to much friction in the private sector. But that’s between bosses and underlings. The Cook County residency policy is perfectly clear. More importantly, there can be no question that remote management is inappropriate for running the county’s juvenile detention operation.
The person running a facility as sensitive as the temporary juvenile detention center — and there have been many questions raised about how the (mainly) boys held there are being treated, as well as Dixon’s presence onsite (or lack thereof) — should be a full-time Cook County resident. That’s a no-brainer.
Beach will have a lot on his docket when he takes office as chief judge. He should not consider this matter closed.
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