Art Hannus, President and CEO of
American Heritage, was recently appointed
by the Illinois State Crime Commission
to a Blue Ribbon panel investigating
the controversy surrounding the relationship
of a convicted felon and the former
Economic Development Commission Executive
Director for the City of Des Plaines.
The Crime Commission had been invited
by the citizens of Des Plaines to
look into the matter after it was
reported that Bill Schneider, the
former Economic Development Commissioner,
had entered into a sweetheart contract
with Premere Outdoor, Inc. to erect
10 billboards along local tollways.
According to newspaper accounts, Mr.
Schneider, and James Dvorak of Premere
Outdoor, Inc., were not only close
friends, but convicted felons.
The first red flag for the citizens
of Des Plaines was the fact that twelve
years ago a referendum was placed
on the ballot for the erection of
billboards and the citizens of Des
Plaines voted overwhelmingly to deny
the erection of the billboards. When
all of this came to the attention
of the local media, Mr. Schneider
resigned his position with the City.
City officials stated that they had
no previous knowledge of the felony
convictions of the parties involved.
It has been reported that Mr. Schneider
received a severance package of nine
months salary, plus health insurance.
On January 13th, the Blue Ribbon panel
announced their findings at a press
conference led by Senator Patrick
O’Malley held in the American
Heritage media and conference center.
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