Journal Editor

The City of Des Plaines has begun implementing reforms in the way it hires employees, and launched criminal background checks on all department heads following recent revelations that many top managers never had to undergo such scrutiny.

Future applicants seeking top administrative positions in the city will not only have to fill out city application forms but be subjected to extensive criminal background checks. The backgrounds of temporary and seasonal employees, too, will be more thoroughly checked by the city, according to Human Resources Director Jason Bajor. That includes requiring formal applications to be filled out, having backgrounds checked done to see if they have ever been convicted of a crime, checks of driver's licenses, and drug screenings.

"Everyone will ultimately receive a criminal background check, a check of their driver's license and for some a drug screening and physical if they qualify for health insurance," Bajor said. Changes will also be spelled out in the city's Personal Policy Manual which is given to new employees when they start work.

The changes come in the wake of revelations three weeks ago that the city did not conduct a criminal background check on Economic Development Commission Director and Assistant City Manager Bill Schneider when he was hired in 2000. At the time, then City Manager Wally Douthwaite said he did not require applicants seeking top level city positions to fill out an application or be subjected to a criminal background check. Applicants seeking civil service jobs have had to fill out applications for many years. Bajor, who was hired at around the same time Schneider was, also did not have to fill out an application.

Schneider, city officials learned about three weeks ago, was convicted of mail fraud in 1994 when he and a brother, John W. Schneider, embezzled $172,000 from Bill Schneider's employer at the time, JMB Realty Corp. JMB is owned by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm who has been trying to garner approval from the state to own and operate Illinois' 10th licensed casino in Des Plaines. Bluhm has said that he did not know Bill Schneider employed by Des Plaines is the same Bill Schneider who embezzled money from his company a decade ago.

Less than a week before Schneider told Mayor Arredia of his conviction, his association with James Dvorak, a convicted felon who served as Cook County undersherrif in the 1980s, became public. What also became known at about that time is that Dvorak was employed with Prime Site Group LLC, a Rolling Meadows company hired by Des Plaines in 2001 to attract developers to the city's Mannheim-Higgins Road Tax Increment Financing Dist. (TIF). Prime Site was hired to help the city acquire property in that triangular-shaped area as well as work to bring developers to the city interested in building on that property. According to Ald. Tom Becker (6th), who represents that area of Des Plaines, and who is chairman of the city's Community Development Committee, Prime Site has succeeded in convincing Mariott and Hyatt hotels to explore the possibility of building one or more hotels in the Mannheim-Higgins area.

Because the city did not have criminal background checks done on individuals seeking top administrative positions when Douthwaite was city manager, information on Schneider's criminal past was not obtained by that method. Schneider's application, dated July 17, 2000, shows that he checked a box which states that he was convicted of a felony. It also states that the conviction was for mail fraud. Why city officials evidently did not notice that fact, is unclear. The date listed on Schneider's application is July 17, 2000 which was his first full day on the job.

Douthwaite has said that he did not require applicants for the top city positions to fill out an application. Retired Human Resources Director Arlene Merriman recently confirmed that Douthwaite did not require those job seekers to fill out applications or that criminal background checks be conducted.

According to Niemeyer, the city will now conducted background checks on department heads, and may soon conduct the same type of investigations on lower level managers.

City policy currently says that individuals seeking civil service as well as police and fire department positions be required to fill out applications.

"We have to err on the side of caution," said Bajor adding that the city's potential liability involving employees is a major consideration.