Journal Editor

Two members of the city's Economic Development Commission (EDC) within the past week have contacted some aldermen expressing their concerns about the potential negative fall out over the billboard issue.

EDC chairman Jim Ulett and member Tom Green confirmed Monday night that they have contacted some aldermen about the issue. How many of the city's eight aldermen have been contacted and specifically whom is not known. Both men attended Monday night's special City Council meeting where the issue of the city's awarding of billboard rights was discussed. Before the public portion of the meeting, aldermen huddled behind closed doors to discuss the threat that a lawsuit will be filed over the matter. It's believed that Ulett and Green contacted the aldermen to urge them to consider the potential negative affects of not allowing the involved billboard companies the right to erect the 10 billboards.

Meanwhile, Green told the Journal that he has been a close friend for years of Jim Dvorak, the former shareholder of Premere Outdoor, Inc. which secured an agreement from the city in 2003 to erect 10 billboards along the Northwest and Tri-State tollways. Forty-two days after Premere secured that agreement from the city, Premere Outdoor---and its right to erect 10 billboards in Des Plaines---was sold to Lamar Outdoor Advertising for $10.5 million. Lamar opted to keep the rights to five of those signs and sell the remaining five to Premere Media, Inc., a corporation, it's believed, controlled by at least some of those involved with Premere Outdoor. From there, media giant Viacom bought the rights to those five signs from Premere Media for an undisclosed price.

It's believed that Dvorak, as one of three shareholders of Premere Outdoor, reaped a substantial financial gain with the sale to Lamar, as did the two other shareholders, Heather Loss and Leonora Nicosia. Ms. Loss is believed to be the wife of Joseph Loss, Premere's attorney. Ms. Nicosia is believed to be the wife of Joseph Nicosia, an Oak Brook businessman who is awaiting sentencing in an insurance fraud scheme.

Numerous attempts to reach Dvorak, Mr. Loss and Mr. Nicosia for comment have been unsuccessful.

Dvorak served time in prison in the 1980s and 90s after being convicted of income tax evasion and bribery. He is a former Cook County undersheriff and ex-chairman of the Cook County Republican Party.

Earlier this year, Des Plaines employee Bill Schneider revealed that he and Dvorak have also been close friends for many years. Schneider for a period of time in 2003 served as the city's Economic Development Commission director, Community Development director and acting city manager. In those roles, he played probably the most significant role in the city's economic development program. He was also the main city staff member on the EDC. As Community Development director, Schneider was deeply involved in Premere's attempt to secure the lucrative rights to erect 10 billboards in Des Plaines. Billboards located along interstate tollways near major airports, like O'Hare, can fetch as much $10,000 to $20,000 per month for one side.

Also earlier this year, it was learned that Dvorak was employed with Rolling Meadows-based Prime Site Group LLC, a company hired by the city in 2001 to assist with the sale and marketing of property in the Mannheim-Higgins area earmarked for redevelopment. And just recently, the Journal reported that downtown Des Plaines developer Tucker Development Co. paid Prime Site a $200,000 fee for introducing the firm to the city several years ago. That introduction led to the city choosing of Tucker and Freed development team to spearhead the $65 million downtown Metropolitan Square redevelopment program. The city's Economic Development Commission, which is comprised of about 15 local business people, reviewed several downtown proposals before the choice was made to pick Tucker and Freed.

"I came here as a citizen," said Ulett Monday about his attendance at the special City Council meeting in City Hall.

Not long after Schneider's friendship with Dvorak became publicly known, Schneider told Mayor Tony Arredia that he was convicted of mail fraud in the mid-1990s. He and a brother were convicted in a scheme to steal money from his employer at the time. That employer was a company controlled by Chicago real estate billionaire Neil Bluhm, who for the last two years has been working with local officials to secure state approval to host Illinois' 10th casino in Des Plaines.

Shortly after Schneider's past criminal history became public, members of the Des Plaines Economic Development Commission, led by Ulett, expressed their strong support for Schneider. Not long after that, Schneider quit his job with the city. A few weeks later, aldermen voted to give him a lucrative severance package.

Ulett said what happened to Schneider earlier this year was unfair adding that "he did a lot of good for the city." Said Ulett, "Bill Schneider was the best thing that happened to Des Plaines." Ulett said he was upset that neither the mayor nor city manager stood up for him.