Admittedly, I'm an either/or kind of guy.

And it's that kind of mindset that left such a bad taste in my mouth when the Rend Lake Conservancy District Board handed former general manager Kevin Davis a $250,000 going away present in April 2003, only two months after firing him for allegedly misappropriating more than $500,000 in district funds.

Either … Davis did misappropriate the money as the board claimed and deserved to be fired or … Davis didn't misappropriate the money as the board claimed and deserved to have his job back, and perhaps a pat on the back.

In short either Davis did it … or … he didn't do it. It can't be both ways, can it?

After he was terminated Davis hired Carbondale attorney Shari Rhode and promptly threatened legal action against the conservancy district claiming he was wrongfully discharged. A short time later the board voted to approve the settlement rather than fight the matter in court, even though no lawsuit was ever filed against the district.

When Davis was fired, former RLCD attorney Terry Black and the board refused to answer any questions concerning the termination, a practice that has been maintained for the past 21 months. However, Black did issue a statement, which was the only comment made by RLCD management about Davis' termination. The press release said the board relied on outside legal advice in making the decision to fire Davis and also said that based on the risks and costs of possible litigation a decision was made to put the matter to rest and concentrate on the future rather than the past. The statement concluded by saying it was in the best interest of the district, its customers and taxpayers to proceed to the future.

Then last July, 16 months after that statement was made, Black finally spoke up about the firing and said the RLCD had retained the services of Weilmuenster & Wiggington, a Belleville-based law firm to investigate "a potential legal malpractice claim." Black said the lawsuit would be filed "soon" and added that a monetary figure had not been decided but any amount the district would seek would include the $250,000 paid to Davis, legal fees and an unspecified monetary amount for the "adverse publicity" generated by the hefty payout.

Last week, six months after Black's bold statements, I contacted RLCD officials to check on the status of the litigation and discovered not only had a lawsuit never been filed, but the Belleville law firm Black had hired had withdrawn from the case.

Board President Pete Micheletto said the conservancy district had only recently been notified by attorney Steve Wiggington that he was withdrawing from the case.

"He didn't give us any particular reason he just said he was bowing out," Micheletto said. "His reason was very vague and he just basically said he was throwing it back in our laps. He said he was not going to charge us anything for the work that he did. We're still basically trying to figure out what happened."

The first red flag for me that something was not quite right with this story was the fact that Wiggington didn't bill RLCD. While I understand that many fine attorneys work on a pro bono basis, that doesn't happen at the RLCD, which has had more attorneys on retainer and spent more on legal fees during the past three years than Michael Jackson.

So, based on all of this what is Joe Taxpayer supposed to believe? Simply stated, there are many more questions than answers concerning Davis' firing. And they're questions that need to be answered.

For instance, did the conservancy district receive bad legal advice and err in firing Davis? And if it did why wasn't the lawsuit filed? Also, why did it take Black 16 months to finally announce that legal action would "soon" begin? And then why would Wiggington hang onto this case for six months and then pass it back to the board only three months before the two-year statute of limitations runs out? Was the announcement by Black that legal action would soon happen nothing more than a smokescreen to thwart questions about why the board would give $250,000 to a guy whom it claims just misappropriated more than $500,000?

And of course there are those like me who believe many of these questions will never be answered simply because Davis knows where all the skeletons are buried around the spacious RLCD complex. We're told silence is golden, but in this instance I happen to believe silence is not only golden but also worth a cool quarter of a million dollars.

I understand it's a new day at RLCD and I'm anxious to see new General Manager Keith Thomason, attorney Larry Sanders and engineer Dean Barber succeed and do well in their new roles. However, these questions need to be addressed by the board or the lingering cloud of doubt and suspicion will continue to hang over the conservancy district.

As we attempt to turn the page at the RLCD my advice to board is to come clean regarding Davis' firing. It's really rather simple … either/or … it can't be both ways, gentlemen.

JIM MUIR is a reporter for The Southern Illinoisan. Comments may be sent to writeon1@shawneelink.net.