State audit of Southern Illinois water supplier gathers support

WHITTINGTON, Ill. -- A state audit of Rend Lake Conservancy District's finances appears more likely after the lawmaker who previously opposed the move pledged his support.

Sen. Larry Woolard said he will introduce legislation into the Senate similar to a bill passed unanimously by the House on Thursday, calling for the state Auditor General's office to look into allegations of financial wrongdoing at the RLCD, one of Southern Illinois' largest lake resorts and water suppliers.

"My first position was to save the taxpayers of Southern Illinois the $80,000 to $120,000 cost of this audit," which will have to be borne by the district, Woolard, a Democrat of Carterville, said in a written statement Thursday.

"It now is evident the questions are too many and feelings too strong for me to continue denying the process," he said.

It wasn't immediately clear when Woolard planned to introduce the bill.

The Conservancy District board of directors last month fired general manager Kevin Davis after a private audit suggested he took nearly $500,000 in payments he wasn't entitled to for such things as unauthorized salary bonuses for himself and his staff, a membership to an upscale athletic club and repairs to his pleasure boat, among other things.

Davis, who has said he is innocent, has not been charged with a crime. The U.S. Attorney's Office is investigating.

The RLCD oversees the water supply to 60 cities and towns in Southern Illinois, and manages a resort, golf course and condominium complex on the 19,000-acre Rend Lake in Franklin and Jefferson counties, near Mount Vernon.

Woolard, who chairs the Senate State Government Administration committee, last month lead the opposition to an earlier bill calling for an audit of RLCD's books. The committee ultimately killed the proposal.

He announced a change of heart Thursday, after the House unanimously passed a bill calling for an audit and supporters started planning how to get it through the Senate.

"We need to restore the public's confidence and get this out into the air," the House sponsor, Rep. Kurt Granberg of Carlyle, told his colleagues when he presented the bill.