This week's settlement between Caltrans and Duane Wiles is disturbing on several levels.

The deal, which essentially "unfires" a technician who falsified safety tests and allows him to resign, shows how difficult it can be to dismiss state employees, no matter how badly they violate the public trust.

Even more troubling, the arrangement could allow the state Transportation Department to sweep away some important questions raised by an investigation by The Bee's Charles Piller.

It pulls the plug on one public forum to examine the wrongdoing by Wiles and the response by higher-ups at Caltrans. There will be no open hearing before a State Personnel Board judge, where documents or testimony could have shed more light on what officials did or didn't do after finding out that Wiles had fabricated data on three freeway structures and had also tested the main towers of the Bay Bridge's new eastern span.

Caltrans and its lawyers argue, of course, that the settlement is the safe course of action. It avoids a possibly lengthy trial the agency says could have cost taxpayers $100,000 in legal fees. It forbids Wiles from ever getting another state job, or from pursuing any legal or administrative action against the state. It lets the agency pretend that Wiles is just one bad apple.

It certainly is a good deal for Wiles. While his misdeeds came to light in 2008, it was only after The Bee's reports that he was fired last fall for making up inspection data, lying to federal investigators and improperly claiming more than 400 hours of overtime and additional pay.

Under the settlement, the firing notice gets removed from his file, and he will get all his retirement benefits. And this isn't the first time he has been "unfired." He was dismissed in 1998 for incompetence, insubordination and dishonesty, but successfully appealed to the State Personnel Board.

While Caltrans is letting him walk, Wiles is still subject to local, state and federal criminal investigations, which could uncover more of what went wrong at the agency.

The state Assembly and Senate transportation committees, which have held hearings on the matter, shouldn't let this drop, either. This case exposed some real problems with how Caltrans operates. The agency's initial response to the revelations – stonewalling and minimizing the potential danger at every turn – was appalling.

While Caltrans subsequently claimed it is fixing management and record-keeping flaws, it's not at all certain that the agency is learning all the right lessons from this debacle.

There needs to be more accountability to taxpayers and motorists, who have every right to expect better.

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