Changing guard: BMU manager retires after nearly four decades

Ed Throop, pictured in the executive director's office of the Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities office building in Downtown Sikeston, recently announced his last day on the job will be May 1. (Submitted photo)

SIKESTON -- Managing a power plant in this time of uncertain changes in environmental regulations is going to be a challenge -- and one for some new blood to take on.

"I'm from the old school; it is time for some new thinking," said Ed Throop, executive director of the Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities. "I'm at an age that I don't need any new challenges. Thirty-seven years is a long time at one place."

Throop's last day on the job will be May 1 after which Rick Landers will become BMU's next director.

"We could not have been any more lucky than having Ed as a manager for BMU," said Steve Taylor, a former chairman of BMU's Board of Directors. "Other plants tried to hire him away and he stayed here. He is a Sikeston guy and has always had the best interests of the people of Sikeston at heart."

"I've always tried to provide good service and go the extra mile for the customer," Throop said. "I always wanted to provide the best, reliable public utility service at the lowest possible cost. It has caused a lot of sleepless nights."

Throop joked that it could be why his hair is white and his employees claim an uncanny resemblance to the "Walter" character from Jeff Dunham's comedy act.

But other than the inevitable regrets from hindsight's perfect vision, Throop has none for spending nearly his entire working life at BMU.

"I was working for Spitzmiller, Hobbs, and Clay, an accounting firm here in Sikeston, when I was offered a job here," Throop said. "It was a very hard move because that meant I had to leave a great boss and good friend, Jim Clay. But I made the move and it worked out."

Born in Sikeston, Throop and his family "moved to town from the farm when I was two years old," he said.

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