The Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities is a City owned utility and was established in 1931. It operates the electric, water, sewer and fiber systems within the City and presently serves over 8,500 electric customers and over 8,000 water and sanitary sewer customers. Sikeston BMU is governed by a four-person Board, that is appointed by the Sikeston City Council. The current Board consists of Jon Gilmore-Chairman, Tim Merideth-Vice Chairman, Chad Crow-Secretary, and Diedre Peters-Assistant Secretary.
Article VI Section 130.240 of the Ordinance of the City of Sikeston states “There is created the Board of Municipal Utilities of the City, which shall have jurisdiction, control and management of the department and all its operations and facilities. The Board shall have all powers and duties possessed by the City to construct, acquire, expand and operate utility systems, and to do any and all acts or things that are necessary, convenient or desirable in order to operate, maintain, enlarge, extend, preserve and promote an orderly, economic and business-like administration of the utility systems. The Board shall operate as a separate unit of City government; and except as otherwise provided in this article, both the Board and the Department shall be free from the jurisdiction, direction and control of other City officers and of the City Council.”
The bi-partisan Board consists of four members appointed by the City Council for a term of four years each. The board is responsible for establishing BMU policies, rules and regulations that govern the day-to-day operations of the utility system. The Board of Municipal Utilities holds public meetings on the second Tuesday of the month at 4:00 PM in the Board Room of the BMU office at 107 East Malone Avenue.
Sikeston’s electric supply comes from the city-owned and operated Sikeston Power Station, a 235 megawatt coal-fired electric generating station located on a 622-acre site on the western edge of the City. In addition, BMU gets hydroelectric power from Southwestern Power Administration to cover peaking energy needs. To finance the plant, Revenue Bonds were sold in three issues, totaling $250,000,000. These bonds were paid in full as of June 1, 2022. Groundbreaking for the Power Plant took place in March, 1978, and the unit was placed in commercial operation in September, 1981. Roughly 20% of the generation output of the Plant provides for the needs of Sikeston, the remainder of the capacity furnishes dependable power to a number of cities in the State. Any excess power beyond the needs of Sikeston and these contract cities is sold in the power market. Coal for the Sikeston Power Station is furnished by Western Fuels Association, a non-profit corporation formed by municipal and cooperative-owned electric utilities for the purpose
of acquiring and developing fuel resources for its members. The Sikeston Power Station annually burns around a million tons of coal.
Sikeston BMU operates three water treatment plants with potable water being drawn from eleven deep wells. These plants can provide Sikeston with over 9.3 million gallons of water per day. Sikeston’s average water consumption is approximately 3.5 million gallons per day with a peak daily consumption of approximately 6.2 million gallons. BMU’s water distribution system consists of 130 miles of water mains, 850 fire hydrants and 4.2 million gallons of water storage capacity.
The sanitary sewer system includes one orbal oxidation ditch and two contact stabilization treatment plants that provide a total design capacity of 4.4 million gallons per day. The sanitary sewer distribution system utilizes twenty-seven lift stations and five miles of forced mains. The collection system consists of approximately 100 miles of sewer lines ranging in size from six inches to twenty-seven inches. The BMU sewer department also operates an aerated lagoon wastewater treatment facility that serves the Sikeston Business, Education and Technology Park on Highway 61 north.
In 1999 BMU constructed a 33-mile fiber optic communications backbone throughout Sikeston. This fiber backbone along with OC48 SONET transport network gives BMU the ability to connect, monitor and communicate with all components of the electric, water and sewer systems. This connectivity gives BMU the means to automate operations of electric substations, improve service reliability and reduce operational and maintenance costs. The fiber system also allows the Utility to link all Utility and City facilities and the public school system on a high speed, wide-area communications network. Many of the Utility’s industrial customers also have access to this network.
The Board of Municipal Utilities currently employs 138 people. There are 69 employees at the Power Plant; 4 at our Substations; 16 in Electrical Distribution; 13 in Water and Sewer Distribution Department; 8 at Water Plants; 4 at Wastewater Plants; and 22 at our Downtown Office. The job classifications are as diversified as our company. The majority of our company is skilled labor consisting of Journeyman in the following Power Plant departments: Mechanical Maintenance; Electrical; Instrumentation; Operations; Laboratory; Warehouse; and in the Coal Yard at our Power Plant. Our Distribution Departments consist of different positions from Utility men and Linemen to Water and Wastewater Plant Operators. The Administrative Staff is located at our Downtown Office and consists of Cashiers, Secretaries, Accounting Department, Personnel Department, Engineering, and Management, who oversees all of the operations