Former City Utilities leader tapped for Missouri Ethics Commission

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe on May 29 announced the appointment of John Twitty, former City Utilities of Springfield general manager and CEO, to the Missouri Ethics Commission. 

The body, established by the Missouri Ethics Law of 1991, oversees campaign finance compliance, lobbying activities, personal financial disclosures from certain elected officials and other matters for state government, according to its website.  

“For me, it’s a nice opportunity to serve,” Twitty told Springfield Business Journal this morning. I’m a lifelong Missourian, and I look forward to serving with my fellow commissioners.” 

Twitty said his service at CU was an opportunity to work for the public and gives him “a little bit of an idea about government service” as he joins the MEC’s six-commissioner lineup, but that his public utility background is no more important than people from many walks of life who serve on the state commission. 

He noted the role is a volunteer one, with a $100 per diem allotment and mileage payments for travel to meetings in Jefferson City. 

Twitty joins a newly active lineup for the MEC. The commission had operated without a quorum of members on and off since roughly four years ago, according to past SBJ reporting, until Kehoe’s May 5 appointment of refinery operator and former state Rep. Clem Smith, of St. Louis, restored a minimum number of commission members for the MEC to function. 

Twitty joined CU in 1991, serving as general manager and CEO from 2002 until his retirement from the city-owned public utility in 2011, the same year he was an SBJ Men of the Year honoree. 

According to a news release by officials in Kehoe’s office, Twitty also served as executive director of the Transmission Access Policy Study Group and with Rolla Municipal Utilities earlier in his career. 

Twitty currently serves on the board of directors for  Central Bank of the Ozarks and the Mizzou Alumni Association, the governor’s office said. According to the alumni association, Twitty is also a board member for H2Ozarks, SWI Industrial Solutions and Springfield Workshop Foundation Inc. and is a member of the Rotary Club of Springfield Southeast.  

Twitty is also a former member of the Missouri State Lottery Commission, the Mercy Springfield Communities board and the Jordan Valley Health board, the governor’s office said.  

Twitty holds a professional degree in business administration from the Missouri University of Science & Technology, earned in 2006, and a Bachelor of Science in education from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he graduated in 1975.