Al Cheatham honored for board service; Skip Thompson appointed to fill vacancy

The Municipal Utilities Board of Decatur Morgan County (Decatur Utilities) recently adopted a resolution honoring outgoing board member Al Cheatham for his more than seven years of service to the citizens of Decatur. Mr. Cheatham was recently named CEO of Bonnie Plants, a joint venture of Alabama Farmers Cooperative. Mr. Cheatham was appointed to the DU board in January of 2018 to fill the remaining term of former board member Skip Thompson. Mr. Cheatham then accepted a full nine-year term in July of 2020. The Decatur City Council filled that vacancy created by Mr. Cheatham's resignation on Monday, July 28 by appointing former DU board member Skip Thompson to serve the remainder of Mr. Cheatham's term. That term expires June 30, 2029. 

L-R: Tom Counts, Al Cheatham, Neal A. Holland, Jr. and GM Ray Hardin

Skip Thompson

The resolution was affirmed by Neal A. Holland, Jr., board chairman, and Tom Counts, board secretary. It states, in part, that "No organization, and especially no enterprise managed by virtually volunteer services, can enjoy constant and long-term excellence without genuine dedicated leadership.  Al Cheatham has brought such qualities to his Board service in full measure.  His rare combination of integrity, honesty of purpose, sound business judgment, communication skills and dedication will be difficult to replace.  The Municipal Utilities Board of Decatur, on behalf of its management and employees and all the citizens of Decatur, expresses to Al Cheatham its sincere appreciation and gratitude for his years of dedicated service to the continuance and improvement of the high quality service of DU; and for the distinguished contributions that his services have made to the growth and development of the City of Decatur."

Ray Hardin, General Manager of Decatur Utilities, echoed those sentiments.  "We appreciate Mr. Cheatham's outstanding contributions to DU over the past seven years," said Ray Hardin. "His financial and business acumen have been a great benefit and although his days of active service with the Board have ended, his wise counsel will continue to be welcomed and valued."

Hardin said DU welcomes back Mr. Thompson, who previously served on the board from July of 2011 until January of 2018. Mr. Thompson is a partner with Thirdmark Capital. He previously served as President and CEO of Corporate Billing LLC and president of First American Bank. Mr. Thompson served as a board director for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) from 2018-2020 and as chairman of the TVA board from 2019-2020.

"We are excited to have Mr. Thompson returning to the DU board," said Hardin. "He as well brings a wealth of business and finance expertise to DU that will be tremendous benefit to our operational decision-making."