At its regular meeting Thursday, March 17, 2022, the Owensboro Utility Commission named Tim Lyons as its next general manager. Lyons will replace current General Manager Kevin Frizzell who announced his retirement effective August 1, 2022.
Lyons has served as OMU’s Director of Delivery since 2013, overseeing the water and electric distribution systems for the municipal utility. He joined OMU as Transmission and Distribution Engineering Manager in 2007.
“On behalf of the commission, I am pleased to announce Tim Lyons as OMU’s next general manager. Tim has demonstrated his leadership abilities, dedication to the legacy of public power and his focus on our customer-owners. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge that will help lead this utility into the future,” explained Commission Chair J.T. Fulkerson.
Tim Lyons
Vice Chair Tony Cecil added, “After conducting a national search, reviewing dozens of resumes and interviewing multiple applicants from across the country, it became quite clear that Tim was the best qualified person for this position. A combination of 25 years of experience in the utility industry, knowledge of operating a public utility and proven leadership abilities makes him the ideal person to serve as our next general manager. We could not be more pleased that he has accepted this position.”
“I am proud to have been selected as General Manager for an organization with such a strong history of serving its community,” added Tim Lyons. “I am excited about what the future holds for OMU and the customers we serve.”
“It has been a pleasure to work with such dedicated, talented and skilled employees,” Lyons added. “As a team, we will continue to be local people providing quality, affordable and reliable local utility services.”
Lyons has over 25 years of experience in the electric utility business, beginning his career with Kentucky Utilities Company in 1993, as an Electrical Engineer. In 2000, he was promoted to the position of Team Leader of Line Construction and Maintenance where he managed KU line crews within western Kentucky.
Lyons received his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1991 majoring in Electrical Engineering from the University of Evansville. In addition, he graduated from the LGE-Leadership class in 2002. He currently serves as Chairman of the LGE/KU Transmission Stakeholder Planning Committee, serves on the Southeastern Reliability Corporation (SERC) Board of Directors, and is a graduate of Leadership Owensboro.
Lyons will replace Kevin Frizzell, who was named interim General Manager on February 12, 2018 and General Manager on December 20, 2018. Frizzell, formerly OMU’s Director of Production, joined Owensboro Municipal Utilities in 1990 at the company’s coal-fired generating station, the Elmer Smith Station, as the Technical Services Manager. He has worked at OMU for 32 years.
In this role, he was primarily charged with environmental compliance and had a key leadership role in the $150 million dollar scrubber project completed in 1995. He has managed all of the plant’s environmental projects since then, including the installation of NOx controls in the early 2000’s.
Frizzell was named Director of Power Production in 2008, charged with the management of OMU’s largest asset, the Elmer Smith Station and its 100-plus employees. In 2013, OMU combined power production and water treatment into one production department and operation of OMU’s two drinking water plants came under Kevin’s area of responsibility.
As General Manager, Frizzell led OMU through a resource planning process that resulted in OMU retiring the coal fired Elmer Smith Station and allowed OMU to stabilize and begin to reduce electric rates. He oversaw OMU’s largest ever water infrastructure investment with the expansion of the Cavin Water Treatment Plant allowing retirement of OMU’s over 100 year old Water Plant A. A licensed professional engineer in Kentucky, Frizzell is an Ohio County native and a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in chemical engineering in 1985.