I had a candid discussion with the 2026 President of the Macon County Economic Development Board ...

MMU Superhero

By Ron Dominique ( aka Trashton Porter)

Over the past several months, three different Macon County citizens contacted Macon Missouri Online asking us to take a closer look at the Macon County Economic Development Board. None of them came to us with wild accusations or conspiracy theories. Instead, they wanted answers to questions that seemed perfectly reasonable. They wanted to know who was currently serving as Executive Director, who was actually sitting on the Board of Directors, what economic development projects were underway, and why it was becoming so difficult to find current financial information about an organization responsible for promoting economic development throughout Macon County.

Like most investigations, I started with the simplest approach imaginable. I picked up the telephone.  Over the next several months I called the MCED office eight different times. Each time I left a courteous voicemail explaining who I was, why I was calling, and asking if someone would please return my call. Eight messages later, I still hadn't heard from anyone.

As it turned out, the return phone call I had been waiting for arrived from the last place I expected.

My wife and I are in the process of installing a new fence on our property, so I submitted the routine request to have underground utilities located before any digging began. After the utility markings appeared, I assumed everything had been completed. However, my cellphone displayed an incoming call from "Macon Municipal Utilities."

I answered the phone expecting the call to concern the utility locate request. Instead, a pleasant voice introduced himself as Dana Ulmer, the sitting 2026 President of the Macon County Economic Development Board and General Manager of Macon Municipal Utilities.

Mr. Ulmer immediately told me he had recently listened to the voicemail messages I had left for MCED. He apologized for the delay in returning my calls, and from the very beginning of our conversation I found him to be courteous, respectful and genuinely interested in discussing the issues I had been researching.

He explained that the Macon County Economic Development Board is currently operating without an Executive Director. According to Mr. Ulmer, the Board has interviewed several candidates, but recruiting someone to fill the position has been difficult because MCED is presently unable to offer health insurance as part of the compensation package. He said the remaining Board members recognize the problem and are actively working toward a solution that will make the position more attractive to qualified applicants.

As our conversation continued, I explained why I had become interested in MCED in the first place. I told Mr. Ulmer that the investigation had not started because of my own curiosity. It began because three local citizens had asked Macon Missouri Online to look into the organization and help answer questions they had been unable to answer themselves. That naturally led us into a discussion about MCED's finances. ( Two previous blog posts that we posted concerning the MCED got more views than almost any other articles that we have posted since the website was launched. )

I explained to Mr. Ulmer, that during my research I had located financial information showing the organization held approximately $866,000 in assets while carrying only about $1,600 in liabilities, yet I had been unable to locate a comparable public financial statement or balance sheet for 2026. I asked Mr. Ulmer if he could help me understand where the current financial information could be found.

Mr. Ulmer assured me that MCED's assets remain secure at the bank. He went on to explain that responsibility for preparing the financial reports rests with another Board member whose full-time responsibilities include directing a local medical facility. According to Mr. Ulmer, those professional obligations have made it difficult to complete the organization's financial reporting in a timely manner.

At one point during our conversation Mr. Ulmer described the situation within MCED as "a nothing burger." Whether our investigation ultimately proves that assessment to be accurate is something readers can decide for themselves as additional information becomes available. My responsibility is much simpler. It is to continue gathering facts, reviewing public records, speaking with the people involved and reporting honestly on what I learn.

Following our conversation I searched again for updated financial information. As of the publication of this article, I have not been able to locate a publicly available 2026 financial statement or balance sheet for MCED.

I was able to locate the organization's most recent IRS Form 990, which reported approximately $865,180 in total assets, about $2,300 in liabilities, and approximately $863,000 in net assets for fiscal year 2024. An IRS Form 990, however, is not the same as an organization's current financial statements or board financial reports, so my search continues.

Before ending our conversation, Mr. Ulmer surprised me once again by extending an invitation to attend a future MCED Board meeting. He explained that he would first discuss my attendance with the other Board members before extending a formal invitation. I came away from that portion of our conversation encouraged. Investigative reporting works best when organizations are willing to engage in open dialogue, and I sincerely hope that opportunity presents itself.

As often happens during long conversations, our discussion eventually drifted away from economic development and focused instead on Macon Municipal Utilities.

I took that opportunity to tell Mr. Ulmer something I have been saying privately for quite some time. In my opinion, Macon Municipal Utilities provides some of the finest municipal utility service I have experienced anywhere in America.

A few years back,  a squirrel managed to short across the electrical lines feeding our home, blowing the fuse link at the transformer on top of a power pole outside our house. Within minutes several MMU service trucks arrived, diagnosed the problem and restored our power with remarkable speed. More recently, after submitting my online request to have underground utilities located before installing our new fence, MMU crews had our electric, natural gas and sewer lines marked within roughly twelve to twenty-four hours after my location request.

Having lived in several different cities throughout the United States, I can honestly say that level of service is exceptional. I also shared one of the reasons my wife and I ultimately decided to make Macon our permanent home. We originally purchased our house as an investment property, never expecting that we would eventually decide to stay. Ironically, one of the deciding factors has been something most people never think about until it's gone—good water.

As many readers know, I am a Missouri-licensed cannabis cultivator specializing in hydroponic growing. Water quality is everything. The municipal water supplied by MMU consistently tests at approximately 7.0 pH with roughly 70 parts per million total dissolved solids, producing exceptionally clean water with excellent electrical conductivity for hydroponic cultivation. Simply put, it is among the highest quality municipal water I have encountered anywhere I have lived.

Mr. Ulmer also shared information about newer ceramic filtration technology that may become part of future water treatment improvements, demonstrating that MMU continues looking ahead rather than simply maintaining the status quo.

By the time our conversation came to an end, I was left with two impressions.

The first is that Dana Ulmer struck me as a courteous public servant who genuinely wants to see both MMU and the Macon County Economic Development Board succeed. The second is that the questions raised by those three citizens who first contacted Macon Missouri Online still deserve answers.

Those answers are far more likely to come through respectful conversations than through speculation.

If Macon Missouri Online receives a formal invitation to attend an upcoming MCED Board meeting, we intend to be there. We would welcome the opportunity to meet the Board members, learn about the projects they are working on, review the organization's current financial information if available, and share that information with the citizens of Macon County.

That has always been the mission of Macon Missouri Online. We are not interested in manufacturing controversy where none exists, nor are we interested in ignoring legitimate questions simply because they may be uncomfortable. We believe the people of Macon County are best served by careful research, accurate reporting, and a willingness to listen to every side of the story before reaching conclusions.

This investigation is not over. In many ways, it has only just begun. We will be posting an update of our findings concerning The Macon County Economic Development Board within the next few weeks.

Regards Maconites,

Ron Dominique ( aka Trashton Porter )