PLANNING COMMISSION DIRECTOR RECEIVES AWARD

PERRYVILLE -- His local effort has brought him national recognition, but to Thomas Tucker he just did his job.

For 29 years Tucker has served as executive director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Commission in Perryville. He won the Walter Scheiber Award at the national conference for regional planners this month.

"He has always operated a responsible organization by his conscientious use of taxpayer money," said Beverly Nykwest, director of advocacy for the National Association of Regional Councils.

Part of the criteria for the award is that the recipient make a significant impact on the area, Nykwest said.

Working hard for the area is something H. Weldon Macke, the chairman of the commission, said he has had no trouble getting Tucker to do.

"It makes us feel good to know that our boy is out there working and you know that he is not out there fishing in the afternoon," Macke said.

Macke said at times he has to tell Tucker to slow down.

"I always tell him not to take it home and work until midnight or 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning," Macke said. "But he doesn't listen too well."

Tucker took the reins of the commission in 1970. He said he immediately began to ask the communities what they needed. And while it was easy to identify needs, he said the hard part was getting the area ready for the grant money because there had been little development planning in the past. So he set to work trying to map water lines and sewage lines and begin the process of getting money for development.

Since then he has helped bring in grants, promote tourism, build road signs for ambulance purposes, redesign downtown areas, and help oversee grant money, which can be a challenge.

"Getting grant money is one thing," Tucker said. "Administering it and making sure nothing goes wrong is another."

His office also handles a revolving loan program for businesses. Currently he said there is about $1 million his office has loaned to help businesses get off their feet and bring a stronger economy.

"If you help people build a business, you create jobs," Tucker said.

Job creation has been his focus. When he began looking for work in Southeast Missouri as a teen-ager, his options were limited.

"Either you went to work for International Shoe or you went to work for your father," Tucker said. "Well, my father worked for International Shoe, and he forbade me to work there."

So he went to work for a steel mill and eventually found his way back to the area after he had received a degree in regional development and planning.

Tucker puts in a lot of hours but he loves his work. He was not expecting an award and did not even know he had been nominated. To him, his reward is making sure the communities get all of the help his office can give.

"We aren't looking for glory," Tucker said. "We just do the job."