The following article was originally published in the November 2023 issue of the CWEA Griffin.
The Treasurer of the City of St Louis manages the city’s banking activities, handles investments, and, what may be surprising to some, operates the Parking Division. Since 2021, when Adam Layne, above, became the youngest treasurer in St. Louis history at age 32, he’s added a self-imposed responsibility, pushing the Parking Division to become a leader in sustainability.
In July, Layne applied for an $18M grant in sustainability funds for infrastructure from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. To increase regional impact, the treasurer partnered with SLDC (St. Louis Development Corporation), and the county’s St. Louis Economic Development Agency. If they are successful, Ameren will join the group, as a private equity partner, which is required by the terms of the grant.
Layne came to St. Louis in 2011 with Teach for America. He and his two sisters were born to immigrants in Boston—his mother is from Sierra Leone, his father from Trinidad. Layne grew up in Boston, earned a degree in finance from George Washington University in D.C., and found teaching math to high school students for 3 years, ”the toughest thing I’ve ever done.”
While teaching, Layne found time to earn his Masters of Education at UMSL, and later joined InspireSTL, an education access and support non-profit. He ran for the St. Louis School Board in 2018 and lost, but was successful on his second run the following year. He then became a research associate at Washington University, and In 2020, became Treasurer Tishaura Jones’ Deputy Chief of Staff. When Jones was elected Mayor in the spring of 2021, Layne was appointed Treasurer. His term expires in November, 2024.
While the Board of Aldermen adopts the budget prepared by the Parking Division, it isn’t funded from General Revenue. It is self-funded from operational revenue, including funds from parking meters, violations, event fees, and garage and parking lot operations. Layne explained that 40% of the Parking Division’s funds go into the city’s general revenue. The rest of the monies go into personnel and operational expenses, infrastructure reinvestment, and reserve funds for new potential projects. There are 22 employees in both the Treasurer’s Office and Office of Empowerment, which offers classes to encourage St. Louisans to make better financial decisions. There are 80-100 employees in the Parking Division.
The Parking Division spends between $17M and $19M per year on maintaining 15 garages and multiple parking lots. Maintenance on these structures change from year to year, from paving to installing new security, weatherproofing, and reinforcement. “These are big outdoor structures, and it costs a lot of money to maintain them,” Layne said.
Which fits right into Layne’s long-time interest in sustainability. His college internship was at a consulting agency that helped buildings become LEED Certified. And he’s learned from the many conferences he attends around the country what other cities are doing about sustainability.
Layne wants the Parking Division to become a leader in this arena. “Buildings are some of the least sustainable pieces of our infrastructure and biggest proponents of waste, so its important to do what we can with our garages and parking lots to make them more sustainable. For instance, solar panels could be placed on parking garage roofs and parking lots too. There’s a wide open lot at City Hall where we could erect a roof that would not only shade cars, it could be covered with solar panels, and power the Enterprise Center parking garage.”
“Our fleet of vehicles for parking enforcement officers should be electric too, but there’s a lack of charging stations across the city.” Layne learned that in other cities 2 EV charging stations can be added to each sidewalk pay stations.
“We have hundreds of them across the city so there are potentially 1000 charging opportunities right there. The cost to the consumer for charging an electric vehicle at a pay station would be what it costs to park for the 2-hour limit.” The Parking Division would absorb the power costs since the money to install the EV charging station would be coming from a grant.
Locations would be determined by what the electric grid can support, and the interest of the neighborhoods. “We’ll welcome input from the aldermen, the CIDs, and SBDs across the city and then develop a map with input from the SLDC (which owns property and parking lots) of potential locations. While we waiting for word,we’ve been laying the groundwork, talking to regional EV companies and getting cost estimates.”
For those areas of the city where residents depend on public transportation, small electric shuttles would give residents free rides so they don’t have to walk long distances to bus stations. An example of this “call a ride” system is already operating downtown, (and in the CWE during the holidays, see above). Labyrinth Smart Mobility operates low speed electric vehicles that offer free rides all over downtown. Their vehicles are charged at 4 existing EV charging stations on City Hall’s parking lot.
“I ask everyday if we’ve gotten any news, so hopefully it will be this quarter. Of course we don’t know if we’ll get the full $18M or a subset, but once we get approval we’ll draw up those maps and hit the ground running,” Layne concluded.
When I followed up with Layne on Friday, December 15, he reported that he still has not heard about the infrastructure application. “I expect to hear before the end of the year,” he said. “In the meantime, we have contractors lined up to begin work as soon as we get the word.”
To view the entire November issue of CWEA Griffin, click here.