So how did I get here?

How do you explain to people what you do for a living? Two of the most popular questions I get are, “You park cars for a living?” and “Parking is a thing?” I am not ashamed to admit that I will talk about what I do for a living any chance I get, because I truly love what I do. In our world, no two days are the same. We operate under any and every condition imaginable. We work in an environment where there are dozens (if not hundreds) of seeming disparate pieces of information presented to us and we must make sense of it all. We must organize it into an effective and efficient operation and do so in a landscape that is always evolving—all while reporting to multiple stakeholders.

As my parking career evolved, I have had the privilege of working in some of the most beautiful and luxurious hotels in our country. I’ve worked on task forces opening new locations in new markets. I’ve been able to develop processes and programs on an organizational level. I haven’t always been successful; anyone who tells you that their journey in parking has been without bumps or bruises is either lying or they have not pushed themselves. Anyone who has spent any length of time in our industry knows there is always that one account, that one client, market, or organization that was not a fit. But that is okay. Our industry is multi-faceted, and you will find a place where you belong. And there is always room to grow, to learn, to flourish.

Customer service, specifically in hospitality, is where I excelled. There was nothing more rewarding than successfully executing back-to-back events: the ones where you parked hundreds of vehicles in the matter of a mere half hour; the ones where you finally arrive home at 2:00 AM exhausted but still high on the adrenaline rush of success. And then there were the days where you failed spectacularly and made the evening news for causing an “unprecedented” traffic back up in your city (or so I have been told). It happens to the best of us. But you keep going, you keep learning, you keep doing better because you chase that euphoric feeling of mastering the chaos. I only stepped away when I did because I started a family. But it was not too long before I started to reminisce about the good times and people I met along the way. Soon, I found myself looking for parking positions online.

Thankfully, Jeff Barnes CAPP, Director of Parking and Transportation at Kansas State University (K-State) took a chance and hired me to be the Assistant Director of his department. He had been at K-State for over 20 years, and he knew what he was looking for and what he needed in a Number Two. I will admit, university parking was a different beast. I was able to utilize my customer service background and approach enforcement not from a punitive lens, but from a customer centric perspective. I learned the ins and outs of lot and garage maintenance. Jeff also taught me the art of listening, to sit in a room full of people with competing ideas and just listen and observe. That is how well-informed decisions are made. Sounds simple enough, but anyone who has ever spent any length of time with me knows I can be a bull in a china shop. I will forever be grateful for Jeff and his leadership during my time there.

However, it wasn’t until I became a member of IPMI, and I began to work toward my CAPP certification, that I realized just how much more I had to learn. I took online courses from IPMI and made connections with other industry professionals. Not only was earning my CAPP certification a goal on my performance review, but it was a personal goal of mine as well. And I failed my first test. As most who have taken the CAPP exam will attest to, is not easy. Standardized tests are not my forte. However, after some additional studying and a better understanding of how the test was formatted, I easily secured my certification the second time around.

The CAPP certification is not just a piece of paper. The letters at the end of your name are not just a designation or outward symbol of attained knowledge. They represent the commitment you have made to your career. When you earn that designation, you commit to the process of continually learning and growing within your field.

That commitment led me to the position I have today. I currently serve as the Parking Services Manager for the City of Manhattan, Kansas. This is a newly created position, and I am helping to shape it. In fact, I helped write the job description for it while I was at K-State. My work with the City of Manhattan in the previous months landed me the opportunity of a lifetime. I get to build a brand-new parking and mobility division for the City of Manhattan. As I write this, I have two parking enforcement officers and a new garage that just opened. Over the next nine months I will hire a parking management company, hire and train more enforcement officers and office staff, develop training programs, start a permit program, review and develop parking ordinances, and create an operating budget to span the next five years. And I’m not including all the little tasks we as parking operators do on a daily and weekly basis. And I am loving every minute of it.

To help me succeed I will be using the Accredited Parking Organization (APO) matrix as my guide. In a first ever program of its kind, I will build my department using the 14 categories and 130 individual criteria listed to ensure that everything we do is executed to the highest standard in our industry. From our site manuals to our officer and customer service training programs, all will be designed with the intention that we will operate at the highest level and earn our APO accreditation within our first year.

To do this, every week my staff and I will meet to review, prioritize, and implement a different category on the matrix. We will check in regularly with our evaluation team and speak with other APO accredited parking organizations about their successes and failures. My staff will also work towards their CAPP certifications and take classes through IPMI and training opportunities as they arise. I know, it is a lot to take on. But if you know me, you know that I accomplish whatever I put my mind to.

None of this would be possible without the buy-in and support of my well-seasoned, 20-year parking enforcement veteran, Heath Romine. As I type this, he is working on our new officer training manual and making notes of ordinances that need to be updated. It truly is a collaborative effort; one where we shout ideas at each other from across the hall. These ideas then fill the white board, color-coded dividers and documents are being added to binders, timelines are being created. A potential contractor said our office was reminiscent of a startup company, and I guess to some degree he was correct; except for the fact that we have the guidance and support of IPMI and a brilliantly laid out matrix which all but assures us that we will succeed in our efforts.

I am sure we will be challenged in the coming weeks and months. I am sure we will have days where it feels like too many pieces of information are coming at us, and deadlines appear unexpectedly or without warning. However, with the backing and support of IPMI I have no doubt that we will rise to the occasion. I believe in my experience and my capabilities but more importantly, I believe in my team and the organization that I work for. I believe in our mission statement which says, “We put the well-being of people at the heart of everything we do.” So long as we continue to move forward with our mission in our hearts and our work, we will create an amazing program. One in which other organizations can look to as an example of what it means to be best in class. ◆