Leezer Named to Economic Development Post

When your date of hire falls on the first day of the fourth month, it provokes a few chuckles.

“No joke,” David Leezer said and laughed. “No April Fools. I started on Friday.”

And it’s no fooling either that it’s been a busy week for the man recently tapped to be the city’s new director of economic development. A former business development principal at Ameren, Leezer’s experience in the field runs deep. Most recently, he was vice president of the Economic Development Collaborative for the St. Louis County Economic Council.

But Leezer’s new job won’t be his first experience on this side of the Missouri River. For one thing, until 2006, he was director of business development for

For another, he lives here.

“I am about 500 yards from the city limits,” said the 12-year resident of St. Charles County.

St. Charles Mayor Patti York said that although the city had a long list of candidates, one quickly outshined the others. 

“We had some very good people, but Mr. Leezer was the one who rose to the top from the very beginning,” she said. “He had some great ideas, a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy.”

She said he was already in the process of developing a strategic plan for his department.

“He’s hit the ground running,” she said.

York lost re-election this week to State Rep. Sally Faith. On election night Faith said she looks forward to working alongside Leezer and getting up to speed on the projects.

For his part, Leezer is bullish on the city’s prospects. He said that, with a strong focus on business retention and expansion St. Charles is poised to maintain a strong competitive position. He noted the rapid development occurring in Fountain Lakes, Elm Point and the entire Route 370 corridor.

“The mixture of businesses here--industrial, retail and commercial office is really good,” he said. “We’re going to use that strong base to enhance our marketability and productivity in the overall market.”

He said the key was to understand the needs of enterprises in the city and try to create a welcoming and conducive environment.

“We’re going to see what we can do to make this a better place for them and we’re also going to work with them to find out how to help them expand and reinvest in the ,” he said.

Leezer said St. Charles is positioned not just as an attractive local or national option but could even benefit from global trade. He mentioned the recent effort to create a “China hub” at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. If enacted by the state legislature, the measure would use tax credits to boost exports through Lambert, which is only 10 minutes from the Missouri River by either Interstate 70 or Route 370.

The city’s geographic location also provides other benefits. Leezer said that the U.S. Census puts the average commute time at 24 minutes, a statistic that allows St. Charles to tap an extensive employee pool that includes Lincoln, Warren and St. Louis counties as well as parts of the Metro East.

“Look at most companies. What do they say is their greatest asset?” he asked. “It’s workforce. Take a look at the workforce we draw, not just within the City of St. Charles.”

A glance at recent census figures emphasizes that point. The city gained more than 5,000 residents throughout the past decade and the surrounding county picked up nearly 80,000 new people. Explosive growth rates have also boosted totals in nearby municipalities O’Fallon, MO and Wentzville.

“Not only are we growing population-wise, but I think the key component is workforce population and how that growth has come out here,” he said. “There are a lot of places in Florida that have huge population increases, but they are not of workforce age.”

St. Charles' infrastructure also gives it a big advantage. Biotechnology and other high-tech businesses may find the area’s communications capabilities a big selling point.

“If you take a look at the opportunities that are here through the vast amount of fiber that we have in the St. Charles City and County area and the investment that AT&T has placed here, it makes it prime for data centers, for health care, for call centers and operations such as that,” he said.

Leezer notes that while St. Charles hasn’t been immune to the worldwide economic turmoil, it has shown great resiliency.

“I think what has helped us weather, at least partially, the storm is the fact that our economic base is diversified,” he said. “We have a lot of small businesses here and a wide, diverse base.”

In any event, he said that while development may come to town, it won’t alter the city’s essential character, citing the shops on Main Street as an example of both a thriving economic zone and the city’s historic and cultural heritage.

“What’s not going to change is the atmosphere of St. Charles,” he said. “That’s something that I think really sets this city aside from everybody else. We’ve not lost our identity. We’ve not sold ourselves out.”

Leezer is now in the process of taking on his responsibilities. It’s a lot of work as he gets to know the ropes.

Still, he’s having fun with it.

“I’m drinking from a fire hose right now,” he said. “But the water tastes good.”

Kalen Ponche contributed to this story.