The City of Virginia Beach employs over 7,500 people in 35 departments. As Virginia’s largest community, these employees provide essential services and coordinate sought-after programs for 455,000 residents and approximately 7 million visitors each year.

In honor of Labor Day, here’s a closer look at the work City employees do every day to serve the community.

1. Employees of the Department of Agriculture operate the Virginia Beach Farmers Market. As part of their efforts to attract more customers to local businesses, employees organize eight special events a year and a free live concert every Friday night from 7 to 10 p.m. from April through the end of October.
2. In addition to maintaining accurate legislative records for the Virginia Beach City Council, the City Clerk’s Office also provides a comprehensive passport processing facility. Last year, staff in this office processed approximately 3,200 passports at City Hall. Appointments can be made by calling 757-385-4303.
3. The Department of Cultural Affairs operates four historic house/museums, including the Thoroughgood House, one of the oldest surviving colonial homes in Virginia Beach (built circa 1719). Museum staff offer free tours and unique programs that bring the history of these properties to life, welcoming more than 6,300 visitors last year.
4. The IT staff on the Mapping Team at the Center for Geospatial Information Services (CGIS) update and maintain official maps used by the city for a variety of reasons. The team maintains GIS data used to create paper and online maps, which includes 231,000 buildings, 212,000 addresses, 25,000 street segments, and 142,000 properties.
5. Animal Services is a division of the Virginia Beach Police Department and is operated out of the Virginia Beach Animal Care & Adoption Center. Last year, these employees cared for more than 6,000 animals and responded to over 16,000 animal-related emergency calls. In addition to rehoming animals, Animal Services employees also work to rehome lost pets with their owners.
6. The Department of Housing & Neighborhood Development has a team of 24 building inspectors who ensure that homes and businesses are properly maintained. Last year, the building inspection team investigated 9,000 complaints, mitigated 300 cases of graffiti, identified 5,000 cases of overgrown grass and weeds, and handled more than 30,000 building code violations.
7. Based in the Central Library, the Materials Management team is responsible for ordering, cataloging, and distributing the half a million physical items in the Virginia Beach Public Library collection. They also manage an extensive digital collection of books, audiobooks, and courses that anyone with a VB library card can access 24/7.
8. To protect the City’s resources and funds, staff in the City Auditor’s Office oversees the Fraud, Waste and Abuse Prevention Program. Suspected fraud, waste or abuse of City resources can be reported by calling 757-468-3330 (caller ID is disabled for anonymity) or emailing [email protected].
9. The Virginia Aquarium staff cares for over 1,000 animals from more than 250 species. A new discount for Virginia Beach residents offers $20 off the annual membership rate.
10. Emergency Communications and Citizens Services (ECCS) houses the 9-1-1 Operations Center. Last year, 9-1-1 callers answered more than 427,000 emergency calls. The department also operates VB311, where 3-1-1 operators answered over 124,000 questions from residents and visitors via phone, email and chat.

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