Labor Day 2025: Interesting Facts About the City of Virginia Beach’s Workforce

The City of Virginia Beach has more than 7,500 workers in 35 departments. This Labor Day, we celebrate the efforts of City employees who do their part to provide services to the residents and visitors of Virginia Beach, the largest municipality in the state of Virginia.  

1. Keeping The City Clean  

The custodians and crew leaders on the Public Works/Building Maintenance team clean and oversee 1.5 million square feet of space in 45 City buildings. Their hard work ensures that facilities are hygienic and welcoming to visitors and staff throughout the city.   

2. Human Services Employees Build Happy Homes 

Employees in the Adoption Unit of the Human Services/Child Welfare team help children in foster care find loving homes. Team members provide continued support to adopted children and their families long after the adoption. During the past year, the team finalized adoptions for 25 children, including those over age 10, children with special needs and four siblings who were adopted together. 

3. Occupational Safety on the Job  

The six-member Human Resources/Occupational Safety Office increases City safety through proactive planning and employee training. They maintain and service 215 City automated external defibrillators (AEDs), conduct safety inspections and drills, work to minimize workplace incidents, perform recordkeeping for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and deliver medical and job safety training to City employees. In 2024, nearly 4,000 employees completed 206 Occupational Safety instructor-led classes. 

4. Working Like a Dog 

The City has several well-trained K9s who work alongside employees to support them and help get the job done. 

• Dogs and handlers in the Police K9 unit support patrol officers. The team includes 14 patrol dog handlers. Five K9s and handlers are cross-trained in explosives, three are trained in narcotics and three deploy on all SWAT team calls. The team responds to critical incidents and any case with a request to track local suspects, articles or evidence.  
• The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) therapy dog program promotes mental health among EMS and hospital employees. As of last year, the program included 13 dogs. Scheduling resiliency shifts, building a rapport with the dogs’ owners and requesting therapy dog visits following high-stress calls are all important aspects of the program. 
• Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office (VBSO) K9 Unit currently has three K9s and handlers. Of the three dogs’ skill sets, K9 Boyka is trained in explosive detection, and K9s Pablo and Apollo are trained in narcotics detection. K9 Apollo also is trained in fentanyl detection, the first in Hampton Roads. 
  The VBSO K9 Unit conducted 187 operational searches in FY 2024, which secured six felony drug convictions, including against inmates found with narcotics in their possession. Each dog also has its own movie-poster-like K9 Hero Card, featuring fun facts, birthdates and other details about the K9s and their current training.

5. In the Zone with City Planning  

A team of 21 City Planning zoning administrators and inspectors enforce the desirable use of lands according to the City’s Zoning ordinance. During fiscal year 2023-2024, zoning team members reviewed 4,589 building permits; 350 site plans; 1,750 zoning complaints; and 1,092 short-term rental permits. 

6. City Mounted Patrol Unit 

The Virginia Beach Mounted Patrol is part of the Special Operations Bureau of the City’s Police Department. It is the largest unit in Virginia and among the largest in the country. The unit includes volunteers, barn managers and sworn officers who annually ride more than 200 hours and attend 90 events in support of patrol efforts, crowd management and civic engagement.     

7. So Cool: City HVAC Team  

The Public Works/Building Maintenance heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) team handled more than 4,200 work orders within seven established zones last year. City zone engineers and technicians performed a range of technical projects and reviewed tasks while ensuring compliance with regulations and standards. Emergency repairs, troubleshooting and preventative HVAC maintenance are all part of a day on the job. 

8. Connecting with Our Veterans 

City Human Resources maintains strong connections with our local military community to keep them informed about various career and SkillBridge intern opportunities for active-duty personnel. In 2024, HR attended 29 military career transition and networking events, which led to hiring 151 veterans. Overall, our workforce is 11.9 percent veterans. Based on these numbers, the City became a Recognized Employer in the 2024 VETS Indexes Employer Awards. 

9. City Offices Recycled and Repurposed  

City offices did their part to recycle and repurpose thousands of pounds of material last year.  

• Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center composted 945 pounds of food waste, recycled 300 pounds of foil (candy/snack bar) wrappers and recycled 751 pounds of plastic film (used to make composite lumber). 
• The Virginia Beach Convention Center recycled 191 gallons of cooking oil, donated nearly 6 tons of food overages and composted 18 tons of food waste. 
• Parks & Recreation recycled 103 pounds of fishing line and about 3 pounds of cigarette butts. 
• Public Works/Fleet Management recycled 14,815 gallons of used engine oil, 625 pounds of antifreeze and 63 tons of scrap metal. 
• Public Works/Operations reused 28,210 tons of milled asphalt. 
• The Landfill and Resource Recovery Center recycled 986 tons of metal; 4,050 gallons of cooking oil; 15 tons of lead acid batteries; 46,045 gallons of household hazardous waste; 13,804 gallons of used oil; and 17,360 tons of vegetative yard waste – that was mulched and used by Parks & Recreation/Landscape Services throughout the city. 

10. On the Same Page with the VBPL Bookmobile 

Cruising through the City since 2024, the Virginia Beach Public Library Bookmobile travels more than 100 miles each month to bring mobile literacy services to City patrons and visitors. Keep an eye out for the bookmobile at public festivals, military outreach and education events. Library employees onboard help customers select books/materials and sign up for library cards. 

To learn more about the work underway at the City of Virginia Beach, sign up to receive the weekly Be in the Know Newsletter.   

Find YOUR best job yet at VirginiaBeach.gov/careers.