Complaints About ECCS 311 Citizen Services, Virginia Beach

Issues Encountered When Dealing With ECCS 311 Citizen Services

As the name implies, Emergency Communications & Citizen Services has several functions. ECCS 311 provides emergency services, non-emergency services, and information to residents of Virginia Beach—or at least, that is what it is supposed to provide. Going back to March, I discovered that they were not responding to emails sent to vb311@vbgov.com.

I needed some city services and submitted a request via the VB311 email address. That was in March, and I received no reply. I then tried logging in to the VB311 website, but it kept taking me to the “Register & Log In” page, so I signed in as a guest. I did not get anywhere with those attempts, so I emailed the city manager's office (cmoffice@vbgov.com) twice. I did not receive a reply to my complaints until I complained to city council and the mayor.

I decided to call VB311, and the woman I spoke with confirmed that she was experiencing the same issue with the website. She asked when I had sent the email, so I gave her the date and time. I promptly received an email confirming the problem with the website, but I never received anything regarding the original issue I had emailed about. She said she was going to forward it, but my impression was that she wanted to cover her tracks regarding the original email and complaint by replying to the first email.

This is where things got a little foggy because the emails I received were not entirely accurate. I can only assume that they may have been automated, but the emails did not indicate that. I received an email thanking me for using VB311. It then stated that additional information could be found on the 311 website by using my request number. However, when I logged in, there was no case number and no additional information. The page was blank. I received two of these emails.

In August, I sent another email to VB311 regarding a completely different matter. Again, I did not receive a reply. As I had the first time, I complained to the mayor, the city manager, and most city council members. Just as before, I eventually received a reply, but once again, my concerns about accountability were not addressed.

Taxpayers of Virginia Beach, this is yet another example of the many complaints I have made about the lack of accountability among city employees. They continue to repeat this behavior and fail to do their jobs because there are few repercussions for their actions.

I finally received a reply from the director of ECCS 311 Citizen Services, who said she would take charge of my request and provide the original information I had requested in August. She missed the date she had given me for sending that information, so I followed up with another request. Keep in mind that this information came from another department, but I assume she was instructed to obtain it for me because I had carbon-copied the mayor, the city manager, and some city council members.

After I received that information, and since I was already communicating with the director of ECCS 311 Citizen Services, I asked her several questions related to my complaint about ECCS, which I had sent to the city manager, the mayor, and some city council members.

These were my questions:

• Was it ever determined why staff members were not responding to VB311 emails?
• Does Emergency Communications & Citizen Services notify the public when its website is down?
• On March 27, 2026, I received an email from VB311 stating that “a case had been opened and that additional information on my request could be found on my VB311 account.” However, no information was available when I logged in. This happened twice. What is the purpose of these emails, and has this issue been fixed?
• Supposedly, the automated system generated a case number, but I did not see one in the portal, which caused confusion. Has that problem been fixed as well?

I sent these questions directly to the director of ECCS and carbon-copied the assistant to the city manager on September 16, 2026.

• - You guessed it. I did not receive a reply.

On October 12, 2026, I sent the questions to the mayor, the city manager, and city council members.

• - Once again, no reply as of October 16, 2026. It's okay if they waste taxpayers time but not city elected officials or city staff. At least that is my opinion.

To me, this says a lot about why there is a lack of accountability within the City of Virginia Beach. The Virginia Beach Emergency Communications & Citizen Services (ECCS) department costs taxpayers $13,229,947 under the General Fund in the FY 2026-2027 Adopted Operating Budget. Parts of the system were not working when I used them, and no one in the city will answer my questions about whether the systems I used have been fixed.

I will say that at least they responded quickly when I submitted another VB311 request. That request was to inform the appropriate department—which I did not know at the time—that there was an error on the GIS map showing the direction a pipe was pointing in Landstown Meadows. The irony is that VB311 sent the request to the wrong department and I did mention that in my complaint.

* Please note that on October 16, 2026, I received an email from an ECCS supervisor apologizing for their department sending my request to the wrong department, with an explanation of what happened—thank you.

This whole situation was drawn out, but I condensed the details above because I did not want to write a book.

What the mayor, city council, and city manager need to understand is that this lack of accountability may be costing taxpayers money. Virginia Beach taxpayers are paying $13,229,947 (2026) for ECCS. At a minimum, the email system should work. They also need to understand that taxpayers have the right to ask questions about departments funded by their tax dollars.