Fairfax County’s libraries are set to expand their hours later this month after going a year with reduced hours due to staffing shortages.
Last week, the Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) system announced it will move back to “normal operating hours” at all 23 branches starting Aug. 28.
That means all libraries will open at 10 a.m. with the eight regional branches staying open until 9 p.m. on Monday through Wednesday and until 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. The 15 community branches will be open until 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, and 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
The community branches will remain closed on Sundays.
Until Aug. 28, the branches will continue operating at the reduced hours put in place a year ago due to staffing shortages.
An additional $6 million dollars was approved as part of this year’s county budget to go towards library personnel services, which helped the library hire the staff needed to go back to regular operating hours.
“While recruitment remains challenging, the library has been fortunate to have retained a pool of amazing staff and hired some great new people enabling us to return to regular hours,” Deputy Library Director Kevin Osborne told FFXnow in an email. “We have active recruitments for several positions and are optimistic that we will be able to hire more great staff for our return to regular hours.”
Osborne said FCPL is continuing to staff up and is “confident” in returning to regular hours. It was only April when the vacancy rate was between 18% and 20%, but that rate appears to have dropped in recent months due to the influx of cash.
The budget covers 390 positions, but Osborne did not share the exact number of open positions or the current staffing vacancy rate, noting that many positions are “in various phases of the hiring process.”
After returning to full in-person services in June 2021, FCPL struggled to maintain expanded and consistent hours — a goal even before the pandemic. Budget cuts had reduced the system’s operating capacity after the 2008 recession.
But, according to Osborne, several open positions are on the way to being filled, allowing FCPL to return to normal operating hours and maintain them for the first time in potentially years.
“FCPL would like to thank the people of Fairfax County for their patience and understanding as it navigated the effects of the pandemic and staffing difficulties,” reads the announcement. “FCPL is excited to once again be able to offer everyone a greater opportunity to visit its branches and enjoy its array of services.”
Handling 911 calls has never been a regular 9-to-5 job, but a national staffing shortage has increased the hours and pressure felt by call takers and dispatchers across the country.
Fairfax County’s Department of Public Safety Communications wasn’t spared from the workforce challenges that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping from close to 180 staffers before 2020 to about 160 people right now.
The gap is sizable enough that workers are required to take about two overtime shifts every four months, but it’s not as drastic as the vacancy levels reported at other sites, even though the DPSC is the biggest 911 center in Virginia and one of the largest in the U.S., Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) Officer Paul Ballerini says.
For instance, Richmond’s 911 agency, the state’s second largest center, reported earlier this year that it was 30 operators short, while D.C. had 39 call taker and dispatcher vacancies.
“Two additional mandatory shifts per person for a third of the year is not bad, especially hearing [about] other centers, reading online how some other similar-sized agencies are just doing tons of overtime,” Ballerini told FFXnow.
Initially, the pandemic didn’t have much of an impact on the 911 center. With people generally staying home and minimizing interactions with others, the volume of calls declined, according to Ballerini.
However, after a while, DPSC started seeing some of the same turnover that has hit other professions, from the police to trash collectors and restaurants.
“Like most other professions, people just started jumping jobs,” Ballerini said. “Not in a bad way, just people spent more time on themselves and learned about themselves and moved to other professions. So, we were hit the same as everybody else…so we started ramping up hiring and training.”
About 3,952 911 workers across 774 centers in the U.S. left the profession in 2022, often citing the stress of the job and options for better hours, pay and opportunities as their reasons for leaving, according to a study released earlier this year by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch and National Association of State 911 Administrators.
While 27% saw no change in staffing levels over the past four years, nearly one-third of the study’s respondents reported vacancy rates of 30% or higher, including 13 that said at least 70% of their positions were unfilled.
Ballerini says Fairfax County’s current 911 staffing levels are slightly above its minimum standard after hitting maximum levels before the pandemic.
Every 12-hour shift must have at least four police dispatchers and four fire dispatchers on each of its four squads, which manage two district stations each. There are also ideally 20 call takers per day, though there can be as few as 13 people on the phones depending on the workload.
“Some people get through parts of training and realize it’s not for them and end up dropping out, but we work hard to try to stay consistent levels, not just for the public, but for morale inside the center,” Ballerini said. “I feel we’ve been pretty decent about doing that.” Read More
One of Vienna’s police officers recently got some kudos for giving the department a major staffing boost at a time when law enforcement is struggling with recruitment regionally and nationally.
Sgt. James Sheeran was named the Vienna Police Department’s “Employee of the Year” by the Rotary Club of Vienna, which presented its 2023 Rotarian M. Jane Seeman “Service Above Self” award to the sergeant at a banquet on April 19.
Bestowed annually to an officer who displays “motivation, commitment, and service to the community,” the award went to Sheeran this year after he hired 10 officers in two years — the equivalent of nearly a quarter of the VPD’s 41 sworn officer positions.
The department also employs 11 civilian staff members.
“Sgt. Sheeran’s hiring accomplishment is a feat that has not been achieved in the recent history of our police department,” the police department said in a press release on Friday (May 5).
According to the release, Sheeran was “managed to screen hundreds of applicants” during his two years working in the Criminal Investigations Section:
Sgt. Sheeran was assigned to the Vienna Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Section (CIS) for approximately 24 months. His duties included internal investigations, personnel hiring and investigator supervision. Sgt. Sheeran is described by his section commander as an exemplary employee. Always willing to lend a hand and never turns down a new assignment. Sgt. Sheeran approaches all his duties with enthusiasm, dedication, and professionalism.
The VPD now has just one vacancy, even though it has encountered the same hurdles with recruitment as other police departments, possibly “even more because we are a smaller police department,” Public Information Officer Juan Vasquez told FFXnow.
“Recruiting and hiring new officers is an extremely difficult and challenging task,” the department said. “The Vienna Police Department is located in the heart of a very large metropolitan area with numerous agencies actively and aggressively competing for law enforcement officers.”
Police departments actually reported an uptick in hiring during 2022 compared to 2019-2021, but those gains have been offset by increased retirements and resignations, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) found in a survey released April 1.
Among the agencies competing with Vienna is the Fairfax County Police Department, which has been in a “personnel emergency” since last summer. The FCPD welcomed 56 recruits to its academy last month — its largest class in over a decade — but as of early April, there were 206 vacant positions.
In a push to improve recruitment and retention, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is set to adopt a budget tomorrow (Tuesday) that will boost pay for police officers by an average of 12.8%.
The Town of Vienna’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, gives an additional $400,960 to the police. Though there aren’t any significant changes to compensation, anticipated initiatives include enhanced “recruiting efforts using social media.”
The town council will adopt the budget on May 15.
The Town of Vienna will hold its big Fourth of July celebration two days early this year, the second in a row that has required a scheduling change.
The festivities at Yeonas Park (1319 Ross Drive SW) had to be moved up to Sunday, July 2, due to continued staffing shortages in the fireworks industry, the town announced on Monday (May 1).
“We are disappointed that we were again unable to secure a fireworks company for the traditional 4th of July event this year,” Vienna Parks and Recreation Director Leslie Herman said. “While July 2 is not our preferred date, we are excited to contract with Garden State Fireworks to provide the fireworks display for the Town’s Independence Day Celebration.”
Garden State Fireworks was secured for July 4 by the National Park Service to provide its annual pyrotechnic display at the National Mall in D.C., according to Herman.
Held on July 1, 2022, Vienna’s Fourth of July celebration wasn’t the only one moved outside of the official holiday last year, as staff limitations also affected events in Reston, McLean and Fairfax City. The McLean Community Center’s July 2 display ultimately got washed out by rain.
Though it’s taking place a little early again, Vienna’s celebration will feature all of the usual attractions, including live music, kids’ entertainment, and games starting at 4 p.m. Food and drinks will be available from food trucks and a concession stand run by Vienna Little League.
The fireworks will begin at 9:30 p.m. and last 20 minutes, launching from adjacent Southside Park.
More information about what’s permitted at the event, parking and street closures can be found on the town’s website.
Fairfax County is reducing the hours for some waste collection services at the I-66 Transfer Station (4618 West Ox Road) and I-95 Landfill Complex (9850 Furnace Road).
Beginning May 1, the facilities will reduce hours for dropping off household hazardous waste (HHW) and electronics waste. The changes are ushered in by staffing shortages and are intended to maintain a “consistent quality service,” according to the county.
Currently, four of the seven total positions for environmental technology are vacant — positions that are hard to fill internally and externally, says Sharon North, a spokesperson for the county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES).
“They require specific training and knowledge to work with such materials, per federal and state regulation,” North told FFXnow. “The training is focused on packaging, labeling, and marking shipping containers and drums, as well as basic knowledge of chemical, environmental and health hazards, plus hazardous waste emergency response methods, procedures and regulations.”
Private contractors that the county typically relies on to supply field chemists and other staff have also been hit by similar labor problems.
“These challenges are not unlike what we are seeing throughout our DPWES operations with regard to frontline field personnel,” North said. “The most challenging positions are drivers, operators, technicians, maintenance and trades personnel, safety specialists and general labor.”
A breakdown of the new hours is below:
*The new I-66 HHW drop-off hours will be:
Monday and Friday: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday and Thursday: noon to 5 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
*There are no HHW drop-offs hours on Wednesday.*The new I-95 HHW drop-off hours will be:
Wednesday: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.*There are no HHW drop-offs hours on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday or Sunday.
*The new I-66 electronics waste drop-off hours will be:
Monday: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday: noon to 5 p.m. (half day)Thursday: noon to 5 p.m. (half day)
Friday: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.*There are no electronics drop-off hours on Wednesday.
*The new I-95 electronics drop-off hours will be:
Wednesday: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.*There are no electronics drop-off hours on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday or Sunday
With winter on the horizon, Fairfax County is still racing to suck up the last leafy vestiges of autumn.
Specifically, the county’s crews have yet to pick up leaves in McLean and Idylwood, as a combination of staffing shortages, equipment issues and an early leaf fall have delayed collections, the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services acknowledged yesterday.
The county will deploy multiple trucks and has hired an additional contractor to collect leaves in both areas on Monday (Dec. 19), a deviation from its typical approach of serving each of its nine collection areas separately.
“By dividing resources, it will take additional time to complete each area,” DPWES said. “Service in both remaining areas will begin concurrently. Vacuum collection staff have been working 10-hour shifts and most Saturdays and will continue to do so.”
About 25,000 residents receive leaf collection services from the county, all of them concentrated on the east side, especially the Mason District. Pickups have been completed in areas three through nine.
Public works services nationwide have been affected by a depletion of truck drivers and other essential employees. Fairfax County had to make some tweaks to its yard waste collections last fall due to a shortage of haulers, and trash pickups continue to be a struggle.
DPWES says it doesn’t have “a mechanism in place” allowing residents to get their leaf collection taxes refunded, but they can opt out of county services by petitioning the Board of Supervisors to “de-create” their vacuum leaf district.
According to the county website, the petition process to create or expand sanitary districts reopened on Dec. 1, but with DPWES apparently at full staff and equipment capacity, the department plans to use private contractors for any additional service areas.
Firefighters, medics and other Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department employees will have a union represent them in the county’s first collective bargaining negotiations for public workers in over 40 years.
Over 800 FCFRD workers participated in a 13-day election last month to determine whether to have union representation for contract talks with the county government, which will establish pay, benefits and other working conditions.
The only union in contention, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 2068 won with a decisive 797 votes, or 95.2%. The only other option on the ballot was to have no representation, which received 40 votes, the union announced Friday (Nov. 18).
With 1,533 members, Local 2068 represents firefighters, fire marshals, mechanics, medics and emergency dispatchers employed by Fairfax County. 837 eligible voters — 54.6% — cast a ballot in the election from Oct. 12-31.
“This is a monumental day for the members of our department,” IAFF 2068 President Robert Young said in a news release. “But it’s also a monumental day for all Fairfax County employees, and all of the residents of our community. We’ve shown that when Fairfax County workers come together…we have the power to have a say in the decisions that impact our lives and the lives of the communities we serve.”
Last week our Election for Bargaining Representation was officially certified – Local 2068 won with over 95% of the vote (!!!)
Huge shoutout to the members of our department who voted – we look forward to negotiating/working w/ the County – Full media adv. attached#UnionStrong pic.twitter.com/MYwts1QdEd
— Fairfax Firefighters (@IAFF2068) November 20, 2022
After Virginia ended a 44-year ban on collective bargaining for public sector workers in May 2021, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance on Oct. 19, 2021 granting employees the right to organize, elect union representatives and participate in union activities.
Under the ordinance, the county will recognize separate bargaining units for the fire department, police and other county workers. Elections haven’t been held yet for the police and general government units.
With negotiations expected to begin in early 2023, Local 2068 says one priority will be addressing the staffing shortages that have affected the fire department and other county agencies, from police to the park authority and public library system.
Local 2068 says first responders have been forced to work mandatory overtime, adding 12 to 24 hours on top of their standard 24-hour shift “sometimes with little to no notice.” The union says its members have performed over 80,000 hours of “holdovers” — equal to 3,333 24-hour days.
“Having members work such excessive mandatory overtime isn’t just bad for their health, but it’s a potential hazard for the community members we serve,” Young said. “We look forward to addressing this issue at the bargaining table.”
Collective bargaining negotiations will last up to November 2023. A resulting agreement won’t take effect until July 1, 2024, when the county’s fiscal year 2025 begins.
Some issues could be addressed earlier as part of the upcoming fiscal year 2024 budget process, which will begin in earnest when County Executive Bryan Hill presents his proposed plan on Feb. 21.
Young said Local 2068 will advocate for merit and cost of living pay increases as well as funding for automated ambulance loaders — stretchers where the legs automatically fold up as the device is rolled into a vehicle.
“We’re the only jurisdiction in the region that doesn’t have access to these tools, tools that not only help prevent members from being injured, but also help us deliver faster and safer service to the community,” Young said.
The Town of Herndon hasn’t missed a single trash day during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite grappling with the same labor and supply issues as other jurisdictions.
Town Manager Bill Ashton admitted to the town council on Sept. 27 that he typically wouldn’t highlight uninterrupted trash service “as a badge of honor” in the town’s annual report for fiscal year 2022, which ran from July 1, 2021 to June 30 of this year.
However, with both larger localities and private collectors struggling with pickups over the past couple of years, Herndon sees its seamless trash and recycling service to 5,200 households and over 150 public sites as a genuine accomplishment.
“Our ability to get [commercially licensed drivers] behind the wheels of our trash trucks was a very difficult task this year,” Ashton said. “I will applaud [Director of Public Works] Scott Robinson and [Deputy Director] Tammy Chastain and the team for really taking a look at our organization and moving resources where they needed to be…to make sure this happened, and we didn’t miss a single day of trash throughout the pandemic and even through to today.”
From similarly uninterrupted water and sewer services to the police department closing 207 of 263 new criminal investigations, everything that the town did over the past year was accomplished with staffing levels around 85%, according to Ashton.
That figure doesn’t account for employees taking leave, including the “four to five people we had out on Covid almost every week,” he told the council.
Reflecting national labor challenges, Herndon saw record employee turnover due to both resignations and retirements in FY 2022, according to the annual report.
“Eleven employees retired in FY 2022, a higher pace than recent years and — due largely to pandemic-caused pressures — consistent with national measures,” the report says. “Total turnover of regular status employees increased by 53 percent in FY 2022.”
The town did manage to hire 141 employees, a 59% increase from the previous fiscal year and a number consistent with pre-pandemic levels. But it now takes three to six months to hire for a new position that once would’ve taken half that time, even with the addition of a human resources staffer dedicated to recruiting, Ashton said.
In some cases, staff compensated for the shortage of personnel by adapting services and programming, as was the case with the annual Herndon Festival’s downsizing into a carnival. A shortage of volunteer support and difficulties booking entertainers also contributed to the decision to modify the festival.
“Attendance was not as robust as in previous years, when a full festival was held, but it affirmed the community was willing to support a modified and, in this case, a lesser event,” Ashton said.
Council members praised staff for their work and willingness to reevaluate and improve how the town operates. The parks and recreation department, for instance, changed its quarterly events guide to one produced in-house every two months, allowing staff more flexibility while giving the community more up-to-date information.
“Staff had a difficult time providing this community with the quality levels of services they expect, but through resilience, agility, and creativity, we met our missions,” Ashton said.
While school doesn’t officially start until Aug. 22, The Water Mine at Lake Fairfax will wind its summer operations down a week early this year, beginning Monday (Aug. 18).
The Fairfax County Park Authority is temporarily closing the popular Water Mine Family Swimming’ Hole due to lifeguard and other operational staff shortages at the location. The closure will last from Aug. 15-20.
After that, for the last three weeks of summer, tthe park will only be open on weekends, with Sunday on Labor Day weekend (Sept. 4) as its final day of the year.
The issue is part an industry-wide labor shortage faced by FCPA and other county agencies. The park authority typically recruits more than 600 summertime hires to staff summer camps, pools, and other park sites.
The decision was made due to safety concerns.
“We understand this decision is disappointing. However, it’s safety, safety, safety first,” FCPA Park Services Division Director Cindy Walsh said.
Walsh said many lifeguards are going back to school earlier or going on vacation, leaving the Water Mine with fewer guards than it has had in previous years.
The Water Mine is located at 1400 Lake Fairfax Drive in Reston. It typically operates from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Earlier this summer, the American Lifeguard Association estimated that staffing shortages would affect a third of the pools in the country. Reston Association closed two pools for multiple days last month.
Screenshot via Fairfax County Park Authority/YouTube
The Fairfax County Police Department is under a personnel emergency amid a staffing shortage that has continued for several months.
In a temporary shift, police officers are transitioning to two 12.5-hour shifts and working mandatory overtime, according to the FCPD. That departs from the standard staffing model of three 11.5-hour shifts.
Additionally, patrol officers “may be required” to help other squads to maintain safe staffing levels, FCPD told FFXnow.
So far, the police department has 194 operational vacancies, but that does not account for 50 recruits currently in the police academy. That leaves 144 total vacancies.
“We have launched a multi-media recruiting campaign this summer with updates videos on our new JoinFCPD.org website,” a spokesperson said.
Some say the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has failed to provide adequate salary increases and other incentives to attract and retain the county’s police force.
While officers saw an average pay increase of nearly 8% in this fiscal year, beginning July 1, pay scale steps were frozen between fiscal years 2019 and 2021.
“The salary increases that some officers received this fiscal year doesn’t make up for what was previously promised to them,” Steve Manohan, president of the county’s chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association said. “Keep in mind, there were hundreds of officers who only received a 4% cost of living increase in fiscal year 2022.”
Board Chairman Jeff McKay says the board is working with FCPD to recruit and retain officers, noting that Chief Kevin Davis has a plan to reach out across the county, region and nationwide — including non-traditional means like advertisements at movie theaters. The department has also reduced the length of its application and background information requirements in an effort to streamline the process.
“All of this is done to position FCPD as an exciting and meaningful career choice for those who may have a calling for public service,” McKay wrote in a statement.
McKay says the county is looking at different ways to support officers as staffing adjustments continue.
“The Fairfax County Police Department is a top destination for anyone who wants to serve their community, and we will continue to get that message out while also exploring ways to maintain our regional competitiveness in compensation and job satisfaction,” he said. “Like with all municipalities during this pandemic era there is much work to be done, but our team–and especially our officers–are up to the task, and we are here to support them 100%.” Read More
