RVA 3-1-1 director outlines call center upgrades, staffing increases and new customer tools

Peter Brielle, director of Citizen Service & Response (RVA 3-1-1), told the Governmental Operations Standing Committee that the city’s 3-1-1 operation has increased staffing and technology capability and is pursuing further improvements to reduce hold times and improve departmental responsiveness.

Brielle said RVA 3-1-1 handled over 200,000 calls in 2024 and logged roughly 75,000 service requests in the 3-1-1 system that year. He described recent upgrades including a new contact-center platform, an option for callers to request callbacks (enabled in November), extended weekday hours to 7 p.m., Saturday morning availability and the rollout of an after-call survey. “In answer to the question, how is the service your agent provided today on a scale of 1 to 5? 1,166 requests with a score of 4.6,” Brielle said, noting very positive early customer-feedback scores.

Why this matters: Council members and staff emphasized that routing resident requests through 3-1-1 provides a time-stamped, auditable record that helps departments track, prioritize and close requests. Brielle said about 30% of requests now come via self-service (portal or mobile app) and that finance-related workflows have improved response times when routed through 3-1-1.

Current pressure points: Brielle said 2025 call volume has risen markedly since January, from previous daily averages around 600–800 calls to more than 1,200 calls per day in recent weeks. He attributed some of the increase to the January water distribution disruptions, a new family crisis fund request volume and routine finance billing season. The 3-1-1 team increased capacity to handle about 900 calls per day but is monitoring whether the new high-volume trend requires incremental staffing.

Operational improvements and limits: The director described ongoing efforts to reduce ‘closed-with-no-comment’ outcomes by strengthening SOPs with departments, to pilot integration with public-safety dispatch so 3-1-1 can relay real-time field requests, and to onboard business systems analysts to support data and process work. Brielle said full integration with some enforcement systems (EnerGov) is presently limited; when integration is not available, 3-1-1 closes the citizen request and places the department case number and inspector contact in the closure note.

Access to data: Council members were told that district- and neighborhood-level insight dashboards are available to council members and their liaisons via the 3-1-1 portal’s Insights tab. Brielle offered targeted training for liaisons and civic associations on using 3-1-1 data.

Next steps: 3-1-1 will continue to monitor call-volume trends and may propose incremental staffing if the higher volume persists. The office is moving to migrate more services into the 3-1-1 digital workflow and to pilot dispatch integration; both will require technology work and operational scoping.

Provenance: Account drawn from the RVA 3-1-1 presentation and subsequent committee Q&A at the Governmental Operations Standing Committee meeting.