Deputy City Manager Laura Triggs to resign next month

Alexandria City Manager James Parajon announced that, after 24 years working for the city, Deputy City Manager Laura Triggs will resign early next month.

Triggs has been Deputy City Manager since 2014 and had previously served as the city’s finance director and chief financial officer.

The release said Triggs will resign effective Friday, Sept. 9. The announcement comes amid a year of turnover for city leadership, from Parajon’s hiring in December to Superintendent Gregory Hutchings’ resignation in June and interim replacement by Melanie Kay-Wyatt.

Parajon said a new acting deputy city manager will be appointed ahead of Triggs’ resignation.

“I want to thank Laura for her years of contributions to the City of Alexandria,” said City Manager Jim Parajon. “She brought valued financial and policy expertise to the City’s government. And she consistently focused on helping City employees succeed. Her effective leadership, professional mentoring, and acumen across diverse policy issues will be missed.”

According to the release:

During her career with Alexandria, Triggs supervised at various levels the preparation of 24 years of annual financial reports and budgets through to Council approval, worked to fully fund the City’s employee pension funds, and structured long-term fiscal management policies to ensure the City’s AAA bond ratings including during the 2009 recession. Triggs recently spearheaded the successful inter-departmental team effort that this year brought to the City competing internet broadband services that will provide equitable broadband access to all Alexandrians.

In her eight years as Deputy City Manager, Triggs served as the liaison from the Office of the City Manager to the Alexandria Sheriff, the City’s Clerk of the Courts, and the Commonwealth’s Attorney and Courts. She served on the Alexandria Transit Company (DASH) and City’s pension fund investment boards. Triggs oversaw at various times different City departments, including Budget, Emergency & Customer Communications, Facilities, Fire, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, and Performance Analytics.

Beyond her work with the city, Triggs has also worked as career coach for Alexandria and other local government employees. The release said Triggs plans to concentrate on career coaching.

“We are grateful to Laura for the contributions she’s made to Alexandria over her career,” Mayor Justin Wilson said in the release. “Laura has been the consummate public servant in advising the Council, helping develop effective fiscal and program policies, and providing outstanding senior leadership to our City government.”