News

City Council praises outgoing director of Emergency and Customer Communications

By James Cullum
Older woman with short gray hair and glasses speaks into a microphone at a meeting, wearing a dark blazer and a yellow-text lanyard.
Renee Gordon, the city's director of Emergency and Customer Communications, speaks before City Council on Oct. 13, 2026 (screenshot via City of Alexandria)

Despite being recognized by the City Council and the city manager on Tuesday night, Renee Gordon didn’t seem surprised.

It’s not easy to rattle the city’s director of Emergency and Customer Communications. After 11 years leading the city’s communications center that handles 911, 311, emergency communications and non-emergency communications in the city, Gordon is retiring at the beginning of November.

On Tuesday night, she delivered her final report on the state of the city’s 911 call center. After she listed the latest figures, including a 10% reduction in 911 calls since the 2023 fiscal year and 94% response time within 15 seconds of calls, Gordon was thanked by every member of City Council.

Gordon said that her staff met the 15-second national standard for 911 call answering and wants to improve on it.

“We met this mark,” Gordon said. “We prefer a more aggressive goal of 10 seconds, but we’re still doing pretty good.”

Mayor Alyia Gaskins thanked Gordon for the department’s efficiency.

“We wanted to make sure that we took time tonight to honor the legacy that you have built here in this city and through this department,” Gaskins said. “Thank you for the strength of the office that you are leaving us with.”

Gordon, a cancer survivor, said that one of her proudest accomplishments was allowing her staff to take 911 calls from home during the pandemic.

“We were able to allow some people to be able to take their calls from home and still work when they wouldn’t be able to work,” Gordon said. “I just wanted to tell you how great it’s been and an honor it’s been to work in the city, and there are other things that we’re going to do in the future.”

Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley said that the culture Gordon fostered needs to stay.

“Having needed your services, having made that call, and gotten a calm, warm voice on the other end, I just want to share in all my colleagues’ appreciation for your work, but the culture that you’ve built,” Bagley said. “Because even when Nov. 1 comes around, the culture is not going to change.”

The city has not announced a new director but was seeking applicants over the summer.

 

Table titled 'Current State' showing metrics by fiscal year FY23–FY26, including calls received, percent answered within 10 and 15 seconds, non-emergency calls, and total call volume, with yearly values.
Alexandria’s 911 call data (via City of Alexandria)

About the Author

  • Reporter James Cullum has spent nearly 20 years covering Northern Virginia. He began working with ALXnow in 2020, and has covered every story under the sun for the publication, from investigative stories to features and photo galleries. His work includes coverage of national and international situations, as well as from the White House, Capitol, Pentagon, Supreme Court and State Department. He's covered protests and riots throughout the U.S. (including the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol), in addition to earthquake-ridden Haiti, Western Sahara in North Africa and war-torn South Sudan. He has photographed presidents and other world leaders, celebrities and famous musicians, and excels under pressure.