Gilmore multitasks through postal, council concerns

In her two jobs, Brenda Gilmore's philosophy can be summed up in two words: customer service.

As director for University mail services, Gilmore ensures each day that 70,000 pieces of mail and 600 packages get to where they need to be.

Photo by Phonethip M. Liu

"The victories just don't last long in government. You can't rest on your laurels."

--Brenda Gilmore, Director, University mail services and Metro councilwoman, District One

As the Metro council member for District One, Gilmore represents her constituents' interests on the council.

Gilmore, who came to Vanderbilt in 1987, originally directed mail services for both the University and the Medical Center.Now, she manages the University-side -- which is the size of a small town, with nearly 8,000 mailboxes.

"We're probably larger than most local post offices," she said in a recent interview.

Excelling in customer service is what brought Gilmore into her current field. While a loan manager at a Nashville bank, she closed a loan for a Tennessee commissioner who proved to be a difficult customer. Afterward, the commissioner returned to Gilmore, admitted how difficult she had been and offered her a job as supervisor of mail services for the state of Tennessee.

At the time, Gilmore had never been in a management position and initially tried to find a way to stay at the bank. However, she eventually took the job offer, thinking, "This woman sees something in me that I don't," Gilmore said. "I believe she saw the compassion that I have in meeting people's needs."

Since coming to Vanderbilt, Gilmore has faced several challenges in keeping the mail running smoothly and efficiently. When UPS went on strike, mail services processed more than 1,000 packages each day. Gilmore brought in rental trucks to create extra space by Station B, the central University post office. And last fall, after the closing of the University computer store, Gilmore ended up with 3,000 computers to deliver. Only one wasn't delivered to its owner promptly.

"I don't think anybody thought of the ripple effect" of closing the computer store, Gilmore said. "I think we successfully got through that time."

Gilmore enjoys the challenges of her job. Mail services "touches everybody," she said. "Nobody really notices mail services when it works well."

Gilmore was elected to the Metro council last August, as the representative for District One. Located in the northern part of the city, District One has two main communities: Bordeaux is a primarily urban, African-American area and Joelton is a primarily rural, white area. One of Gilmore's challenges has been bridging those disparate communities.

District One had never elected an African-American representative, Gilmore said, noting that most representatives had been second- or third-generation citizens of the Joelton community. "I had to build up that trust with the Joelton community," she said. "The media played it up to be a black-and-white thing. But they just needed to get to know me."

Gilmore has enjoyed several victories in her run as councilwoman. When one developer wanted to put 1,000 mobile homes in Joelton, she held a community meeting that persuaded the developer to withdraw the proposal. She has also seen the mayor, Bill Purcell, commit to using an area in her district for green space instead of a landfill as originally planned.

Despite these successes, Gilmore remains realistic. "I realize I'm not going to win every issue," she said. "The victories just don't last long in government. You can't rest on your laurels."

Gilmore has been interested in public service since she was young, however, she didn't feel the time was right to serve until last year.

"I think I've always had a longing or a calling to public service," she said. "When you go into public service, you open yourself up to public scrutiny. Last year, I just made up my mind that I wanted to make a difference."

Gilmore serves on the budget and finance committee, the planning committee and the parks and recreation committee of the Metro council. She is also a member of the greenway commission and the subcommittee on solid waste. The issues she faces coincide with the issues for District One, which has a large proportion of undeveloped or underdeveloped land.

"I wanted to be at the table when those issues were decided," she said.

She also feels she is able to represent some of Vanderbilt's needs as a council member, for example when legislation concerning medical waste was brought up. "It's important that I ask the right questions," Gilmore said.