By: Sarah Wright | Troy Times | Published January 21, 2025
TROY — With a new year comes renewed aspirations, and addressing the needs of the public library, evaluating capital projects and maintaining quality public safety services are among the goals for officials in the city of Troy in 2025.
“These priorities have been identified by working closely with City Council, listening to the needs of the Troy community and regularly evaluating Citywide services and facilities,” Troy Communications Director Courtney Flynn stated in an email.
Troy Mayor Ethan Baker stated that he is eager for the city to continue to move forward in 2025.
“Core services and values will be further built upon in 2025 as we take a deeper look at our capital funding needs and investment strategies, knowing that the Troy Public Library building and road funding are amongst the top issues we must address moving forward,” Baker stated via email. “As the Troy City Council meticulously navigates these issues and executes its duties, we will be working side-by-side with City Manager Frank Nastasi to exemplify good governance and to best support the Troy community and its needs.”
The Troy Public Library originally opened at 510 W. Big Beaver Road in 1971 and has circulated more than a million items and had over 300,000 visitors.
The library hired the firm Rethinking Libraries in 2023 to assess its current state and to consider potential improvement plans.
The firm’s assessment, as well as survey answers from library staff and community members revealed that more space for recreational activities and library collections is desired.
However, the size of the library, which is around 50,000 square feet, as well as the age of the building, could make major improvements challenging, according to Rethinking Libraries.
“The staff areas in particular, I think that’s one of the biggest areas where this library is really deficient and causing issues that aren’t always seen,” Robert Cullen, a representative with ReThinking Libraries, said during a Troy City Council meeting June 10.
Some of the options to address issues include improving the existing building with no expansions at an estimated cost of $10-$19 million; expanding the building to around 60 to 75,000 square feet at an estimated cost of $20-$35 million; and building a new library that is more than 90,000 square feet within the Civic Center complex, which could cost between $29-$39 million.
A building outside of the Civic Center complex could cost between $33-$43 million.
Although there is a strong push for a new building in the Civic Center complex, city officials have been exploring different possibilities to address the library’s needs.
Public safety
In terms of public safety services, during a City Council meeting Dec. 9, an EMS Feasibility Study Presentation was facilitated by Troy Fire Department Chief Peter Hullinger and Steve Knight, a representative from Fitch & Associates, LLC, a public safety consulting firm.
The presentation emphasized improving response and dispatch times. Specifically, it was noted that there is a possibility for an improvement of between four and six minutes with response times.
It was found that on average, units spent around 30.7 minutes per call on calls that didn’t result in patient transport, and 72 minutes per call for incidents that resulted in patient transport.
“Overall, what this really shows . . . is that you’re running EMS calls in all corners of the city, and it really supports what we would refer to as a commensurate risk model, which means everybody gets the same level of service across the community,” Knight said.
The total response time for all emergency calls for the public was 13.5 minutes at the 90th percentile, with travel time at 10.1 minutes. The total response time for nonemergency calls was 18.8 minutes, with travel time at 13.7 minutes.
“So the takeaway is, if you think about the total response time . . . at 13.5 minutes you know 13.5 to 10 is not the return on investment that you would get if you get closer to the five minutes,” Knight said. “So there’s good policy context around trying to navigate where you want to set your expectations and level of service.”
In order to meet a travel time of six minutes, having two stations staffed with four ambulances was suggested.
To ensure that community needs are being addressed, five ambulances would be required during the busiest parts of each day and four ambulances would be needed overnight, seven days a week.
“The additional administrative capacity required to operate a municipal EMS service would require approximately $1.39m per year,” according to a PowerPoint presentation at the Dec. 9 meeting. “The per unit personnel costs for EMTs and Paramedics is approximately $756K.”
City officials will further consider setting policy for this at a later date.
Plans for 2025 goals were also discussed at a City Council special meeting on Jan. 11.
“During this daylong session several priority projects, including the need for a new library, improving roads and continuing to support public safety, were identified,” Flynn said in an email. “Discussions also included exploring potential strategies for addressing these priorities, which will be further developed and presented in upcoming public meetings.”
For more information, visit troymi.gov.