Boards and Commission Seats to Come Open Soon in Troy
Vol. III, No. 182 - Will the new year bring new faces around City Hall?
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On January 1, 2026, Troy will wake up to a fresh calendar year and a fresh round of opportunities for residents to help guide the community’s future by serving on city boards and commissions. These seats are not ceremonial; they are where everyday neighbors sit down with city staff and to decide how Troy grows, how neighborhoods are treated, and how the city serves its citizens.
The city’s official roster for 2025 shows that a notable number of terms end on December 31, 2025, which means those seats are at a natural turning point as the new year begins. On the planning side, one member of the Planning Commission has a term that expires at the end of 2025, and several members of the Board of Zoning Appeals reach the end of their terms at the end of the year as well, opening the door for potential new voices in how land use and zoning decisions are made. Elsewhere in the roster, there are 2025 expiration dates scattered across the Human Relations Commission and the Community Improvement Corporation, among others.
Those sentences on a roster page translate, in real life, to an important question: will these roles continue to be filled mostly by the same small circle of people, or will new residents have a real chance to serve? In some cases, the roster already notes that certain members have said they do not want to be reappointed, which guarantees that there will be genuine openings rather than automatic renewals. In other cases, even when incumbents are willing to stay, nothing stops city leadership from choosing a new person who brings a different neighborhood, profession, or life experience into the conversation.
Troy’s boards and commissions cover a wide range of topics, which means there is usually a place where your background or passion can be useful. The Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals deal with development and land use, deciding how projects fit—or do not fit—within the city’s rules and long-term plans. The Human Relations Commission studies how people in Troy experience issues related to race, gender, disability, and poverty, and offers advice to the Mayor and Council on how to address unfair treatment and strengthen relationships across the community.
Other bodies have more specialized but still important roles. The Community Improvement Corporation and Community Reinvestment Housing Council are involved in community and economic development. Even committees that sound dry on paper, like boards that review tax incentives or loan programs, end up influencing where money flows and which projects get off the drawing board.
Over the past few years, Troy has promoted an online application system as a way to make these roles more accessible, and the Board Interest Form remains the city’s main tool for gathering names of people who want to serve. On that form, the city asks for basic contact information and a brief description of your background and interests, and the language on the page makes it clear that while the form is not required for appointment and does not guarantee selection, it is how residents are added to the pool of potential appointees.
This publication has previously raised concerns about whether the reality of the appointment process matches the promise of openness and fairness suggested by that online system. In one widely discussed case, several well-qualified residents applied for Planning Commission seats through the city’s website, only to see the existing members reappointed while at least one applicant received no personal follow-up at all. Situations like that do not only disappoint the people who applied; they send a message to the wider community that the application tool may be more about appearances than genuine good governance.
But this is precisely why the moment at the start of 2026 matters. When a cluster of terms expires at once, the gap between the stated goal of broadening participation and the actual choices made by city leaders becomes easier to see and to measure. If many residents have applied for open seats and yet the circle of appointees barely changes, that tells a story about how serious the commitment to civic participation really is. If, on the other hand, Troy starts to see new names and new faces seated at these tables, that is a sign that persistence and public attention are paying off.
So, if you are a Troy resident and you care about how your city is run, consider this a direct invitation to step forward. Think about what issues you care about most—housing, downtown, parks, fairness in how people are treated, or just the basic good government work of hearing appeals and reading budgets—and then go to the city’s Board Interest Form and apply for a board or commission seat that fits your interest. You can apply by clicking the box below!
You do not need to have a certain job title, a law degree, or a long history at City Hall; you simply need to be willing to learn, to ask questions, and to treat your neighbors with respect.
There is one more step that can help turn individual applications into a broader push for accountability. If you submit an application for a seat that is open as of January 1, 2026—or one that will open during the year—take a moment to let this publication know. A simple note sharing who you are, which board or commission you applied for, and when you applied creates a record outside City Hall that residents are stepping up and expecting fair consideration. When enough people do this, the community can start to see patterns and ask better questions about how decisions are made, without relying only on official statements.
Trust in local government is not rebuilt in one big moment; it is earned slowly, one decision and one conversation at a time. The residents who choose to apply for these volunteer positions are taking on extra work without a paycheck, and they deserve to have their interest treated with seriousness and respect. As 2026 begins, Troy has a chance to live up to the promise of its online system and its public language about transparency by welcoming more of its own citizens into the rooms where decisions are made.
Thank you to our Newest Founding Level Member!
Thank you to Jonathan W., who became a Founding Member of Civic Capacity. It’s these types of contributions and investments in this publication that make it possible! Thank you for your generosity.
Participate in our November Community Survey!
So, throughout November, you can participate in our survey to give your thoughts and feelings on the direction of your hometown!
You can access the survey here:
Thanks for your time and your participation! It is greatly appreciated!
A New Handbook to grow Civic Capacity!
Recently, we created a new digital handbook, “The Citizen’s Guide to Public Records”. This handbook is designed to help residents have a better understanding of public meetings and meeting records. It’s filled with templates, ideas and other information that will open a new world of public affairs.
Also, if you have ideas for future handbooks, please let us know at pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com.
Want to Learn More About Troy’s Businesses?
Our publication has recently released our September 2025 Economic Abstract, the most comprehensive and up-to-date report on the businesses and industries in the City of Troy. For those that want to understand our community’s business and industries, this is a must-have report.
Thank you to our New Media Partners!
Recently, many of our stories has been showing up on the local news website, www.mymiamicounty.com. We are grateful for the good folks for sharing our work with their audience and we would encourage our readers to check them out at their website!
Our publication would also like to recognize the good work being done at www.piquanewsnow.com. Piqua News Now is a new web-based news and information site for the Miami County area, with a specific focus on Piqua!
In addition, the good folks at Piqua News Now have started a new, 24-hour streaming YouTube channel. This channel is awesome with continuous weather updates and more importantly, it provides a 24-hour audio feed from county wide dispatch. Check it out here!
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