No stranger to the Metro Detroit area, Royal Oak’s newest economic development director, Meg Trouba, has been working all around Royal Oak and now she’s at home in the city.

The Bay City native and Central Michigan University alum has spent time first working for the Village of Franklin in economic development and then in the city of Troy as the assistant city manager. She started working for Royal Oak in mid-August.

“When I was working for the city of Troy, I oversaw the departments of economic development, the planning department, building department, engineering, communications and the library,” Trouba said. “But I like the ‘bread and butter’ of government. I always say the thing I love the most is economic development in general, the planning side of development and how that integrates into the community. In Troy, I was able to touch all of my favorite departments and it was a great experience.”

Trouba has moved to Royal Oak and is happy to be working with the new city manager, Joe Gacioch, who was hired last October and started in January.

“I had known Joe as a colleague in the city management world for years and actually, we've always had this inside joke, ‘When am I going to get and come work for you, Joe?’” Trouba said. “I have really admired the way he worked in Ferndale. Joe's the kind of guy who just gets stuff done, and that's a fun government to work for. Joe has a unique way of really identifying movement and then not stopping until it's done.”

Trouba’s role will be a bit different from past economic development directors in Royal Oak.

“There's been some reorganization in my position and my role is really so much different than what it used to look like,” she explained. “I'm much more boots on the ground, even in proximity in this city building. The old economic development role used to be part of the city manager's office and they sat upstairs. One of the things that Joe saw when he got over here is just the need for increased internal communication, and I absolutely agree with the decision to move my role downstairs.”

Her role will also include taking on the community development director role, combining the two jobs into one after the retirement of the director.

“This is the first time that economic development has had a real collaborative role in this city,” Trouba said. “I currently oversee the building department and the planning department and the economic development functions over here, so that helps keep me busy.”

In describing her position and what she’s looking to accomplish, Trouba has a simple explanation.

“I look at economic development as the glue between the commercial side of the economy and the public side of the economy and our government and our residents,” she said. “And when you take that sort of framing of economic development as this glue, this bridge between two worlds, what you look at a lot and what's really important in my strategy is relationship building. Being able to know my community that I'm working for but also know the developers that you're working with. And I think that those relationships help you often find creative solutions. When you're not talking and you're not collaborating, things get stalled or they fall short. And so, a lot of what I'm focused on here in Royal Oak is going to be creating a strategy and strategic vision.

“When we sit back and we think about what does this city need to look like in 20 years?” Trouba added. “Who lives here? What are they doing here? What do they need here? How is the city functioning? I'm tasked with making sure that we are on track and we're going to meet these goals. I once heard the quote, ‘if you're not looking ahead, you'll fall behind’, and I think that's very relevant in economic development. It's not about taking care of, necessarily, only our immediate needs but trying to anticipate future needs for these residents and secure a really high quality of life over here.”