The City of Troy will soon be working with a new EMS company beginning Jan. 1, 2026.

For years, the city that outsources emergency services has worked with Alliance Mobile Health, now Universal Ambulance, which has been responding to 911 calls for 70 years. Now, they're going with a newer and smaller company.

Universal Ambulance has been responding to 911 calls in the city of Troy for 23 years. But on Monday, the Troy City Council voted unanimously to hire Pontiac-based Star EMS as the new provider. The council awarded a two-year contract with the option to renew annually for three additional years.

Fire Chief Peter Hullinger confirmed that working with Star EMS, which is smaller than Universal Ambulance, will cost less than what is allotted for in the budget.

In a statement, Universal Ambulance said there was an issue submitting its bid to continue its services, but the city did not budge. The company says, "Although our current service agreement allows the city to exercise a one-year extension, we were not contacted to explore this option."

Troy Mayor Ethan Baker says the company submitted its bid an hour before the deadline, when they had 25 days to put in an offer.  

"The city of Troy, we follow every rule that we put forward for the public bid process, and we follow that very strictly," said Baker.

Star EMS's statement

A committee made up of first responders, city and financial advisors thoroughly considered each company interested in serving the city. But in a council meeting in March, Hullinger expressed concerns about selecting Star EMS.

"Star EMS, they do emergency, but I think our contract is too big for them," said Hullinger at the time.

On Thursday, Hullinger says he is confident that the committee that selected Star EMS made the right decision. 

"The care they get within the quickest amount of time is what matters the most, so I'm very hopeful that Star can live up to those expectations because that can save lives," said Baker.

A representative with Universal Ambulance says on average, they respond to emergencies in four minutes and 59 seconds with a compliance rate of 86% to 94%.

Star EMS, which was founded in 2003, is required to respond to Troy residents no later than six minutes. While that is at least a minute slower than Universal Ambulance, it is a response time that is under the Oakland County Medical Control Authority's nine-minute benchmark.

Star EMS currently has 160 employees, and with the city of Troy having 90,000 people, the city expects it will have more manpower and emergency vehicles by Jan.1.

Meanwhile, the nation is facing an ambulance manufacturing delay. EMS1 reported that there has been a backlog in new vehicles for fire and EMS departments.

When asked about a backlog of vehicles, Baker says he's confident Star EMS will be ready to go on Jan. 1. Star EMS CEO Bill Grubb said in a statement that the company is committed to investing in new ambulances to provide the best possible care.

Universal Ambulance's full statement

Universal Ambulance has provided Emergency Medical Services throughout southeast Michigan for nearly 70 years.  In April 2024, we integrated our emergency operations with those of Alliance Mobile Health, who had provided ambulance services to the Troy community for the previous 23 years.  Throughout this process, we worked closely with our public partners to develop a new EMS operations plan that provided the community with the greatest number of dedicated, transport-capable Advanced Life Support ambulances in its history using a sustainable deployment model.  Our organization also increased the number of dedicated 9-1-1 ambulances in many nearby Oakland County communities, resulting in the highest number of dedicated 9-1-1 ambulances in the region in the last two decades.

Throughout these deployment changes, we consistently reviewed our performance and communicated the additional operational changes needed to meet the targeted results. Our First Responders currently arrive on scene in an average of 4 minutes and 59 seconds during an emergency response, and our time to dispatch an ambulance for high priority emergencies is less than 35 seconds.  Year-to-date, our monthly compliance rate is between 86% and 94% with the City of Troy's performance requirements, and as high as 97% based on the National Fire Protection Association and Oakland County Medical Control Authority's response time standards.

Our organization intended to submit a proposal to continue these services, however we encountered a technical issue during the submission process.  It was unclear if the technical issue was the result of our own systems, file formatting, or an external cause.  We were unsuccessful in resolving this and immediately communicated our submission issues to the city at the bid opening.  We fully understood the city's submission instructions, including the bid deadline and submission process.  We understand the importance of the transparency needed throughout the bidding process and respect the city's decision not to accept our bid.  Although our current service agreement allows the city to exercise a one-year extension, we were not contacted to explore this option. We would love the opportunity to partner with the City of Troy again, either now or in the future.