EAST PALESTINE — It’s been over 14 months since last year’s Norfolk Southern train derailment and while much of the focus has been on the struggle left behind in its wake, village leaders continue to make strides towards restoration and revitalization, shifting the focus to not only rebuilding but building a better East Palestine. The recently-established Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) shines a light on that initiative and helps pave the way to economic growth.

“There are certain things that public agencies can’t do and this organization will allow us to do some of those things,” said Village Manager Chad Edwards when he asked the village council to begin the process of creating the organization in November.

The sole purpose of a CIC is to promote economic prosperity. CIC’s are quasi-governmental non-profit corporations that under the Ohio Constitution are given a number of permissions. CIC’s can borrow money, provide loans to individuals for businesses, buy, lease and sell property, apply for and administer grants and enter into contracts with federal, state, and local governments. A CIC can also acquire the good will, business rights, real or personal property, and assets of an individual or business.

The creation of CIC was near the top of Edward’s priority list in the early days of hiring. Edwards stepped into the Village Manager role on Nov. 1 after a year-long search to replace Mark McTrustry in and eight months after the derailment plunged East Palestine into chaos and uncertainty. He hit the ground running, getting legislation passed to grant permission to draft documents of incorporation for the CIC, submit those articles to the state and for the appointment of the CIC’s governing members within months of taking the job.

This week, the East Palestine CIC announced its board members. Two current village members, who also operate village businesses, were appointed — Tom Povenski (Tapco Electric) and Dr. Jessica Rocco (Well Adjusted Chiropractic and Wellness). Fellow councilmember Linda May, who heads the village’s finance committee and Think Tank, was also appointed as were Tom Brittain, owner of Brittain Motors, and Threshold Residential Services CEO Chris Page.

CICs are not a new concept. According to Columbus-based law firm Albers & Albers, CIC’s “were first established in 1965, and have since been utilized and developed as a leading economic development tool for local governments.”

There are over 300 CICs in Ohio. Locally, East Liverpool has stepped forward as an example of what an CIC can accomplish. The East Liverpool CIC has acquired and demolished dilapidated buildings, renovated the 1892 Thompson Building, boosted the city’s downtown by fostering new businesses like Chef Ray’s Diamond Grill, helped other businesses expand, promoted the “cultural district”, updated the city’s streetscape and advocated for improved infrastructure. The East Liverpool CIC has drawn entrepreneurs and sparked interest in the city with a revolving loan program for small businesses.

East Palestine hopes its CIC too will lead to an economic upswing for a village that was strapped before the derailment and left stigmatized after it.

The derailment exacerbated an already-precarious pecuniary predicament, but it also ironically provided opportunity and possibilities not available before Feb. 3, 2023. Responsible for the derailment, Norfolk Southern began to pour money into the village as both restitution and an attempt at redemption. The railroad gave the village a $500,000 grant which was used to hire the economic development firm Bricker Graydon. The advertising firm of WRL was also hired to help “rebrand” the village through a new logo, new website and improved communications with the public. Plans include creating a more vibrant downtown area, providing existing businesses with the tools they need to expand and stay in the village through financing and workforce training programs and attracting new businesses to the village.

Call it a resurrection or call it a renaissance. Either way, the village wants to find the good in the bad situation it was thrusted into when the train derailed last year, and turn things back around in East Palestine. The CIC will help facilitate that transformation.

“The CIC is an economic development corporation so what it will be able to do is it will be able to purchase land, purchase dilapidated structures and work with those structures to either restore or tear them down. That’s a specific thing the CIC will do,” Edwards said at the village’s first press conference held under its rebrand earlier this year. “We will be promoting business. We will be trying to recruit businesses and make land purchases. It’s something to engage with the business world and hopefully bring people into East Palestine where I might add it’s safe for people to operate.”