EAST PALESTINE — Hopefuls vying to fill the empty East Palestine Village Council seat vacated by Doug Simpson’s resignation earlier this month were interviewed during a special council meeting held at the village municipal building on Monday.

Five residents submitted letters of interest to replace Simpson on council.

Those hoping to replace Simpson for the remainder of his term expiring at the end of next year are Robert “Rube” Ginder, Barb Herriot, Darren Miller, John Simon Jr. and Mary Huff.

Simpson resigned from council on Oct. 28 in protest of what he considered poor treatment of former village manager Chad Edwards who stepped down just days earlier. Edwards cited “deep divisions” and an inability to bridge gaps left behind in the wake of last year’s Norfolk Southern train derailment as the reason for immediately stepping away from his position.

Edwards was hired after a year-long search to replace former village manager Mark McTrustry, who announced his resignation in October of 2022 due to personal reasons. The village had expected to replace McTrusty at the beginning of 2023, but the derailment threw a wrench into those plans. When Edwards was named as McTrusty’s replacement, council expressed complete confidence in the decision — so much so that the village bought out Edwards’ remaining employment contract at the cost of $16,000 to pave his path to East Palestine. However, by May, three members of council voted to not retain Edwards after a performance evaluation. A super majority vote was needed to boot Edwards and he remained, only to tender his resignation nearly a day to the year of his hiring.

Simpson put the blame for Edwards’ departure on East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway and other council members when he read from a prepared statement when resigning himself.

“I grew up in this town, worked for this town and represented the residents of this town. My only agenda was the betterment and improvement of East Palestine, unlike the personal agenda of the mayor and some others,” Simpson said. “It is a sad day when a few can destroy what should be a rebuilding time from a disaster inflicted on the village. The ones who want to see the village progress are not the ones sitting in charge.”

Simpson has been a familiar face in local government. He was a veteran councilman who had 10 years of experience under his belt when he re-won a seat on village council during the November 2021 general election.

Simpson had had plans to run against Conaway for mayor in 2019, but Conaway ended up running unopposed after Simpson was disqualified due to circulating his petition prior to signing his statement of candidacy. Conaway was re-elected last year, taking 56 percent of the votes in a challenge by Misti Allison.

Meanwhile, the search for a new village manager continues in East Palestine. According to a job posting on the village’s official website epohio.org, interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume by Friday, Dec. 6 at noon to m.martin@eastpalestine-oh.gov by email. Applications can also be mailed to or dropped off at the East Palestine Municipal Building up until the deadline.