EAST PALESTINE — The Village of East Palestine released a “2024 Progress Report” highlighting progress made last year in the wake of the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment.

“It has been two years since the train derailment that forever changed the Village of East Palestine,” the village said through its epohio.org website. “While we will not forget the day and events that followed, what we choose to remember is the resiliency of the town and the strength we have shown as we pushed forward and continued to make progress to rebuild and improve our community.”

The progress report was the village’s official marking of the second anniversary. In an effort to show “how far the village has come and a reminder of everything accomplished since that fateful night of February 3, 2023,” the village drew attention to a long list of initiatives implemented in the last 24 months. Those initiatives included:

— Rebranding of the Village of East Palestine with a new logo and slogan, “Pride. Tradition. Progress.” to represent the community’s strength and resilience, rich heritage and strong roots, and aspirations for creating a better future.

— The creation of a website, epohio.org designed to proactively communicate all the positive developments in the community as they happen, so the site serves as the one source for reliable Village recovery information.

— New social media channels on Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Watch the proceedings as they happened.

— Establishment of the Village of East Palestine Community Improvement Corporation (EPCIC), a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit corporation which will work alongside the village to accomplish development goals and to spearhead transformative initiatives.

— Development of “East Palestine Progress,” a monthly newsletter mailed to every home and business in the area with updates and news for residents and business owners. The newsletter raised $3,560 in advertising sales for the East Palestine Community Improvement Corporation (EPCIC).

— Videoing most bi-monthly village council meetings with guest presenters and posted on epohio.org so that those who could not attend could watch the proceedings as they happened.

— Reporting on the first two phases of the ongoing $25 million East Palestine Community Park Improvement project funded by Norfolk Southern, which is a multi-phase project expected to be completed in 2026.

— Taking ownership of the historic train depot with its renovated exterior from Norfolk Southern and applied for and received technical assistance services valued at $55,000 from Opportunity Appalachia to develop the reuse plan for the depot. The building will be repurposed for the benefit of the community. Requests for proposals for businesses or organizations seeking to use the space are still being accepted.

— Placing East Palestine’s new Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) Filtration system in service on June 13, 2024. The GAC filters will add another layer of protection to the Village’s water treatment plant now and in the future.

— The creation of the EP VIP Shopper Club, a free service designed to spur economic growth and consumer retail shopping by letting participating vendors offer special deals and discounts of their choice to members. Twenty vendors and more than 1,000 members joined.

— The creation of a web page with the help of the Columbiana County Port Authority and ZoomProspector on epohio.org which lists available village sites and buildings for sale or lease.

— A new and improved eastpalestine-oh.gov/ municipal website that contains contact information for all the village departments as well as news, events and updates.

— An After-Action Review (AAR) by Mission Critical Partners (MCP). MCP collected and reviewed all available public data and information sources and conducted both individual interviews and focus-group sessions with stakeholders over a five-month span. MCP presented its top summary of findings and recommendations on August 29. As next steps, the village and the respective departments will continue to focus on addressing the issues, many of which have already been resolved, and produce a strategy to implement the improvement plan to increase future emergency response outcomes.

— A Safe Streets and Roads for All planning grant in the amount of $211,488 2024 from the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a comprehensive safety action plan to improve local streets for downtown pedestrians, ensure safe passage to the park and schools and plan multi-purpose trails.

— Continuing contact with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Technical Assistance Services for Communities (TASC) Program to review and report on all environmental monitoring conducted by government agencies and summarize other completed and ongoing studies conducted by independent entities. TASC reviewed information on air, soil, surface water and groundwater and provided a full report and presented a webinar on Sept. 24.

— Collaborated with Small Nation, facilitated by JobsOhio, to work together on a strategic plan for downtown revitalization. Small Nation is dedicated to revitalizing small towns through its Small Town Success Formula, which empowers local leaders and property owners to build thriving downtowns with sustainable growth.

— Participation in the Ohio Rural Community Assistance Program’s (RCAP) Building Thriving and Resilient Communities Program, a federally funded program that seeks to help communities grow and prosper through grass-roots economic and community development, by focusing on existing assets, placemaking strategies and building entrepreneurship opportunities.

— Collaboration with the East Palestine Think Tank, a group of volunteers that collected input from the broader community through a series of surveys, focus groups, and visioning workshops to help discover the wants and needs of residents to help the village move forward.

— The $15.8 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) specifically for the purpose of constructing a new public safety complex. This funding is provided through the USDA Rural Development Community Facilities Disaster Assistance program and will enhance the village’s ability to protect and serve the community and offer its citizens a convenient, centralized location for municipal services.

— A “Brighten Our Future” Tree Lighting and Fundraiser conducted by the EPCIC which raised $161,500.

— Purchase of the former PNC Bank property by the EPCIC with the intention to develop a community plaza downtown for all to enjoy and to promote downtown revitalization.

selverd@mojonews.com