OCBA Draft Minutes from October Meeting
Meeting was called to order by Vice-president Clayton Gaskill at 7:02 p.m. Board members present: Connie Leinbach, Kenny Ballance, Clayton Gaskill, Justin LeBlanc, Jim Borland. Members/others present: County Commissioner John Fletcher, Sundae Horn, Corky Pentz, Dick and Janey Jacoby, Fred Westervelt and Ed Fuller.
Minutes: The minutes of the September 10 meeting were approved with the correction of the date of Oct. 20 for the meeting with ferry officials.
Treasurer’s report: Kenny reported that the beginning cash balance was $36,660.22, and the ending balance was $25,517.61. Dues for 2015 have been coming in. He put a stop-payment on a $500 check issued to Valerie Mason in August because the envelope he had sent it in had been opened and nothing was in the envelope.
Travel & Tourism Director’s report: Sundae will meet the last week of October with Valerie and should have estimates of the cost of a combined asset and walking map brochure.
She has been getting a lot of calls inquiring what’s open from November to January.
Discussion on the racks on the ferries for brochures: does OCBA own them? If so, some businesses not members are putting their cards in them.
Suzanne Brown of NC Travel & Tourism called Sundae to report that two Canadian travel writers reporting on coastal life will be on the island the weekend of Oct. 10. We would like to have a dinner with them in Philip Howard’s home with traditional foods. A motion for the OCBA to pay up to $150 for fish cakes for this dinner was made by Jim Borland and seconded by Connie Leinbach. Motion approved and carried.
President’s Report: Connie reported for Rudy Austin that the OCBA wants a list of comments/concerns/complaints about the ferries to transmit to ferry officials. These items should not be anonymous as Ed Goodwin, ferry director, has asked.
County manager’s report: Bill Rich called in and was put on speakerphone. Regarding the ferries, he said he had spent the day with Transportation Secretary Tony Tata, who rode one of the long ferries. While Tata and Goodwin are keen on passenger ferries, those won’t happen without business support. He said a passenger ferry would cost about $5 million to build vs. car ferries that are about $15 million, and the addition of passenger ferries could take the load off the long wait on the Hatteras side. People who are concerned should attend the meetings. The long route is the only route we have right now and if we have to end up living with that route we have to figure it out and passenger ferries are the answer. As stressed as we are, it’s all about transportation. Bill said he’s meeting with Jed Dixon, deputy ferry director, to talk about adding a third run in the winter to the Swan Quarter route.
Commerce Secretary Decker visited Hyde on Sept. 12 and they were able to present Hyde as a link to Dare and the mainland.
Storm water: Barry King met on Sept.18 with Rex O’Neal, Justin LeBlanc and Chip Stevens at Blackbeard’s Lodge and they plan to install two boxes and a culvert to divert the water to behind the old fire house area.
Golden Leaf: This agency gave Hyde an additional $500,000 for the revolving loan program.
Street signs: all of the new “NC 12” signs will be replaced with new “Irvin Garrish Highway” signs. Road paving began today (Oct. 8) on Ocracoke. The NC DOT engineer will review the request to change the three variations of “Cedar Lane” on the island to different names, such as “Red Cedar.” Then the EMS database will be updated as to where everyone lives.
Justin LeBlanc, who attended the meeting via cell phone, reiterated that he doesn’t want Ocracoke to lose the short ferry route.
NPS report: Ed Fuller, Ocracoke supervisor, reported that on the ORV beach routes, two tenths of a mile is closed for resource management. There still are two turtle nests. This year, there were 42 turtle nests with 46 false crawls and 124 total nests throughout the park.
Ramp 68 is closed until after Oct. 27 when the campground closes.
Lighthouse decoration will be Dec. 8 to Jan. 3, and a lighted wreath on the lighthouse is approved. Southpoint Road is being graded as well as some of the sound side roads.
Interim director Kym Hall will be in charge until Dec. 21. She also will visit Ocracoke Oct. 16.
Lifeguards: It’s the NPS consensus that privately-hired guards this summer did an excellent job. During the season from Memorial to Labor Day, within the 150-foot guard zone, there were 39,610 visitors.
There were 5 minor medical issues; 1 major medical issue; 4 minor rescues and no major rescues; 1,609 advisories. Fuller said management will meet soon about lifeguards for next year.
One of the park rangers, Josh Van, has left, but they don’t know if this position will be filled.
As for the refurbished public boat launch, Fuller said the elevation is exactly the same as it was before.
County Commissioner’s report: John Fletcher told the group that Hyde County Development Officer Kris Noble is researching the feasibility of all of the advertising/marketing money spent independently by Ocracoke and the mainland to be under one agency. (She is researching what they Hyde County Chamber on the mainland does and what the OCBA, the Occupancy Tax Board and others do to advertise our destination and whether one county agency could handle all the duties.)
“That’s insane,” said Fred Westervelt. While no one else in attendance had any comments, he asked the group to think about it.
He also reported that while the county’s health and social services departments are separate agencies, there are provisions in the law for counties to combine these two agencies. “It could save money with one administrator over both,” he said.
He also asked if the OCBA group had any thoughts on the travel trailer controversy and discussion.
Corky Pentz, who is the chair of the Ocracoke Advisory Planning Board, explained that FEMA has a new set of rules requiring temporary electric panels and water meters. He said the board wants to eliminate the camper ordinance that is within the Ocracoke Development Ordinance.
Fred Westervelt said that whatever is decided needs to be something not adverse to employment and does not obstruct the option to live here.
Announcements: Janey Jacoby said the Ocracoke Fire Department is encouraging homeowners to purchase and install reflective address signs outside houses for better night visibility for EMS. Also, the Vial of Life program (that promotes the identification of citizens’ medications) will be translated into Spanish. For more information on these programs, contact the fire department. The open house is Saturday afternoon, Oct. 11.
New business: Clayton noted that it’s time to think about OCBA elections and officers in December. There are six board member positions.
Meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
Next meeting is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014, in the Ocracoke Community Center Respectfully submitted,
Connie Leinbach, secretary
Agenda
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Call to Order
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Approval of Minutes
OCRACOKE CIVIC AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
Monthly meeting
7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014 Ocracoke Community Center
3. Treasurer’s Report (Kenny Ballance)
4. Travel & Tourism Director report (Sundae Horn) Discussion of 2015 walking map/asset brochure
5. President’s Report 6. New Business
7. Old Business
8. As-needed updates:
Committee reports
Officers’ reports
County Manager, Bill Rich
County Commissioner, John Fletcher Ed Fuller, NPS
9. Announcements 10. Adjourn
Next meeting: Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014. 7 p.m. Ocracoke Community Center
