OCBA to Meet April 13th

Ocracoke Civic and Business Association will meet Wednesday, April 13th at 7pm at the Ocracoke Community Center. An agenda for the meeting will be posted ASAP, but we know that per Hyde County's request, OCBA will seek island consensus on the large mallard duck population in the village. CHNS superintendent Dave Hallac will attend the meeting, and answer questions about the Park, including recent changes to the overnight parking policy. OCBA members are also considering an official response to North Carolina's House Bill 2. All are welcome to attend!    

Agenda for April 13th meeting:

1. Call to Order

2.  Approval of March meeting minutes. 

3. Treasurer’s report

     OCBA budget

4. Travel & Tourism Director report (Sundae Horn)

     --OCBA response to HB2

5. David Hallac, Cape Hatteras National Seashore superintendent

6. Discussion of village ducks  (Will Doerfer, special assistant Hyde County manager)

7. As-needed reports:

            County Manager’s report (Bill Rich)

            National Park Service

            County Commissioner (John Fletcher)

8. Old Business

 9. New business

     --United Methodist Church request for $100 from OCBA towards smoothing their parking lot that is used more by the public than church members

10. Announcements

11. Adjourn

           Note: Meetings are held the second Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. in the Ocracoke Community Center (unless otherwise stated). The next 2016 meetings will be:   May 11, June 8, July 13, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, Oct. 12, Nov. 9, Dec. 14.

OCBA Meeting March 9, 2016

DRAFT minutes

Meeting called to order at 7:10 p.m.

Board Members present: Board members present: Justin LeBlanc, vice-president, Connie Leinbach, secretary; Ashley Harrell, treasurer (left at 7:15 p.m.); Wayne Clark, Teresa O’Neal.  Excused: Rudy Austin.

Since Judy Justice, a Democratic candidate on the March 12 primary ballot for N.C. State House District 6 currently held by Paul Tine, could not attend the candidate’s meeting Feb. 25, she attended this monthly meeting and spoke for about 45 minutes.

Minutes: The minutes of the January and February meetings were approved. 

Travel  & Tourism director’s report:  Sundae was away, but she had sent a report. (See below.) In the interest of time, Connie noted that the website is being revamped and OCBA has placed ads up the beach and in Our State magazine. 

NPS: Ed Fuller, Ocracoke chief ranger, reported that OCBA may have to pay about $1,100 for a permit to the NPS for the fireworks show July 3.  (In addition, OCBA has also paid $662 in additional liability insurance for Hyde County for the show.)

    Ramp 63 (newly being built) will be open by the end of the month.  The boardwalk to the lifeguard beach is being rebuilt to be ADA compliant for handicap accessibility, including a wheelchair ramp to the beach.

Starting March 16, beach-driving permits can be purchased online. The yearly passes are still on a calendar year basis.  The NPS is looking at some seasonal route changes.

    Visitor’s Center: This office is being renovated to house the permit office as well as the gift shop. The trailer where beach driving permits have been sold since 2012 will be removed as the lease for that is up.

   NPS parking lot: the NPS has changed the rules. Recreational boaters can only park there overnight with a permit. No construction vehicles can park there. However, parking will be allowed there during hurricane emergencies.

Ed said he would ask David Hallac, Cape Hatteras National Seashore superintendent, if there might be a location in the NPS maintenance area for OCBA to have a storage shed.

Road drainage/Hyde County: Justin LeBlanc (chair of the Mosquito Control board) reported that “Blackbeard’s puddle,” in front of Blackbeard’s Lodge, is being fitted with culverts to drain the water to the end of Old Pony Road. Crushed gravel will be placed across the section of road that had to be cut away to create the drain and Justin is hoping the NCDOT will pave this repair so that there’s not a lot of gravel on the road. All roads on the island are either private or under the DOT’s purview.  The MCB will work on further drainage amelioration in their authorized areas.

As for the Zika virus, the MCB will get more chemicals this year for more robust spraying.

Occupancy Tax Fund grant request: the group reviewed a preliminary budget/ask of $99,555 Connie had worked up (with assistance from Wayne, Ashley and Sundae), which includes: promotional activities, July 4, the Fig Festival, a proposed professional advertising campaign for $50,000, the request for the British Cemetery ceremony, and a possible part-time administrative assistant.  This would be for the OCBA activities and does not include a separate ask amount of $20,000 for Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree. (While the Jamboree is an OCBA event and is under the OCBA, it has a separate checking account.)

This total of $99K+ is the largest OCBA has ever proposed, but this large increase reflects the Occupancy Tax Board’s wish last year that Ocracoke control its own professional advertising with the OCBA the logical island organization to do that. While this budget was not yet finished, a motion to seek $99,555, or close to it, was made by Wayne and seconded by Darlene Styron. Motion approved and carried.

Occupancy Tax grant requests are due April 4 with the meeting April 12.

Ocracoke School Arts Week request: Nancy Leach requested the OCBA help sponsor Arts Week for $499, which would allow the school to make its $9,000 budget. A motion to approve the $499 request was made by Darlene Styron and seconded by Arleen Burley. (Ashley Harrell had agreed to this request before she left.) Motion approved and carried.

Monitor Marine Sanctuary: A motion to submit comments on OCBA’s behalf objecting to expansion was made by Justin and seconded by Teresa. Motion approved and carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Connie Leinbach, secretary

February/March 2016 OCBA Travel and Tourism Report. Sundae Horn

Walking map: new design is done – being printed – should arrive this week.

New website: Met with Anne Marie Bass and Wick Smith of Front Row Communications, Raleigh, who will be doing the new website. They came to Ocracoke, and we mapped out the first steps of the process. I am working on getting them photos and copy while they build the preliminary web design.  Anne Marie will also create a potential marketing plan for OCBA to be considered for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

Marketing/advertising:  OCBA purchased a co-op ad in the April and May issues of Our State magazine. The Outer Banks This Week story will come on in mid-April.

Ad committee met twice to discuss what we will request from OT funds for 2016-17 advertising. We are going to ask 3 companies for marketing plans in the 30K-60K range. Anne Marie is working on one of them.   I will contact Lewis Advertising and one more to get proposals.

Visitor Center: The pirate panels donated from NPS visitor center were hung. I have framed photos of island scenes to hang also.

I put some more shelves in there and will inventory rack cards and contact businesses that need to bring more for the new season. Plan to have it clean and re-stocked by Easter.

Other:

Ocracoke was selected by Southern Living magazine for a photo shoot in a “Barefoot Beach Town” story to run in June 2016. Photographer will be here in March. This is free editorial advertising – by far the best kind! I will help the photographer with arranging extras for beach shots, etc.

We will also be featured in the "All-American Summer" story in the July/August issue of Coastal Living. Per their request. I sent them a box of sand and shells for their photo shoot by priority mail, which cost $37.70. We can consider that cheap, though not quite free, advertising.

Vote for Ocracoke on the USA Today 10 Best website for Best East Coast Beach. After we started sharing the link on social media, Ocracoke moved from #10 to #6! You can vote every day until March 14. http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-east-coast-beach/?CMPID=USAT-Cards

4th of July: Committee met Friday, March 4 to discuss Fourth of July. Fireworks meeting on March 7.  After that, we hope we can advertise fireworks. Our plan is to have music and square dancing on the 3rd, move the parade an hour later on the 4th, and host a bonfire at the lifeguard beach 7-10pm on the 4th.

Working on finding possible performers to liven up the parade. Please let us know if you have a connection to a marching band….

Fig Fest and Pirate Jamboree committees are active.

Deadline next week for info about events to go in Ocracoke One Boat Guide.

Ongoing: social media, calls/emails, updating and sending event information

Please let me know about spring openings.

Hyde County Chamber of Commerce Issues Luncheon on Ocracoke will be week of May 16.

OPS Spring meeting is March 15th at 7pm at Deepwater Theater, dessert potluck. Heidi Smith of Tideland EMC will tell the history of electric power on Ocracoke

Bland Simpson in concert Saturday at 7pm at Deepwater. Admission benefits OWWA exhibit.