Civic Affairs Update

Press Release

Lots of good information from the Civic Affairs meeting on April 16, 2020.

Thanks to Ocracoke Civic & Business Association's events coordinator Sara Teaster for these meeting notes. 

To watch the full video of the meeting, please visit: https://www.hydecountync.gov/newsdetail_T73_R2373.php

Hyde County Health Department, Luana Gibbs

COVID- 19 is a contagious respiratory virus that most people recover from.

Coronavirus Data Summary – (11am 4-16-2020)

OCBA president Rudy Austin, event coordinator Sara Teaster, and executive director Helena Stevens practice a social distancing meeting while the rest of us watch on Facebook Live.
OCBA president Rudy Austin, event coordinator Sara Teaster, and executive director Helena Stevens practice a social distancing meeting while the rest of us watch on Facebook Live.

  • NC Confirmed Cases: 5,465
  • NC Hospitalizations: 452
  • NC Deaths: 131
  • Hyde County Confirmed Cases: 0 

Even though Hyde County has no confirmed cases, it could still be in our community as many people are asymptomatic. Testing has slowed down. State Lab now requires the following conditions for testing; symptoms and either be hospitalized or live in a congregate facility (nursing home or correctional facility), have symptoms and be a health care worker, or have symptoms and have an underlying condition. Private Labs and Health Care facilities can still perform tests without these guidelines.

Gov. Cooper gave a press conference that indicated that the state may be looking at ways to reopen. State needs additional infrastructure to trace potential cases as the state opens up. No decision has been made on reopening the state.

Public Health encourages you to continue to practice social distancing, stay home when you are sick, wash your hands, practice respiratory etiquette, follow local and state recommendations, and get information from reputable sources. (*see websites above)

Question? - How many are in care assisted facilities are there in Hyde County?

Cross Creek nursing home, but no specific numbers right now on how many are in this facility.

Earle Irwin, Ocracoke Mental Health Support Person

Earle is a retired mental health specialist who has been on island since February, brought here by the OIRRT from a grant from the Outer Banks Community Foundation to assist with residents as they recover from Dorian. Due to Coronavirus restrictions, she is still able to help residents with any mental health issues by phone, video conferencing, or in person outside practicing social distancing. All conversations are confidential, and Earle will here on her grant for an additional 3 months.

To contact Earl Irwin: 703-863-1243 earleirwin@gmail.com

Small Business Support

  • Ginger O’Neal Director, COA Small Business Center Michael Twiddy- Director, SBDTC
  • Matthew Byrne- Assistant Director, SBDTC
  • Barry Ryan- VP, NC Rural Center

Presentation: (*see end of notes for images of slides)

To view Presentation: https://www.hydecountync.gov/Small%20Business%20COVID

Michael Twiddy and Matthew Byrne, SBDTCThese organizations are available anytime to support NC small businesses, but have been also helping with disaster assistance work. They can provide 1 on 1 confidential help to businesses.

PPP/ Economic Injury Disaster Recovery Program- These programs have run out of funds and has just closed. Residents on Ocracoke are in a unique situation where many requirements for these types of loans such as revenue sources, and payroll numbers will be off due to Dorian. We need experienced and empathetic disaster loan and recovery personnel to help with these unique situations. People on Ocracoke never really got above Dorian, and are now hit with COVID. Congress really needs to add additional funds to these programs.

Ginger O’Neal, COA Small Business CenterEvery community college has a center. Hyde county is not part of my territory, but I have been working with Ocracoke tied through the disaster recovery team of the SBDTC, and I am a former Ocracoke resident. In the presentation, there is a list of loans and grants which might be good places to help look for funds. The website, www.savesmallbusiness.com will be opening a grant on April 20th for a $5k grant for small businesses in preapproved areas.

(*note- many on Ocracoke tried to apply for the save small business grant application, but the website crashed, and then was closed by 8pm*)

Barry Ryan, NC Rural CenterMostly we have stopped doing normal small business lending activities, but are still doing lending for Dorian, Florence, and Matthew help. We have worked with about a dozen businesses on Ocracoke. New COVID statewide program is NC COVID-19 Rapid Recovery Loan Program-

https://carolinasmallbusiness.org/initiatives/nc-covid-19-rapid-recovery-loan/

8 businesses on Ocracoke have already applied. These are rapid grants up to $50k. More applications for this new program have been received than there are funds, but are hopeful that more funding will come through.

Question- If you have an EIDL for Dorian, is it possible to add on to that loan, or would you need to fill out a new application?

If you have an EIDL in the works from Dorian, and you haven’t completed this process, work with your SBA advisor to wrap this in. This would be a cleaner process for businesses and the SBA to have one loan for both. This could be done if you are in the process where you are already talking with an SBA officer about an EIDL loan. The PPP loan is “cookie cutter” you either qualify or not for the forgiveness, but the EIDL may have some more flexibility that will look at normalized business figures, and factor in both Dorian and COVID. This is going to be a massive undertaking to ensure that there are enough caseworkers for the SBA to help. It will be a while to get to everyone across the country who are suffering under COVID losses to get with a case worker. The COVID EIDL rules are still being worked on at a Federal Level and require individual contact, where the PPP loan could just go through an online process.

The SBA has done 14 years worth of loan applications in 14 days.

On Ocracoke there is not one solution for everyone, and multiple sources for each business may be the best solution.

Don’t Forget SBA Debt Relief Program- You can defer loan at bank level, SBA will pay principal and interest for up to 6 months now following a deferment.

https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/sba-debt-relief

All are available to consult over the phone to assist you right now.

Hyde County Police Department- Sheriff Jason Daniels

A few people had questions about enforcement of people coming to island after restrictions, but all issues and concerns have been dealt with. Ocracoke police have been over to the mainland to help with road closures and checkpoints..

Question? Any monitoring of airstrip for unauthorized people?

Both police and NPS, who has jurisdiction over airstrip, are working with people coming to the island by air to adhere to guidelines.

Question? If you see people walking too close to each other in the community, do you tell them to disperse?

People out walking should maintain their 6’ distances. We have broken up some basketball games, but on the whole people are adhering to the guidelines. If you see people gathering in large groups, please feel free to call it in. Reminder that it is a Class 2 Misdemeanor to not follow the Governors orders.

Question? If I am a contractor working on the island, can I bring a family member with me?

They are not supposed to be here. There is an online application process that will be shared with the ferry division that contains a list of preapproved people. If there were people who were already here before the lock down, they can stay, but if they leave that cannot return.

Question? If you have to arrest someone and take them to jail what is the procedure?

We are following procedures just as before.

Hyde County Emergency Management- Justin Gibbs

We have implemented with the regional dispatch center Emerging Infectious Disease Response Tool. All 911 calls will be screened for those with symptoms of COVID 19. This will help guide our emergency response teams, given the national shortage of PPE, will help to protect recovery personnel and limit exposure. Positive cases, or potential positive cases will be reported to dispatch.

Locally, because NC federally declares, we qualify for Public Assistance Category B, which means non-profits are available for public assistance from FEMA. If you are helping related to COVID-19 or providing service related COVID-19 you can receive assistance. Send an email to: PAhotline@NCEM.org

Because of social distancing, FEMA will not be sending people in person, but will do remotely.

Discussion has started about easing restrictions, while still trying to protect residents from a second wave. Governor Cooper said easing restrictions must protect public health. To ease restrictions we must have more testing, tracing, and understanding of trends.

State must have more testing supplies and more PPE to perform tests, more public health workforce is needed in assisting with contact tracing, and trends must understand how COVID is impacting certain areas of the populations and will depend on hospitalization and death rate data to ease restrictions and reopen.

Greatest resource is the general public to stay home, and practice social distancing.

Hyde County – County Commissioner Tom Pahl and County Manager Kris Noble Kris Noble-

Dorian Recovery Update- We have been working diligently to seek funding sources. A small pot of money came from the Office of State Budget Management and working through the long term recovery group we were able to provide some temporary assistance to people.

HMGP Hazard Mitigation Grant Program- 114 applications so far, that will go to the state, then to federal for approval

Golden Leaf Funding- Approved for a new EMS station, and to replace the Trams. Two types of funding- short term and long term funding sources are both being worked on

Hyde leadership is meeting with the group Hometown Strong to brainstorm ideas for other programs and funding to help Hyde County

Debris Removal Project is wrapping up in repairing debris staging areas and submitting paperwork to FEMA

Entry to island has been limited – visitors were the first layer, and then nonresident property owners. If NRPO have a building permit, they can apply to enter. Contact Teresa Adams for questions

Hyde County offices have been closed to the public, but all services are still available for you, and we are working on distance services to continue to assist.

Look for a press release coming soon from the board of Equalization and Review for tax assessments to deal with damage from Dorian. You will be taxed on the condition of your property based on January 1, 2020. If you did not get a tax adjustment based on damages, you can apply for a review.

May Hyde County Board meeting will include information on Flood Maps and changes to Ocracoke development ordinances. Look to Hyde county website for additional information.

Question? How do business and individuals get assistance based on having two disasters?

Ocracoke is still falling short due to Dorian and now COVID-19, many have exhausted unemployment benefits, and many business cannot accurately report figures for aid programs based on closures during Dorian.

We have been in contact with our state and congressional representatives as well as the Governors office. It is a catch-22 for the people of Ocracoke and we are working to help leaders understand.

Question about grant program to raise home?

There are a number of grant programs to help raise homes, but they have in common that they all take a long time. Generally these applications are taken from individuals then complied by the county, then sent to the state, then sent to the Federal government. Hazard Mitigation Grant Funding is a last resort, but for some the only way to proceed. We are now working on Irene projects to give an example of the length of times these programs take. We got lucky with Dorian because we were able to add our 114 applications with our Florence applications, which may speed up these applications, but may still take a long time.

Question? The convenience site has been overwhelmed by C&D debris. Is there a plan to help with this?

We hit a glitch about two weeks ago, that we had to address. There will be additional C&D containers on site, so this issue should be resolved now. Multiple containers will now be swapped out multiple times per week.

New contract was awarded for trash removal. A 5-year contract was awarded to Republic Services after a RFP was issued in February, which will go into effect on June 1st. Davids Trash will help with the transition plan for services and will continue to help until that time, as well as additional services provided by Redbox.

Question related to tax assessment? Please talk about the evaluation again.

Justin Gibbs- taxes will be billed in September and will be based on the condition of your property on January . You should have received an adjustment; if you did not then you should apply to the board of Equalization and Review to have your property evaluated. This process will open up shortly, so property owners can sign up for a slot to have property reevaluated.

Question? Will the new review of property be done remotely?

Reviews will still need to be done with regards to social distancing, but there are ways, such as a video conference.

Question? What are steps to reevaluation?

Press release coming addressing this soon.

First step, call the tax office and they may be able to make adjustments before even needed to go to the review board, and if they cant, the tax office can help you schedule a review time for this process.

Tom Pahl-

The county, while managing two crises, still also has to manage the day to day and all are working hard.

The issue of reopening is an important issue and we are having conversations about how to handle this and looking ahead into easing restrictions while addressing health concerns, while also recovering from Hurricane Dorian.

NC DOT Ferry Division- Jed Dixon

We have implemented procedures to help prevent the spread of the virus by having passengers stay in their vehicles during trips, and we are rotating out vessels to allow for additional cleaning. Limited schedules are being run due to COVID 19. We are working with Hyde County on adhering to entry passes and restrictions, and getting ready for summer season by getting our seasonal staff approved so as soon as limitations are lifted, we will be ready.

Question? Is there any impact from COVID 19 on the passenger ferry?

We plan to lease the passenger vessel, but we are continuing to monitor restrictions. Services were supposed to start the third week of May

NPS- Mark Dowdle Deputy Superintendent

Lots of National Park Sites have had to shut down completely, but our park has been able to stay open here. Indoor areas have been closed, visitors’ centers, restrooms, etc.

Our repairs to the island’s visitor centers are continuing through COVID and hope that repair work will be finished by the end of May. Comfort station work at beach access is a bit behind schedule but with hopes to open by Memorial Day. We are working with federal highway partners who have been working on pavement protection issues of chip sealing and they will be on Ocracoke in the next few weeks. Crack sealing and chip sealing work will start at the visitor’s center area, ramps, campground and parking areas.

We are moving ahead with summer lifeguard contracts.

All off road vehicle ramps are open and as of April 15th all ramps are converted to their summer times.

We are working on virtual experiences to bring lesson plans, recorded rangers programs and photos to reach out to those in our community, as well as those outside of the community who are not able to visit.

We are working with partners like Tideland and NC DOT on repair projects.

Question? When will the lifeguard beach parking lot reopen?

Parking lot was originally part of the federal program for road repairs, but repairs to parking space based on debris damage are still ongoing.

Question? Are people allowed to walk up to the ramp to get to the beach even before the parking lot opens?

Post Meeting Follow Up Answer: 4-17-20: to follow up on the question received last night about opening a portion of the Ocracoke Beach Access (Day Use Area) parking lot, we are going to inspect the area, confirm that Hyde County is through staging debris there, and work to open up a portion of the parking area by early next week. Ed Fuller, NPS Ocracoke District Ranger, is our point of contact.

We are all so grateful that the beaches are still open for people to be able to walk and enjoy during these times!

Next Civic Meeting will be on May 13th

       
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