Short and Sweet

Monday, August 25, 2014 - 00:37 Sundae Horn

Last week's Occupancy Tax Advisory Board meeting was over in fifteen minutes.

The OT board's new chair, Frank Brown, welcomed new board members, Marlene Mathews and David Styron to the meeting. The other two continuing members are Trudy Austin and Clayton Gaskill.

The board officially recognized and appreciated former board members Martha Garrish and Wayne Clark.

County manager Bill Rich will write a letter on behalf of the OT board and the county commissioners about the funding for Ocracoke Child Care. The non-profit daycare center was denied its request for funding earlier in the year because of the OT board's concerns about its financial stability. Last month, the OT board voted to support a special appropriation for OCC to the tune of $35,000. Bill said that his letter to OCC will inform them that "the appropriation of funds is based on [Ocracoke Child Care's] new director and the confidence of the board in the new director." The new director is Chaeli Moyer, who joined the staff back in the spring.

The public comment period of the meeting focused on two topics: mold and fireworks.

The mold issues in the Ocracoke Community Center "need to be addressed yesterday" said Barbara Jemison, chair of the county-owned Community Center's board.

There's a fungus among us and it's blooming in the damp and fertile burlap-covered plywood and insulation between the roof and ceiling. Its domain reaches from the center of the building over to the side wall.

David Styron mentioned the need to do an air quality test. It's necessary, he said, "to analyze the health hazard for insurance."

Plans are already in place to close the Community Center for three weeks beginning September 1st. It's being shut down so work can be done on the electrical system, which was damaged in Hurricane Arthur. Barbara believes that it was Arthur that caused the mold problem as well.

"We plan to remedy all the electrical issues," Barbara said. "And we'd like to do the mold remediation as well while the building is shut down."

Bill said he would look into mold testing and getting a bid to take care of it.

Darlene Styron reminded the OT board that it's time to think about fireworks in 2015. She said that Tommy Hutcherson is interested in helping to make fireworks happen and will make a presentation about it to the OT board.

Referring to the 2009 4th of July fireworks explosion, she said, "Accidents do happen, but we need to move on. Businesses are in support of doing fireworks, and Tommy's taking the reigns on this."

Comments duly heard, the meeting was adjourned.