Wednesday, May 13, 2015 @ Ocracoke Community Center
Meeting was called to order by President Rudy Austin at 7:04 p.m. Board members present: Justin LeBlanc, Connie Leinbach and Jim Borland. Members/others present: Sundae Horn, Kris Noble, Bob Chestnut, George Chamberlin, Arleen Burley, Dick and Janey Jacoby and Ed Fuller. Bill Rich attended via speaker phone.
Minutes: The minutes of the April meeting were approved
Treasurer’s report: Balance in account as of May 12: $14,323.32. CD balance: $34,027.41
NPS report: Ed Fuller reported on bird nesting: 2 piping plover pairs; 7 oystercatcher pairs; one loggerhead turtle nest. Deadline for comments on the ORV plan is May 14. Sales of beach driving permits so far are 588, up from 561 at this time last year. Lifeguards begin to work May 23.
Travel & Tourism Director’s report: Sundae Horn reported on Heidi Walters’ visit from Visit NC May 12, who gave an overview of what the agency does. Walters is looking into having the Visit NC TRAC program come to the island in the fall to talk about how businesses can boost their marketing. TRAC stands for Tourism Research Assistance Center. At the meeting with Walters, Sundae noted that she and Kris Noble are looking into making this happen. Lodging will be needed for 12 staffers. Sundae noted that a few years ago, several folks from the island visited the Visit NC call center, which receives calls about various places in the state. It’s probably time to visit them again.
The Hyde County website is under reconstruction. It will link to ocracokevillage.com in October.
Recent publicity about Ocracoke includes the following: Our State magazine (May issue), Outer Banks Child and OBX This Week.
July 4—The effort this year, in addition to all of the other activities, is to make the parade more entertaining.
The Fig Bake-Off/Festival will be Aug. 14.
Ferries: A lot of discussion about the ferries. Some scheduled departure times have not been followed or cancelled. The next meeting with Ferry Division officials will be June 8. Bill Rich noted that the ferry division is under pressure to leave on time. There’s nothing they can do about it. It’s either build more car ferries or get the short route open.
Rudy noted that even one more ferry would help relieve traffic.
Justin LeBlanc asked where is the long-term strategy to get the short route back? Bill Rich said the ferry division commissioned a study to make the long route shorter and that in regards to the short route, it’s a battle between the feds and the state. Perhaps we can get Paul Tine and Walter Jones together about it?
Storm Water: Justin reported that the Mosquito Control Board agreed to put in a drain and NCDOT will put in grates along Old Pony Road beside Blackbeard’s Lodge to relieve the puddle in front of it. They are awaiting bids. If this remediation can’t be done before the beginning of June it will be done in September. The next puddle after this one will be the one on Back Road at Fig Tree Lane. It was mentioned that a dangerous puddle at Loop and Widgeon Woods Road forms after rains, and Bill said he’d have it looked at.
County Manager’s Report: Bill reported that he attended the Visit NC meeting and was impressed. He is glad they made the trip here and that we are all reaching out to each other.
May 19 will be a budget workshop meeting. He has proposed a $15 million balanced budget.
Another passenger ferry steering committee meeting will be June 3. June 20 & 21 is a Marine Fisheries meeting he will attend to support our commercial fishermen.
Last week he attended Assembly day for the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. All general assembly bills on ferries are at a standstill and the $150 priority pass bill is dead.
Old business: OCBA still needs a treasurer/bookkeeper and we need storage for the 25+ Christmas lights.
New Business: Rudy said Bill Gilbert is gathering information on doing an offshore fishing tournament (like the Reel Nauti tournament).
Announcements: The Little League teams are still playing. Hands Across the Sand will be at noon May 16.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:18 p.mm.
Respectfully submitted,
Connie Leinbach, secretary