OCBA Meeting & Candidates Night Set for February 25th

  The meeting will begin at 6pm as a candidates' forum, followed by the OCBA meeting.

1. Call to Order 

2. Candidates forum with County Commissioner candidates John Fletcher and Tom Pahl; state House representative for District 6, Warren Judge.  (Candidate Judy Justice will attend the March 9 meeting.)

3.  Approval of January meeting minutes

4. Treasurer’s report

5. Travel & Tourism Director report (Sundae Horn)

      --Advertising plan; website renovation

6. County Manager’s report (Bill Rich)

7. As-needed reports:

            National Park Service

            County Commissioner (John Fletcher)

8. Old Business

9. New business

    --- Rep. John Torbett, who is the chair of the House Transportation Committee, needs info on how many islanders use the Cedar Island ferry 

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).   2016 meetings will be:   March 9, April 13, May 11, June 8, July 13, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, Oct. 12, Nov. 9, Dec. 14.        

All are welcome to come out and meet the primary candidates.

The meeting will start at 6pm at the Ocracoke Community Center. OCBA will provide snacks and drinks, and feel free to bring something to share.

The regular OCBA meeting will begin afterward the candidates speak.   Please note that the Candidates night will be Feb. 25 (NOT Feb. 24, as originally planned). This is because the Dare County democratic candidates cannot attend on Feb. 24).   Draft minutes from January are attached. The agenda will be sent later.

OCBA Meeting January 13, 2016

DRAFT minutes

Meeting called to order at 7:05 p.m.

Board Members present: Rudy Austin, Jim Borland, Ashley Harrell. Excused: Connie Leinbach. Others present: Sundae Horn, Teresa O’Neal, Wayne Clark, Ed Fuller, Tom Pahl, Janey Jacoby, Albert O’Neal, Darlene Styron, Arleen Burley, Peter Vankevich

Election of new members-at-large: Teresa O’Neal and Wayne Clark. A motion to approve all was made by Jim Borland and seconded by Arleen Burley. Motion approved and carried. Jim Borland officially resigned from the board, and Teresa and Wayne took their places at the table.

Minutes: Rudy has an addition to the Dec. 9 meeting minutes to thank Bobby O’Neal and the Tideland crew and Teresa Adams for helping with the Christmas decorating. A motion to thank them was made by Ashley, and seconded by Sundae. Motion approved and carried.

Treasurer’s report: A review of the books found that $1,084.24 in the OCBA main checking account needs to be transferred to the Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree account. (This is money is left over from when the Ocracoke Foundation had been the conduit for the Pirate Jamboree. Frank Brown spent several hours getting the Quickbooks account in order. A motion to pay Frank $300 for this work was made by Darlene and seconded by Janey Jacoby. Motion approved and carried.

Travel & Tourism director’s report: Community Christmas Concert – standing room only. Food pantry, quilt raffle, balloon sales, little camels. Normally Gary Mitchell is paid $100 for the sound set up. Ivey Belch did it this year and he requested that the money go to the local Boy Scout Troop. Motion approved to donate $100 to Boy Scouts.

Fourth of July committee to meet on the Jan. 22 at 1pm. All are welcome to join in planning events in addition to fireworks. All that’s left is USCG letter. Bill Rich reported that the county manager and county attorney are looking at the Pyrotecnico contract, and will need to make some liability changes. They are working with Justin Pruitt at Pyrotecnico and expect the contract to get worked out.

Fig Festival date is Friday, Aug. 12 Committee will meet soon. Suggestions welcome.

Discuss date for Mexican Festival. The Latino community has chosen Saturday, Nov 12. All day food, performers, carnival games, costumes, culture, etc. at the school. 9 p.m. dance at the Community Center with cerveza (beer). Gloria Perez, Freddy Contreras and Adrian Espinoza. Ocracoke Alive is supporting with David Tweedie as liaison, budget-making, non-profit umbrella, etc. 

Website: an RFP has been prepared for the website redesign and $10,000 is available to develop a OCBA website. Collecting website designers to send it to. Suggestions welcome.

Meeting with Connie on Friday to discuss 2016 advertising. Bought ad in Outer Banks This Week Spring issue, two-page article to focus on annual events: 5K/10K, Firemen’s Ball (?), Ocrafolk, Fourth of July, Fig Fest, Mex Fest, Pirate Jamboree, Oyster Roast. Wayne and Ashley volunteered to join advertising committee.

Sundae and Teresa are talking about reviving the spring Blessing of the Fleet and fall parade of boats (Thanksgiving weekend.) 

Working with Valerie on Walking Map; got new photos from Melinda Sutton. Will meet with her Friday

Started free OCBA interface with Oneboat outerbanksguide.com. Will add photos and events. http://obxguides.com/ocracoke/ocracokevillage Michael McOwens from OneBoat wants to see RFP for website.

Still updating VisitNC website listing for local businesses.

Drone videographer is working on two-minutes video for OCBA to use. 

Logo development: OCBA needs a logo. Should we hire someone local?  A logo contest was discussed. Ashley made a motion to hold logo contest, seconded by Arleen. Motion approved and carried. It will be a blind contest; $350 prize, we will meet as a group to look at entries all at once and made decision.

Announcements:

OPS Art Show Jan. 23

Ocracoke Child Care Clam Chowder March 26 (Easter weekend)

British Cemetery ceremony May 13

NPS report from Ed Fuller:

This year is the 100th anniversary of the NPS. Supt. Hallac wants to host events during the summer; maybe a concert. Bob Kremser is working on events. NPS is willing help to help with OCBA and other Ocracoke events.

Dune replacement project is ongoing. 

Ramp 63 contractor work will be done this week. NPS will add clay. The ramp will be completed and opened by spring.

NPS is replacing the boardwalk at the lifeguard beach. The surveyor has been there, and the project should be done April 30. There will be better ADA access, with a ramp all the way to the sand. This ramp will help with safety of visitors, allowing for better emergency response time.  During construction, the left side of parking lot (and restrooms) will remain open to public. A temporary path through the dunes will allow pedestrian access 

NPS is working on three issues for the upcoming season:

1. modification of buffer zones for resource closures
2. ORV permits dated 12 months from issue date, and not based on calendar year.
3. New rules about fires and night driving

The big NPS parking lot looks better already.

Seasonal jobs have been posted.

NPS will contract for lifeguards; Mirek Dabrowski is suggesting a second lifeguard stand at the campground, and perhaps roving lifeguards.

There’s an NPS meeting about sound side access on Jan. 21. They are still talking about options.

County manager’s report:  Bill invited as many as possible to Swan Quarter on Jan. 25, where the House Select Transportation Committee will be meeting.

It would be great for Ocracoke to have as many people as possible ride over on the 9:30 ferry and meet officials at noon.

Bill says that Rep. John Torbett, who chairs the committee, has a good argument for eliminating all ferry tolls.  The timing of this meeting is perfect because the RPO meets on Jan. 27.

Mattamuskeet Lodge update:

The NCWRC, Kris, and Bill are working together on a public/private partnership for Mattamuskeet Lodge. An economic development plan and architectural are done. It will incorporate educational tourism.

David’s Trash update:

The business is being purchased by another company. The deal should close on Jan. 31, and the new firm will start Feb 1.  They have all-new equipment, and Bill is very happy about the new owners. Bill plans to include upgrades and beautification for the dump in the 2016-17 budget.

President’s report:  Rudy reported that OCBA needs a storage building; getting one from State Line Builders is easy and affordable, but where to put it?  After discussion, Bill offered to look into the county allowing a building to be placed on the Community Center grounds.  Ed will look over NPS property and see if there’s a place to keep it there; NPS might even have an empty outbuilding we can use.

We will have a candidates’ night on Feb. 24 before the March 15 primary.

We’ll host the candidates at 6 p.m. with refreshments, and then hold the OCBA meeting afterward (7 p.m.-ish).

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Sundae Horn