OCBA Draft Minutes From 10/9/13

Ocracoke Civic and Business Association

October 9, 2013 meeting minutes DRAFT
Meeting called to order by Clayton Gaskill, vice-president. Board members attending: Carol Pahl, Jim Borland and Justin LeBlanc.
Minutes: The minutes of the Sept. 11, 2013, meeting were approved as presented.
Treasurer’s Report: Carol reported that beginning assets were $48,236.01 plus a CD of $35,124.56. Income for the month was $6,525. Expenses were $638.51 for an ending cash balance of $$48,122.50. Total cash and CD balance is $83,247.06. Carol noted that she has served as treasurer for two years and is resigning as of Dec. 31. The by-laws say a nominating committee of three or more has to be formed by Oct. 15 and new officers voted on at the December 11 meeting. Nominating committee should be composed of board members and one from the general membership.
Committee reports: Clayton reported on behalf of Earl O’Neal, who contacted the DOT and potholes on the island will be addressed in the next four weeks. Additionally, DOT has let a contract to repave all the secondary roads on the island, which should be done by June.
Travel and Tourism Director report: Sundae reported that she has been fielding a lot of calls regarding the government shutdown, mostly from day trippers and people asking if it will affect the Pirate Jamboree (no). She sent out a press release saying Ocracoke was open within 12 hours of the shutdown Oct. 1. The Oregon Inlet Idiots posted this on their website that has 25,000 friends.
She has worked with a couple of travel writers recently: Diane Daniels with the Boston Globe, specifically.
The “Best of the Beach” promotion on MAX radio is ongoing and our commercials are running on a three of their stations as well.
She is working with Ocracoke Preservation Society on the Historic Home Holiday Tour along Howard Street Saturday, Dec. 7. Sundae would like us to print up a one-page map of the homes and businesses that will be open that day. A choral concert with Finley Woolsten and his Joyful Band of Singers of Public Radio East will be held 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6 in the United Methodist Church. Free and sponsored by Ocracoke Alive.
Old Business: Janey Jacoby read a letter from NPS that the fire break should be cut by the end of November.

Pirate Jamboree: request for $200 more (up from the $250 already approved) to sponsor the Friday night kick-off event—“The Trial of Blackbeard,” with Kevin Duffus—in the Community Center. A motion to approved the increase for a total of $450 was made by Justin and seconded by Fred Westervelt. Motion approved and carried.

Ocracoke Triathlon: Justin reported that SetUp Events is busy with their fall schedule and will get in touch with him later in November. They are still interested in having an event on Ocracoke.
New Business: Tom Pahl presented an idea for voluntary sign rules for Ocracoke businesses stemming from the recent proliferation of signs of varying quality along Highway 12, which has prompted comments/concerns this summer from visitors and residents alike. Many on Ocracoke are averse to more government regulation and Tom is proposing that if a critical number of businesses are willing to participate in whatever voluntary “rules” are devised, the rest will follow suit when they see that a nice overall appearance for the village brings more visitors (who want to experience the “back-in-time” quality of the island) rather than carnival/Las Vegas- style signage. Is the existing ordinance adequate, and/or does it just need to be enforced? Should this discussion be folded into what Scenic Byways is doing? After a long discussion, a motion to add the question of forming a committee to explore this idea on next month’s agenda was made by Tom Pahl and seconded by Justin LeBlanc. Motion approved and carried.

Janey Jacoby reminded the group about the pending road signage by Scenic Byways, and said that Hyde County still has not paid the matching funds ($12,000) it agreed to when Mazie Smith was manager. Ocracoke might not get its Scenic Byway signs if this match is not met.
Announcements

Storm water: Justin asked for an update at the November meeting as to storm water management progress. Sundae Horn reported that Randolph Latimore at a special meeting of the Hyde County School Board said the schools will lose $1 million over the next three years. Because Ocracoke is rural, it has received money for a number of years based on that designation and a mandate that there had to be a teacher for every grade. Now the funding formula has changed to be based on enrollment numbers, in which case Ocracoke loses out. So, will we lose our high school? She said Latimore wants us to get as up-in-arms about this as we did with the ferry tolls. Janey Jacoby pointed out that with the new transportation funding formula, our district gets $32 million, which much cover roads, bicycle paths and ferries.

Fred Westervelt noted another mandate from the state: that restaurants and lodgings must all have CO2 detectors.
Meeting adjourned

Respectfully submitted, Connie Leinbach, Secretary