OCBA Draft Minutes from August Meeting
Ocracoke Civic and Business Association
Agenda for 9/10/14
- Call to Order
- Approval of Minutes
- Treasurer’s Report (Kenny Ballance)
- Travel & Tourism Director report (Sundae Horn)
Approval of 2015 walking map brochure
5. President’s Report (Rudy Austin)
6. New Business
7. Old Business
8. As-needed updates:
Committee reports
Officers’ reports
County Manager, Bill Rich
County Commissioner, John Fletcher
National Park Service, Ed Fuller
9. Announcements
10. Adjourn
Next meeting: Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. 7 p.m. Ocracoke Community CenterDRAFT Minutes
Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. Ocracoke Community Center
Meeting was called to order by President Rudy Austin at 7:05 p.m. Board members present: Connie Leinbach, Kenny Ballance, Clayton Gaskill. Members present: Sundae Horn, Janey & Dick Jacoby. Darlene Styron, Arleen Burley, Bill Jones, Corky Pentz, Fred and Ernie Westervelt.
Minutes: The minutes of the July meeting were approved with the following corrections to the minutes: After going over our books, we requested a reimbursement of $24,676.75 from the Occupancy Tax Board for 2013-2014 tourism expenses, including 2013 July 4 events.
Treasurer’s report: Kenny reported that the beginning cash balance was $15,869.15, and the ending balance was $13,028. We received the Occupancy Tax reimbursement of $24,676.75 for a total cash-on-hand balance of $37,737.85.
County manager’s report: Bill Rich called in and was put on speakerphone. He noted that the county street sweeper would be working on the island. Also, the second Monday of every month will be a small-group meeting with Ferry Division officials. A local group here, composed of David Scott Esham, who is the chair, Chip Stevens, Ann Warner, Nathan Spencer (with Coastal Gas) and Tommy Hutcherson, will meet the second Monday each month. The next meeting will be at 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8, with Ferry Division Director Ed Goodwin and Jed Dixon, deputy director. It is an open meeting and anyone is invited, Bill said. (Following the OCBA meeting, it was learned that a meeting will be held at 1 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25, in the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum with ferry officials about making the Barney Slough—the long route between Hatteras and Ocracoke—into the permanent route. It is open for anyone to attend.)
He reported that he and Joe McClees, one of a duo of lobbyists hired by Hyde County to promote Ocracoke issues, will travel Sept. 8 to 10 to Washington, D.C., to talk to our representatives about the Hatteras and Oregon inlets.
Bill also said he would talk to James Blount, solid waste supervisor, to do more chipping on the island.
Travel & Tourism Director’s report: Sundae Horn reported that for the End of Summer Celebration Aug. 15 in Community Square we’ll need clean-up help at the end.
She reported that Heidi Smith of Tideland EMC gave a presentation to the Hyde County Chamber about how Tideland would like to help the county’s tourism efforts by paying for a redesign of the Hyde chamber’s brochure and also a map of the county.
As for the Ocracoke Deputy Control Group that advises the county commissioners when there’s an emergency such as a hurricane, Sundae said the state attorney general told the county attorney that these meetings are not subject to the NC open meeting laws. Therefore, the Ocracoke Group may exclude the press from attending, (as happened at the last meetings of this group after Hurricane Arthur), but that the decision to allow the press is up to the county manager. She thinks the press should be able to attend.
President’s report: Rudy Austin reported that the OCBA pays for the “Welcome to Ocracoke. No Wake Zone” sign in the Ditch. This sign was damaged in Hurricane Arthur. Rudy is working on getting this sign replaced.
While dredging at Rodanthe is going well (to help stem the degradation of the Hatteras inlet), dredging in Hatteras is not happening and none is due in the foreseeable future. There hasn’t been a proper dredge in the short route area for a long time.
The short route is in jeopardy and the short-route ferries aren’t designed to be in the sound. According to the Army Corps of Engineers (who have jurisdiction over part of the short route), the shallow-draft inlets (such as Hatteras) aren’t receiving funding. All the money is going to the big harbors (i.e., Charleston, Norfolk) for cruise ships. Last year, the short route began July 15 and business on Ocracoke picked up. This year, some businesses are reporting about half of the customers they usually get at this time because of the long route and the long waits visitors endure to board the ferries.
Also, Hatteras needs to build up the southern end of its beach because each storm continues to wash sand from the beach and into the inlet. Hatteras is actually moving east/north, whereas most island move southwards.
Discussion about state funding for Ocracoke School noted that while Hyde County Schools have received Small School Funding it seems this amount won’t cover the salary of an art teacher, although some money for the mainland school is being used to fund athletic fields.
Old Business:
Connie reported that letters on Hyde County letterhead have been sent to property owners along Old Pony Road (beside Blackbeard’s Lodge) seeking their written permission for storm water remediation.
Darlene Styron reported on her conversation at the Aycock Brown Visitor’s Center in Kitty Hawk. While they are burying Ocracoke information in their array of brochures, they were amenable to our installing our own brochure rack. Darlene will look into it.
An Occupancy Tax Board meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19, in the Community Center.
The meeting adjourned at 8:48 p.m.
Next meeting is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014.
Respectfully submitted,
Connie Leinbach, secretary