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August 4, 2009
Ocracoke Island Business:
The locals need more support from Hyde County By B.J. OELSCHLEGEL
 My message to Hyde County is this: Can’t you see? We’re throwing a party over here! I think that the metaphor is fitting. Our service industry on the island can be likened to the throwing of a big party. We send out party invitations, provide great food options, and have an abundance of varied types of entertainment for the pleasure of our guests. The enjoyment of what we have to offer is the life blood of the community. The point of my last article was to recognize this “party” for what it is -- a resource for this community. If we frame it in the correct light, maybe we will work to respect and foster that asset. Let’s go back to the metaphor. The Civic and Business Association spends thousands of advertising dollars promoting the island to newcomers, particularly in the shoulder seasons. Let us not lose track of the many hours spent pinpointing the target markets, designing the advertisements, streamlining the effectiveness of the advertising, and the tracking the results. Think about all of the spring cleaning, the facelifts, and the new signage for all of the businesses at the start of every season. The village even organizes a beach and street sweep in preparation for the next round of visitors to the island. Entrepreneurs find a niche, and a new enterprise is born to add to the festivities. A lot of energy goes into assuring the enjoyment of our guests and, therefore, our survival. I feel that it would be safe to say that islanders are basically aware of the good thing we have going. The service industry can be taxing. We’re human. A lot of work has gone into bettering the services we provide for our guests and, at the same time, making Ocracoke a better place for the residents. I have lived on Ocracoke for 32 years and have watched this community become more efficient about hurricane preparedness, evacuation, and re-entry. I remember a time when a visiting doctor was the only avenue for a medical emergency. Through a combination of equipment acquisition and increased training, our fire department has improved Ocracoke’s national ISO rating, which affects our fire insurance rates, along with enhancing our fire protection. The Ocracoke Preservation Society saw a need for public trash receptacles and put that system into place. More and more businesses have shouldered the expense of public portable potties to relieve that stress for the public. Our very existence is dependent upon the quality of the services that we supply for our guests. We live with it every day. We get it. But I am beginning to have my doubts about the county government structure under which we live. I am not sure that the county officials get it. Here are some examples of what I am talking about. In January of this year, a new program for the payment of trash removal was instituted. All residential garbage was to be placed in a $3 bag and all commercial garbage was to be placed in a $5 bag. If it was in the wrong bag, it would not be picked up. But then we discovered that this program was not reducing our $600,000 trash bill. By March , the county had collected something just shy of $20,000. There have been some additions and subtractions in between. The most recent version of The PAYT (Pay As You Throw) Program was thrust on the scene on July 1. This, of course, would be exactly three days before the absolute biggest day of the year for Ocracoke. The July 4 holiday packs every rental cottage and motel room, along with bringing hordes of people to the island for the day. The residents of Ocracoke received a memo, either by snail mail or e-mail, indicating that the rules had changed again. Residential locations had a choice of $6.50 per month for curbside PAYT and the obligation to continue buying the bags or a rate of $30 per month, in which people could use whatever bag they chose and still have curbside pick up. Obviously, the size of the bag was limited. The commercial locations with dumpsters would now be charged $140 per tip. The noise was deafening, as you heard one dumpster after another being turned over to keep from having to pay a tip fee. Dumpsters are positioned along the road for easy truck access, but also unlocked for the trash of your neighbors. Business owners gave serious consideration to the question of whether they could function without the dumpster or whether they would have to look at their second choice of paying $50 per month for a twice a week curbside pick up. There was a lot of scrambling to decide on how to proceed. Though the county mandated this new version, much had yet to be set up. The billing structure for the residential and commercial customers, and the county’s system of picking up what we refer to as “the public’s garbage” are two items of which I am aware. The program was set in motion but the holes were enormous. As the island should have been gearing up for the rush of tourists, we all had to take a step back and think about how we would be disposing of our garbage. The topic is a serious one. The timing was ludicrous. Through the efforts of the investigative reporting done by the staff of The Virginian-Pilot, I also discovered that the person who headed up The Ocracoke EMS, the Mainland EMS, and was also the County Fire Marshal, received his walking papers on June 30. I have no way of knowing the ins and outs of this employment situation, but I know that the island deserves coverage and continuity. Our safety, along with that of another 10,000 visitors, is at stake. Could this have been any more ill-timed? “The Golden Goose” lays her egg between May 1 and Sept. 30 every year if we play our cards just right. We take our livelihood pretty seriously. Sometimes it seems like we dangle out here on our own and have only our own resources under which to survive. A lot of the county’s actions do not make sense when you think that we’re all supposed to be in this ring together. In a situation where the county government is a co-host for our festivities, I feel like screaming, “CAN’T YOU SEE? WE’RE TRYING TO THROW A PARTY OVER HERE!” (B.J. Oelschlegel has lived on Ocracoke Island for 32 years and has worked in the real estate business for 26 years. She is a broker with Ocracoke’s Lightship Realty and a real estate columnist for The Ocracoke Observer. You can reach her by e-mail at bj@ocracokelightshiprealty.com) |
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