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Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Advisory Board

Orange County · Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau
Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Advisory board meeting Budget and appropriationsAppointments and personnelArts and public artFaith and cultural communitiesGrants and outside fundingParks and recreationTax rate and revaluation

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved IIIApproval of Minutes Approved unanimously

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau board's January 21 agenda calls for a report from the executive director, a finance report, and updates from members, along with approval of the November 19 minutes. No new business is listed.

The finance report attached to the agenda puts the bureau 69 percent through its annual budget as of December, with 84 percent of its sales and marketing line and about half its arts commission budget already spent.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

Most of the spending is sales and marketing, $1.08 million or 84 percent of that line. The arts commission had spent $383,000, about half its budget. Outside agency grants are processed quarterly. The America 250 program took up much of the meeting. The bureau has a state grant to produce a book, A Gathering of Voices from Orange County: How Our Community Has Changed Since the Bicentennial, and its author read an excerpt on the Native American history of the county. Funding for a large-scale summer event was not approved, so Hillsborough has proposed a July 4 festival using money it has allocated but without the staff or expertise to run it; the arts commission was waiting to hear whether that proposal is approved. The cancellation of the Festival on the Eno in Durham was raised as leaving a gap for artists who depend on festival income. The board met at the Blue Hill Event Center, and a member introduced Extraordinary Ventures, which is converting a former Community Works thrift store into a site suitable for employing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, with a soft opening planned for the end of January. Under community updates a member asked whether the protests on Churton Street in Hillsborough are hurting businesses, and whether any year-over-year study exists. The executive director said she would look into it.

How the votes went

The November 19, 2025 minutes were approved as submitted, moved by Matt Hughes and seconded by Craig Lloyd, all in favor. Adjournment carried on a motion by Matt Hughes seconded by Theodore Nollert.

From the published minutes.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (7)

Procedural · 3Minutes approval · 1Presentation · 1Staff or committee report · 1Discussion item · 1
  1. I Call to Order
    Procedural
  2. II Introductions
    Procedural Appointments and personnel
    Two new board members were introduced, from the Chapel Hill and Carrboro town councils.
  3. III Approval of Minutes
    Minutes approval
    The November 19, 2025 minutes were approved as submitted.
    Approved unanimously
  4. IV Executive Director's Report
    Presentation Budget and appropriationsFaith and cultural communitiesGrants and outside fundingParks and recreation
    A presentation on the origins of visitors bureaus and a comparison of the three in the Research Triangle. Orange County's was funded in 1992 by occupancy tax, runs $2.5 million with six staff, and works against roughly $300 million a year in tourism spending. New advertising promotes local businesses and the Ackland Art Museum. The report also covered America 250: a state-funded book, A Gathering of Voices from Orange County, and a proposed July 4 festival in Hillsborough after funding for a larger summer event fell through.
  5. IV.a Finance Report
    Staff or committee report Arts and public artBudget and appropriationsTax rate and revaluation
    The bureau was 69 percent expended as of December, with $1.08 million or 84 percent of the sales and marketing budget spent and the arts commission at $383,000. Thirty thousand dollars was appropriated from fund balance, which remains at 8 percent. Occupancy tax revenues are projected flat, attributed to federal travel cuts and the closure of the Siena Hotel.
  6. V Community Updates
    Discussion item
    A member asked whether protests on Churton Street in Hillsborough are hurting downtown businesses, and whether a comparison against previous years is possible. Staff agreed to look into it.
  7. VII Adjournment
    Procedural
    Adjourned at 9:12 a.m. The next meeting is February 18 at the Courtyard Chapel Hill.

Agenda changes

What moved between published versions of this agenda. Item numbers shift constantly as things are inserted, so only genuine additions and removals are listed.

Other recent meetings of this board