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Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau Advisory Board

Orange County · Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau
Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Advisory board meeting Budget and appropriations

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved IIIApproval of Minutes Both approved without objection.

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's board heard from the head of the North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association on state hospitality-industry issues, including occupancy and meals tax policy and short-term rental regulation, and got an update on the bureau's roughly $3 million FY26 budget and a new tourism study. Board members also shared updates from their own organizations, including Hillsborough and Chapel Hill's continued recovery from Tropical Storm Chantal.

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

Lynn Minges, president of the North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association, briefed the board on industry pressures including tariffs, labor costs and interest rates, and on legislative priorities such as occupancy and meals taxes, short-term rental regulation, and protecting occupancy tax revenue for its intended use in tourism marketing. She noted North Carolina collected $450 million in occupancy tax in 2024, up from $89 million in 2002.

Executive Director Laurie Paolicelli reviewed the bureau's roughly $3 million FY26 budget and announced the bureau is hiring a consultant to conduct a new tourism study. She also previewed several upcoming conferences the bureau will host or support, including the NC Metro Mayors Coalition gathering in December, and reported the Welcome Center's trolley service drew 1,100 riders in August. In community updates, Hillsborough and Chapel Hill representatives detailed continuing storm-damage recovery from Tropical Storm Chantal, including an estimated $8 million in Hillsborough damage and $17 million in damage to Chapel Hill's East Gate Shopping Center and University Place, plus $6 million in damage to town greenways. Orange County Economic Development reported a $242 million federal investment and 300-plus new jobs at a Thermo Fisher biotech facility. No new business was raised, and the meeting adjourned.

How the votes went

The board approved minutes from both its May 21 and June 18 meetings, each without objection, after the previous meeting failed to reach quorum.

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 (4)

Staff or committee report · 2Minutes approval · 1Presentation · 1
  1. III Approval of Minutes
    Minutes approval
    Approval of minutes from the May 21 and June 18, 2025 meetings.
    Both approved without objection.
  2. IV State Restaurant and Lodging Issues
    Presentation
    NCRLA President Lynn Minges briefed the board on hospitality-industry pressures and state legislative priorities, including occupancy and meals taxes and short-term rental regulation.
  3. V Executive Director's Update
    Staff or committee report Budget and appropriations
    An update on the bureau's roughly $3 million FY26 budget, a new tourism study, and upcoming conferences and marketing campaigns.
  4. VII Community Updates
    Staff or committee report
    Board members reported on developments in their own organizations, including continued Tropical Storm Chantal recovery in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill and a new biotech investment in the county.

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