After years of tossing around the idea, a group of Oak Harbor business owners and community members met last week to take the first concrete steps toward bringing the Main Street program to the City of Oak Harbor.

The initial Main Street meeting, held Oct. 1 at Flyers Restaurant and Brewery, resulted in the formation of a nine-member interim board of directors, two sub-committees and action taken on the group’s name.

“It’s going to be called the Oak Harbor Main Street Association,” said Margaret Livermore, who’s serving as president of the interim board.

Livermore, founding board member and president of Garry Oak Gallery in downtown, said one subcommittee was formed to identify the Main Street mission and boundaries within the city, while another is reviewing other Main Street organizations’ bylaws and articles of incorporation and developing the Oak Harbor association’s own set of documents.

Another process that has begun is applying for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.

Main Street is a national program that is geared toward preserving and revitalizing a city’s historic downtown core.

“I like to describe the program as a comprehensive approach to economic development that’s rooted in historic preservation,” said Sarah Hansen, Washington State Main Street coordinator.

Member associations are provided training, technical assistance and access to workshops and conferences to learn how to run and promote their groups. They also receive tax incentives and other benefits geared at rewarding contributions made toward promoting Main Street efforts.

Livermore said she didn’t go into the meeting planning to become president but is excited to tackle the new opportunity.

“They looked at me and said, ‘Why don’t you do it, Margaret? You’ve set up things like this before,’ ” Livermore said.

As president of the Oak Harbor Music Festival, Livermore has experience with setting up that organization as a nonprofit in fewer than five months.

Livermore said she is hoping for the Oak Harbor Main Street Association to meet its requirements, select its first permanent board of directors and get Main Street officially off and running by spring or summer of 2015.

“It could be a year,” she said. “Who knows?”

The group decided to include the city name in the association title because the efforts and benefits that come with Main Street will encompass the entire city.

Part of the mission is to make Oak Harbor more of a destination, she said.

“We want to find a way to create an environment where people will want to come and stop here,” Livermore said.

“Oak Harbor has a lot to offer. We need to make it so people know that.”

Joining the interim board are Rhonda Severns, vice president; Kathy Collantes, treasurer; and Christine Dudley, secretary.

Other interim board members are Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Christine Cribb and City Councilman Bob Severns, as well as business owners Ron Apgar, Jason Tritt and Gregg Lanza.

The association will meet the first Tuesday of each month. The next meeting is Nov. 4 at the chamber of commerce office.

“The chamber has a great opportunity to promote and support events with Main Street,” Cribb said. “Main Street has a great success record in the cities that it’s in. It points our city in a great direction.”

“I’m just pleased that after 10 years of being in business (in Oak Harbor) that Main Street is moving forward,” said Apgar, owner of Paint Your World on Pioneer Way.

If the effort succeeds, Oak Harbor would be the third Whidbey Island community to adopt Main Street.

Although there are 110 communities in Washington affiliated with Main Street in some capacity, Coupeville and Langley are among a group of 30 that participate in the Main Street Tax Credit Incentive program.

The tax incentive program allows contributors who donate through the program to receive a 75 percent tax credit on their state Business & Occupation or Public Utility tax, Hansen said.

Oak Harbor’s group is interested in going in that direction, which is considered “tier 2,” in terms of a level of involvement.

Tier 1 status with Main Street involves national certification.

Port Townsend and Mount Vernon are among 13 programs in the state that have earned that distinction.

Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley has been in communication with Hansen and others for roughly a year to learn more about bringing the Main Street program to Oak Harbor.

The city served as a facilitator to get the process to a certain point and into the hands of an interim board of directors, said Ethan Spoo, economic development coordinator for the city.

“We are going to continue to provide staff support as far as facilitating meetings and providing advice and research,” Spoo said.

“At this point, it’s more their animal than ours, which is what the important transition was that took place (Oct. 1).”