Umatilla council directs public engagement, criteria for future Rock the Locks festivals

The Umatilla City Council on March 4 directed staff and consultants from Jensen Strategies to gather community feedback on whether and how the city should continue the Rock the Locks festival, and set a schedule for neighbor and public meetings ahead of a council decision in July.

Councilors authorized staff to solicit input on multiple continuation options — from ending the series after this year to extending it for several more years — and to collect detailed fiscal and community-impact data, including an independent economic analysis. The council and consultants also agreed to make neighbor sound-mitigation a discrete part of the engagement plan.

The council’s direction launches two parallel timelines: a budget track that treats any 2026 festival funding as part of the city’s normal annual budget process, and a policy track that will gather community views and return to council with a report on June 17 and a final decision on July 15.

Why this matters: Rock the Locks has grown into Umatilla’s largest multi-day event, drawing visitors and stirring a public debate over city subsidy, neighborhood noise and downtown benefits. Councilors said they want better data on local economic impact, cost recovery and whether mitigation steps are working before committing to future festivals.

Consultants Amelia Wallace and C. O. Bensdorf of Jensen Strategies outlined a two-track process: a budget track that folds 2026 festival funding into the June budget decision, and a policy track that shapes the public conversation about possible multi-year commitments and the criteria councilors want considered. "The process would launch tonight with council direction on two things: criteria you want to use for decision making, and engagement," Wallace told the council.

Councilors asked that the community engagement present multiple timeframe options for comment rather than a single recommendation. The options to be put to the public include ending the series after 2025; authorizing a single additional year (2026); or authorizing 2–3 years. Several council members said they favor shorter multiyear options (two to three years) so the city can reassess sooner.

On fiscal measures, councilors instructed staff to collect and clarify four types of metrics: local and regional economic benefits, the level of city support required, cost recovery through festival revenue, and an explicit return-on-investment (ROI) metric. The city intends to hire Eco Northwest for a targeted economic study; staff said the contract is set at a not-to-exceed amount of $15,000 and is expected to run about $10,000–$11,000.

Councilor comments reflected differing priorities. "I'm focused on how this is impacting our city," a councilor said, urging that local benefits be separated from broader regional metrics. Another councilor said cost recovery is a priority after hearing that last year’s net city expense was large enough to be called "unsustainable" by some speakers.

Neighbor impacts and sound mitigation were a recurring focus. Consultants proposed treating sound mitigation as a stand-alone criterion because close-proximity neighbors have borne the most direct effects. Staff said the city has already implemented recommended sound-engineering changes for 2025 and will measure results; the council asked that neighbor feedback be collected separately and also reflected in the broader community livability analysis.

Engagement plan and timeline: A neighbors-only meeting is scheduled for April 10 (7 p.m.) in council chambers, followed by a town-hall-style community meeting on April 16 (7 p.m.). Each meeting will be paired with an online survey: a two-week targeted survey for neighbors and a broader three-week survey for the general public. Staff will compile results and return to council on June 17; the council’s final decision is scheduled for July 15. Written comments will be accepted and provided to council prior to the July decision.

City staff also said they will continue tracking quantitative signals such as festival attendance, business foot traffic and post-event survey results; staff noted that a prior post-event analysis used Placer.ai to measure foot traffic to local businesses, and Eco Northwest will expand the economic analysis to estimate city-level and regional impacts.

"There will be two opportunities during the budget track for community input," C. O. Bensdorf told the council, describing the April budget hearing and the June deliberation as built-in public checkpoints. Consultants said the engagement material will explain terms such as "cost recovery" and "ROI" in plain language so survey respondents can provide informed feedback.

The council did not vote on a final policy at the March 4 meeting; instead members directed staff to launch the April engagement and return with compiled results and recommendations in mid-June. The consultants and staff emphasized that the council’s decision will weigh multiple data points — fiscal metrics, engineering reports, neighbor testimony and community sentiment — rather than a single number.

Ending note: The city and consultants encouraged broad participation and said they would use multiple promotion channels — not only social media — to reach people who do not use platforms such as Facebook. The neighbor meeting and the town hall are the principal in-person opportunities before the June report-back; written testimony will remain open through the public-decision window ahead of the July vote.