Council talks tourism, Spectrum agreement

THE DALLES — The Dalles City Council meeting on March 23 began with a tourism report from Explore The Dalles Tourism Director Lynn Cox, covering July 1, 2025, to January. 31, 2026. According to Cox, the city recorded over five million impressions across all marketing channels and over one million total visitor trips.

In the Hood-Gorge region, the average visitor spent around $260, yielding about $264 million in visitor spending. “That’s over a quarter of a billion dollars supporting local businesses and our economy here,” Cox said.

The city is exploring a strategic tourism framework project with University of Oregon students to develop a long-term strategy and conduct visitor trend analysis, and maintains ongoing partnerships with Travel Oregon and the Columbia Gorge Tourism Alliance to align regional messaging.

Explore The Dalles’ biggest concern is local business survival in a challenging economy. “I’m watching businesses hang on by a thread,” Cox said. “We need to have them open in order for people to come, but in order for them to be open, we need to have people come.”

The city’s focus moving forward: increasing overnight stays, strengthening shoulder-season activity, and data-driven marketing. Beginning this spring, The Dalles will launch a business storytelling video initiative across social media platforms, featuring interviews with local entrepreneurs to help promote the city.

Later, councilors unanimously adopted a special ordinance approving a short-term franchise agreement extension with Spectrum. The city’s initial agreement with the telecommunications company, signed in 2016, is about to expire; the ordinance will extend it for roughly six months, keeping all current terms and allowing time to finish negotiating a new long-term agreement without a gap in authority.

It’s designated an emergency ordinance purely so it can take effect immediately, as required by the city charter, not because of any crisis.

A second ordinance, also adopted unanimously, grants a non-exclusive water utility franchise to Chenowith Water People’s Utility District for its existing and future water infrastructure located within city limits and in city rights-of-way.

The ordinance is a part of a broader effort to formalize and update all utility franchises, clarify standards for working in the right-of-way, and ensure fair, consistent treatment across all utilities, including the city’s own water and sewer operations.

The agreement takes effect July 1 and sets a franchise fee starting at 1% of Chenowith’s gross water revenue from customers inside the city, increasing by one percentage point per year until it reaches 5%, with that revenue dedicated to the street/transportation fund to help offset pavement impacts from utility work.