Rockville Addresses Liability Concerns For Upcoming Rock-Fest Festival

ROCKVILLE - With the event now less than three weeks away, Rockville city officials discovered recently that they needed to address liability concerns for Rock-Fest.

City Administrator Martin Bode says the city was possibly exposed to up to $1.5 million in liability for Rock-Fest events. After a meeting with the city insurance agent a few weeks ago, they noticed that Rock-Fest wasn't a city entity. The city only had liability coverage specific for fireworks. Any other events potentially may not have been covered.

Last Thursday, the city council met to address the concern.

"At the end of that meeting, it was decided that the city of Rockville under the authority of the city council would take control of Rock-Fest so it could be covered under the cities league of cities insurance trust," Bode says.

The event was previously run by a separate committee, which would have had to get its own liability insurance if the city didn't take over.

Bode says the change won't have a noticeable impact on the festival. The planning committee will now need to plan the event and report to the city council.

"It just means that final oversight is done by the city council and the revenue and expenses run through city hall and get approved by city staff. If it was an independent organization, the committee has authority to do those things on their own."

Rock-Fest started in 2003 and will be on June 4th this year.