The Narragansett Town Council on Jan. 6 approved multiple Parks & Recreation items and authorized the purchase of new recreation-management software.

Councilors unanimously approved a five-year food and beverage concession agreement at Sprague Park with the Narragansett Little League and a five-year facility-use agreement between the Little League and the Parks & Recreation Department (April 1, 2025–Oct. 31, 2029). The council also approved a three-year contract with Natural Fitness for yoga at the town beach and granted a permit to Road Races and Events Inc. to run the annual Ocean State Marathon/half marathon/5K on Oct. 26, 2025; all motions passed 5-0.

The council voted 5-0 to purchase new recreation software from Explore Recreation: $30,000 per year for five years plus a one-time installation fee of $19,000. Michelle (Parks and Recreation director) briefed councilors on the system’s capabilities, saying the software “will not only allow for people to use a mobile app and on the fly sign up for programs, create their own usernames, passwords, etcetera,” and that it can manage beach passes, marina payments and programming. She said some beach-hardware upgrades (for scanning beach passes) would be needed in a two- to five-year timeframe to realize all features.

Council discussion focused on user fees and credit-card processing costs. The town currently absorbs credit-card fees; councilors heard that the beach enterprise fund paid nearly $50,000 in card fees in the last year. Town staff said they are evaluating whether to shift convenience fees to customers and will present options to the council for policy consideration. Councilors also discussed parking/resident-permit functionality; staff said the software might support such features but would need to confirm specifics with the vendor and noted that dedicated electronic parking enforcement is a different system.

Public comment raised questions about how race organizers distribute proceeds; a resident asked whether contributions from private race organizers should be directed to town organizations. Councilors said they would review the race contribution practices with staff.

All Parks & Recreation items and the software contract were recorded as approved (vote recorded as 5-0 for each item).