Parks department previews redesigned RecTrack site and plans user support to reduce registration barriers

WESTVILLE — Westville Parks and Recreation staff on May 2025 showed council members a redesigned RecTrack interface and outlined training and policy changes intended to reduce barriers for residents when registering for programs.

“The more than 80% of our program registrations are taking place online,” the department’s presenter said, adding that “90% of our ticket sales for events such as pumpkin glow and our civic theater programs are taking place online.” The demonstration compared previous, text-heavy pages with the new visual layout and a prominent search bar designed to help users find programs quickly.

Staff said they evaluated other vendors but kept their current vendor, VSI’s RecTrack, because it offered the combination of functionality and customization they needed. The parks presenter and IT staff showed a prototype “version 3” interface with a scrolling banner, search, clearer logged-in account indicators and a Help section with plans for video tutorials and in-person walk-up assistance.

Removing barriers and improving service

Staff described common user problems: confusing program numbering, search keywords that do not match likely queries (for example, partial searches for “pickle” did not return “pickleball” results), and users who do not realize they are logged in or cannot find what they purchased. To address those issues they said they will:

- Add keywords and metadata so the search bar returns likely results (for example, synonyms and spacing variations for “pickleball”). - Add account toggles that clearly show active passes or registered programs for a household. - Offer public, in-person help sessions (quarterly and ahead of major registration dates) to set up accounts and teach password recovery.

Staffing and integration

The department said it recently hired a web administrator, Matt Bartley, and gave development credit to David Chambers, special projects administrator. They explained some RecTrack pages are part of a siloed vendor system and fully customizing locked elements requires additional development from VSI and a quoted fee. The city’s community affairs and IT teams are managing incremental improvements while evaluating longer-term options such as a custom city content-management solution.

Council feedback and next steps

Several council members praised the visual improvements and asked for clearer account history (for example, showing active pool passes rather than only transaction swipes). Staff said they would toggle additional account visibility and bring back examples on accounts with purchase histories. They also plan to keep monitoring user feedback through surveys at the end of transactions and to continue iterative improvements.

No formal action was taken; staff said the redesigned interface will be rolled out and further adjusted based on usage and resident feedback.