Field bookings spike; staff proposes tier simplification and greater scheduling flexibility

Recreation Manager Ryan Daley and staff member Jeremy Jasmine presented a four-year review of athletic field use and proposed next steps for a policy update. Staff said an online request system (Civic Optimize) and changes to scheduling practices (rental stacking) helped increase field utilization. Between 2022 and 2025 staff reported a 92% increase in unique accounts and an increase in unique clients from 46 to 99. Staff also reported a year‑over‑year increase in booked hours of roughly 45% (figures cited were current through October and continuing to rise).

Staff proposed simplifying the existing three‑tier user structure and asked the commission whether to preserve resident priority while simplifying subtiers that are increasingly blurred by the growth of select/club teams. Commissioners generally favored consolidation, asked staff to propose objective criteria to distinguish resident-recreation teams from select competitive clubs, and supported giving staff flexibility to optimize schedules (stacking and, where feasible, moving users to alternate fields) while preserving consistency for regularly scheduled bookings. Staff emphasized that most priority-booking effort is dedicated to resident users (tier 1) and that simplification will reduce administrative time.

Next steps: Staff will survey field users, draft policy updates and return to the commission for endorsement; staff targeted a policy adoption timeline of March 2026 ahead of the July 2026 booking window. Commissioners recommended staff continue exploring interlocal and community partnerships to expand indoor/open‑gym options and to track denied requests for future capacity planning.