The Needham Park and Recreation Commission on Nov. 10 discussed why court‑badge revenue is falling and whether stronger enforcement, a new pricing model or software changes should precede any decision to open courts to nonresidents or build new pickleball courts.

Staff presented a spreadsheet showing court badge revenue trends and examples from other towns: Wellesley’s night badge approach, Newton’s quarterly badge and McGrath Park’s punch‑card system. Commissioners debated whether volunteer monitors could work for open play, the staffing costs of paid monitors, and whether a publicity push to encourage resident badge purchases would be the first step.

One commissioner noted the practical challenge of enforcement: "If we hire somebody...that poor soul is going to walk in and tell people they can't play here anymore because they don't have a badge," and cautioned that enforcement staff face strong resistance. Commissioners also discussed software replacement for scheduling and badge verification; staff said the current vendor is failing and a replacement would take roughly 18 months to procure and implement.

The commission agreed to a social‑media and email outreach push to increase resident badge purchases and to explore volunteer monitor incentives, pilot monitoring approaches and software solutions before recommending nonresident access or supporting a multi‑million‑dollar pickleball construction request at Town Meeting.

What happens next: staff will run outreach campaigns, explore badge pricing adjustments and return with monitoring and software proposals; no final policy change or capital authorization was approved at this meeting.