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Council approves switch to Rec Technologies for parks and recreation services, citing improved mobile UX and security
Summary
Council approved a resolution (5-0) authorizing staff to contract with Rec Technologies for the city's leisure-services software; staff said the change will improve mobile access and security but will raise annual processing costs that the parks department plans to offset with modest fee increases starting in January 2027.
The Clive City Council voted unanimously May 14 to authorize staff to contract with Rec Technologies to replace the city's current Parks & Recreation software.
Parks staff said the current vendor (Sportsman) has been serviceable but that the user experience, mobile interface and administrative workflows lag modern expectations. Staff cited a March outage that left the department and public unable to access the system for several days as part of the rationale for switching. The Rec Technologies platform was the staff-recommended option after demos of multiple vendors.
Staff presented a cost comparison: the department estimated the current Sportsman setup (fees and processing) costs roughly $28,000 per year in net impact, while Rec Technologies is expected to total about $41,000 per year when subscription, transaction and credit-card fees are combined. Key drivers include a higher credit-card fee rate (staff cited 2% with Sportsman vs. 3.5% with Rec Technologies) and lower per-transaction fees for Rec Technologies (30c vs 75c). Staff proposed offsetting the net annual impact through modest program-price increases ($5 for many programs) and small increases to facility or shelter rental rates starting January 2027.
Staff also addressed accessibility and data concerns: Rec Technologies indicated the platform is designed to meet WCAG AA accessibility and expected full conformance by early 2026; for historical registration data, staff said they can export reports for internal use but are not planning full account migrations for all customers. The recommended launch timeline calls for contract execution, vendor setup in summer/fall and a staged rollout timed to season-pass sales on Dec. 1 with staff training through late summer and fall.
Councilmember S6 moved the resolution to proceed with the contract; the motion passed 5-0. Staff will return with contract documents and a vendor-implementation schedule.
