Sports & Recreation expands programs, moves registration to Civic Plus and plans Blue Hills reopening

Brian Gallagher, director overseeing Sports & Recreation, told council the department has expanded programming and recently migrated registration and permitting to Civic Plus, a change that has brought 1,500 new members in five weeks and about 12,000 resident members in the system as of February.

Gallagher said the department grew its program slate from 42 to 56 and is extending summer camp and pool weeks. He described operational improvements—consolidating special‑event permitting under the mayor’s office and using Civic Plus to restrict some program registrations to Hartford residents. The FY2027 request includes increased part‑time staffing (about $400,000) to maintain extended hours and $230,000 for staffing and programming to reopen Blue Hills as a six‑day‑a‑week center with teen programs, an e‑gaming room and senior offerings.

Council members raised problems that emerged with the new permit workflow: Civic Plus currently forces manual, one‑by‑one approvals for bulk requests and generated more than 1,700 pending approvals that staff are processing month‑by‑month. Gallagher said staff are creating organizational profiles, automating rosters and working with Hartford Public Schools to front‑load school reservations to reduce manual workload. He emphasized a tiered priority system that gives school‑day use to Hartford Public Schools, then in‑house youth programs that serve 80% Hartford youth, followed by adult Hartford organizations.

Council requested neighborhood‑level participation data and a breakdown of underserved areas; Gallagher said the department is collaborating with CT data partners on research and will supply metrics to the council.