The fight over reopening Louisville's outdoor public pools may not be over just yet.

Two Louisville Metro Council members are spearheading an effort to reopen at least one of the city's four shuttered pools for a portion of the summer, pushing for community support and funding, even as Mayor Greg Fischer's administration took another direction with donations and seems hesitant about the feasibility of opening any pools.

The lawmakers' immediate goal: raise enough money to cover the essentials to reopen a pool, find lifeguards and staff it for a handful of weeks.

The challenge: there's been a delay in training lifeguards and in routine maintenance of the pools, plus reopening any of them could come with a price tag in the thousands.

Still, Councilwomen Cindi Fowler and Barbara Sexton Smith say they're determined to open at least one — Fowler is leaning toward Sun Valley, located in her southwestern district — for a few weeks of the looming summer months.

"I feel like I'm swimming against the current, no pun intended, but I'm just dedicated to making sure a pool gets open, and I think that Councilwoman Sexton Smith is, as well," Fowler, D-14th District, told the Courier Journal on Wednesday. "If we don't do it, I don't think any of the pools will open ever again."

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Fischer announced in early April that the Algonquin, Fairdale, Norton and Sun Valley pools would stay closed through the summer months to save money amid a budget crunch that led to $25.5 million in cuts in his budget proposal.

His budget, set to be voted on by council members on June 25, anticipates a savings of roughly $272,500 by not opening the pools.

But when donors reached out, hoping to help reopen them, his team directed the $100,000 to fund summer swimming experiences, rather than channel it to an outdoor pool or two.

Fischer's team pointed, in part, to costly deferred maintenance on the pools as the reason for not taking steps to reopen pools, though he acknowledged in response to a Courier Journal question that keeping them closed this summer could mean it's more costly to open them again in the future.

The administration's alternative plan, which includes 10 community events at two YMCA locations and structured swims at Central High School's pool, was developed largely without consultation of Metro Council members. And Sexton Smith, D-4th, said it led to a schedule "so confusing, very few people can figure out where to go and how to get there."

So, in addition to Fischer's plan, Fowler and Sexton Smith say they hope to cover the essential costs to reopen a pool for four to five weeks, then to organize donors or sponsors to fund deferred maintenance in the future.

Info:What is Metro Council doing with Fischer's budget cuts? Here's how to find out

Sun Valley, for instance, is estimated to cost roughly $25,500 upfront, for painting and related repairs, such as a sump pump, Fowler said she was told by the mayor's office.

She said she's prepared to cover at least a portion of that with her own discretionary funds as soon as the next few weeks, and is hoping to work with city agencies to get a lifeguard certification class up and running.

"Children sitting in second- or third-floor apartments or homes with a box fan as their only means of relief from the stifling heat in this proven heat island of the west and southwest side of Jefferson County have little options," Fowler wrote in an email shared with the Courier Journal, sent Tuesday night to a constituent and fellow council members.

"We are in a budget crunch, no doubt, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't creatively work together to make things happen for our constituents. We can do this and much greater things if we come together and work as a team," Fowler continued.

In a statement, Fischer's spokeswoman Jean Porter said the administration would have loved to open the pools, but "there is not enough revenue to fund pool operations this year or, with the ongoing budget challenges, any year going forward, and no money to do the capital projects necessary for long-term use."

To open and operate one pool this summer, "due to the time factor and capital needs in question," it could cost close to $100,000, Porter said. And, she said, the community might have questions about opening just one of the outdoor pools and that there could be liability concerns in using volunteers as lifeguards, pool monitors and water testers.

She did say that she'd heard from Fowler and Sexton Smith about other potential community partners and that "we will be exploring those options with them."

Sexton Smith has worked to connect at least one interested donor, businessman Stuart Ray, to the Louisville Metro Parks Foundation, to explore the creation of some kind of pools endowment or fundraiser opportunity.

The foundation's president and its spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that they had been in contact with at least one individual interested in investing in the pools. The nonprofit has traditionally focused on adding amenities to public parks, like playgrounds, walking paths or skate spots.

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That said, the foundation's staff said they would be "open" to what would best serve the community, adding that they would hope to do it in partnership with the city and Olmsted Parks Foundation.

"It might be too big of a task to think that we want to get all four operating this year," said Ray, the businessman, "but we want, at a minimum ... to reopen one and in turn make sure the other three are under our umbrella, to where we could put some maintenance funds into them."

Ray pointed to the recent hundreds-strong crowd that turned out for 300 free Kentucky Kingdom season passes: "You see the desire for people to enjoy water recreation."

Plus, Ray, Sexton Smith and Fowler worry that without opening some of the pools now and addressing some of their maintenance needs this year, it'll become impossible to reopen them in the future.

Fowler wants to push for the budget proposal before Metro Council for fiscal year 2019-20 to include start-up costs for the outdoor pools for next summer.

And Sexton Smith said it's time for the community to being to re-imagine swimming pools. They could be "aqua community centers," offering swim teams, lessons and more.

Porter said in her statement that the city staff who typically prepare the pools are "currently inspecting, cleaning and completing any repairs needed on the 30 spray grounds and at Mary T," adding that outdoor pool preparation is usually done prior to the opening of the spray grounds.

But, Sexton Smith said: "Spray pads and parks won't replace pools. ... Spray pads are for very young children. Teenagers need the swimming pool."

"The problem is we have not re-imagined our swimming pools. Our swimming pools are so much more than pools," she said, inviting people to become part of the "dream" this summer.

Fowler, too, called on her council members to "stand up and demand better."

"Let us solicit our business partners in our districts to help fund our public pools," she wrote in the Tuesday email. "Let us not sit by and let this happen to our communities without a fight."

Pool traffic

Figures provided by the mayor's office for pool attendance in 2018 show a total attendance of roughly 18,200. Here's the breakdown:

Algonquin

1614 Cypress St.: 1,708 children, 475 adults, 176 groups, for a total of 2,359 visitors

1614 Cypress St.: 1,708 children, 475 adults, 176 groups, for a total of 2,359 visitors Fairdale (Nelson Hornbeck Park)

709 Fairdale Road: 3,536 children, 3,115 adults, 267 groups, for a total of 6,918 visitors

(Nelson Hornbeck Park) 709 Fairdale Road: 3,536 children, 3,115 adults, 267 groups, for a total of 6,918 visitors Norton (Camp Taylor Memorial Park)

4201 Lee Ave.: 2,058 adults, 1,483 children, 652 groups, for a total of 4,193 visitors

(Camp Taylor Memorial Park) 4201 Lee Ave.: 2,058 adults, 1,483 children, 652 groups, for a total of 4,193 visitors Sun Valley

6506 Bethany Lane: 2,127 children, 2,372 adults, 231 groups, for a total of 4,730 visitors

Darcy Costello: 502-582-4834; dcostello@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @dctello. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/darcyc.