TROY – The dormant South Troy Pool will be reopened July 1 if the city can secure a contractor willing to take on an aggressive renovation schedule that would get neighborhood kids back in the water for the swimming season, Mayor Patrick Madden said.

The City Council approved a capital budget that includes $6.3 million to restore the South Troy Pool and the Knickerbackeer Park Pool in Lansingburgh. It’s estimated that it will take $1.4 million to repair the South Troy Pool, while the remaining funds have to be applied to a completely new Knickerbacker Park Pool.

After shutting the pools for the 2017 and 2018 summer seasons for being unsafe, city officials have debated reopening them as the public has backed their return. Reopening South Troy will come during a year in which the office of mayor and entire seven-member City Council are on the November ballot.

“We’re going all out on opening the South Troy Pool; to try to get it opened July 1 for the summer season,” said Madden, a Democrat seeking re-election.

The city has been consulting with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation about the future of the two pools. The mayor said the state advised repairing the pool in South Troy, but warned it would be better to replace the pool in Knickerbacker Park.

The city can’t do anything with the Knickerbacker Park Pool until it reaches an agreement with the Knickerbacker Association, the not-for-profit that owns the park and leases it to the city. The city and association work under a multi-year contract with the city providing the facilities and the association the land. Madden said he anticipates reaching an agreement

The city wants to relocate the pool site in Knickerbacker Park to bring it closer to the parking lot serving the recreational area. The present pool location is closer to an alley access point than it is to the main entrance at the park’s south end.

Renovating the South Troy Pool by July 1 requires the city to get out the bid specifications by the end of the month. Work would include a new interior surface for the pool, replacing pipes, upgrading pumps and building a new deck around the pool.

“Knickerbacker is more of a challenge. That pool must be replaced,” Madden said.

“We should be working hard to open Knickerbacker Park Pool as well as the South Troy Pool,” said Republican City Council President Carmella Mantello, who’s anticipated to seek re-election.

Knickerbacker Park Pool is in the city Republicans’ stronghold in Lansingburgh.

Mantello described the July 1 opening date for the South Troy Pool as ambitious. She said she supported it.

The city will issue bond anticipation notes to cover the initial borrowing costs for the South Troy Pool. Moody’s Investors Services earlier this month gave Troy its highest rating of MIG1 for the city’s bond anticipation notes. The city plans to issue $35.5 million in BANs, which will include the funding for both pools. After five years, the city would convert these notes to bonds.

The city has applied for $375,000 in state aid to assist in funding the work on both pools, said John Salka, a spokesman for Madden. Assembly John T. McDonald III, D-Cohoes, who represents the city, is helping securing the funding of $250,000 for the South Troy Pool and $125,000 for Knickerbacker Park Pool.

Madden said the city had been restrained in moving ahead with the pool repairs the last two years due to its financial condition. But, the mayor said, with improvements in city finances and the paying down of the Troy Municipal Assistance Corp. debt of $21.3 million in 2022, the city is able to move ahead with the repairs.