TROY — The South Troy swimming pool will not open this summer.

Mayor Patrick Madden's office confirmed Friday what has seemed obvious for weeks: Construction at the refurbished pool will not be completed in time to get in even a few days of swimming this summer.

"Despite the enormous efforts of our engineering department staff and crews, due to labor shortages we have been unable to secure a qualified contractor to complete the concrete pool deck in order to make an opening possible this summer," a statement released by the mayor's office said.

The city initially planned to open the pool on July 1 but pushed back the opening because of construction delays. For weeks, Madden's spokesman, John Salka, insisted the pool would open this summer, even after the calendar passed the mid-August point when city pools would traditionally close.

The 57-year-old pool was shut two years ago after it was found to be unsafe to operate and maintain. This winter, Madden announced a plan to reopen the facility with an aggressive construction program.

But as the work went on in the spring and into summer, construction crews discovered new problems with the pool, and a "short-term repair became a complete renovation of the swimming facility, extending the useful life of the pool for another 15 years with proper maintenance," the city said.

Structural issues with both the pool's concrete walls and the decking complicated the work and forced the workers to remove significant parts of the pool's interior wall.

The South Troy pool is not the only public pool on the city's agenda.

Troy announced plans earlier this year to build a new pool near Knickerbacker Ice Rink. So far, there has been little movement on that project.