For the first time since 2016, Troy residents will be able to dive into the South Troy Pool.

City officials told Spectrum News on Thursday that the pool will be opened Saturday.

“It’s great for the kids, especially this year when the kids have been out of school away from their friends,” Troy Mayor Patrick Madden said.

Madden said he’d hoped to have it open last summer, but notes the city wasn’t prepared for what it saw when it got inside. He added that, in hindsight, the city never should have set an aggressive timetable to open it.

“What we did discover when we got into stripping down the paint and looking behind the walls and everything we discovered … this was in a far worse state than we thought it was in,” Madden said this week. “The last year this was open, we just had water intake into the pool constantly, because there were so many leaks.”

Capacity will start at 50 people and may increase throughout the summer. Staff will have temperature checks and health screenings every day. Residents will have to fill out a health questionnaire before entering. Masks must be worn outside the water for anyone older than 2, and social distancing measures will be in place.

Repairs cost the city $1.3 million, Madden said.

“We didn’t want to do a repair that would get us through the next election,” he said. “We wanted to do a renovation that would get us through the next generation.”