Reopening McDermott Pool just got more complicated.

This week Mayor Frank Picozzi revealed a pump costing $10,000 would need to be replaced in addition to a boiler costing $20,000 plus the rebuilding of another pump and piping costing $10,000.

The City Council approved $60,000 to do the pool work, but now with this latest discovery, Picozzi will have to go back to the council for an additional $10,000 further delaying a reopening. Picozzi said the pump is only 18 months old, however, it was not the correct pump in the first place. Now that the proper pump has been identified he said it should last “a lot longer” than 18 months. “It’s getting expensive,” Picozzi said. “But at least this time it will be done right.”

Contractors started work on the pool in late January; however, there is still no timeline to when it may reopen. Picozzi remains optimistic that McDermott Pool will reopen in May.

Mike Thaler, Warwick resident and avid swimmer at McDermott Pool prior to its closing, has been trying to get specifics from the Mayor’s office, but to no avail.

In an interview on Wednesday, Thaler said he has placed multiple calls to the Mayor’s office and has not received a straight answer.

“I want to know the details,” he said. “Are they working on the pool and doing other things, so when the pieces that they’re missing show up, they can plug everything in and be good to go? How far along are they? What are the items they’re waiting for? My thinking is if they are waiting for everything to be in before they start, it will only add to the delay.”

Thaler first called the Mayor’s office in January after Picozzi took office, when the original goal was to open the pool by mid-March. He and other swimmers have called several times since then, and Thaler says each time “they gave different answers and timelines. It’s like bureaucratic hot potato.”

Before the pandemic, Thaler used to arrive almost daily to the pool at 5:20 a.m. to be there when the doors unlocked at 5:30. He wasn’t alone. He said there were 12 in the group ranging in age from the mid-60s to early 90s. In Tuesday’s interview, he said he misses socializing with other swimmers.

Thaler and fellow swimmers are “anxious” to get the pool open, he said. “The previous Mayor said the pool was closed because of CDC guidelines. That’s factually incorrect.”

Then-Mayor Joseph Solomon had reservations about reopening the pool, claiming the Department of Health’s guidelines wouldn’t allow a safe reopening. Solomon also cited social distancing issues in the locker rooms and showers as reasons why the pool remained closed.

“All of us have had both shots, so from a CDC point of view, we are absolutely, 100 percent able to interact,” said Thaler, who sees the locker room concerns as moot points.