For the past two years, the city of Albany has been paying to run the Albany Community Pool adjacent to South Albany High School.

During that time, however, Greater Albany Public Schools has hired the staff, offered the programs and determined the admission fees.

Staff members from the city and the school district came Monday to a joint meeting of the two agencies to offer a suggestion: Let the city assume direct management of the pool.

Councilors and school board members said they were open to exploring the idea and directed their staffs to continue talks.

City Manager Steve Bryant said he hopes to have a memo of understanding before the council by the end of February, in hopes of a decision as soon as possible.

The public pool is on the campus of South Albany High School, 3705 Columbus St. S.E. It was built in the 1970s with federal funds and has been run by the school district since, with the city contributing funds in recent years.

Having the city manage the pool is beneficial because it already has an aquatics program and could include the district's pool staff on its own roster, said Russell Allen, the school district's director of business.

It would eliminate service duplication, he said, and make sense from a business standpoint because the city is providing the money.

Councilors had several questions, including whether the city would buy or lease the building, who would be responsible for maintenance and whether changes to the building's outward façade would be allowed.

Allen and Bryant said those were questions that will be researched. However, they recommended a lease.

Councilman Ralph Reid Jr. said he wants more information before saying whether he favors the idea.

"Being the normal wet blanket that I am, my main stress is the city has no deeper pockets than what the school board has," he said. "I'm trying to keep the city as solvent as possible, and to take on additional costs without additional revenue, I'm not comfortable with that yet."

The city is paying $183,000 this fiscal year to run the pool. It paid the same amount last year, up from $120,000 the year before.

About 85 percent of the pool's use comes from community programs. The school district had cut its water awareness program, which includes swimming lessons for elementary students, but an anonymous donor restored funding for that program two years ago.