The first wave of renovations is underway at Selma’s William H. Dinkins Pool.

Workers began the process of removing crumbling sections of concrete from around the pool Wednesday morning, and weeks of hard work lies ahead.

“We are extracting the old, damaged concrete today, and we’ll replace it with new concrete over the next week or two,” said Willie Flowers of Advantage Concrete Contractors. “Over time, this concrete just get really worn down and cracked. This stuff was ready to come up.”

Flowers spent Wednesday laboring with two co-workers to break up the old concrete around the pool, which was built in the 1970s.

Since announcing the pool would not open earlier this summer, Ward 8 Selma City Councilman Michael Johnson has been busy soliciting donations from residents and organizations to pay for repairs.

Johnson said $19,000 in donations had already been raised for the project, which he estimated would cost $30,000 to complete.

“We are still accepting any donations from individuals, churches and businesses,” Johnson said. “We are $10,000 short right now, and there is plenty of work still to be done on this project. Any donation we get, will help make it a lot better than it is.”

Johnson said he would be willing to use a portion of the $15,000 he has in oil lease money on the project, but he is hoping to attract donations instead.

“I’ve got enough money in my oil lease fund to pay for the project, but I don’t want to do that. I’m looking for help and donations to pay for the work at the pool so I can use the oil lease money to get some other projects started.”

In April, each member of the Selma City Council was given $15,000 in oil lease funds from the Alabamd Trust Fund to be used for capital improvements.

After work is done to install new concrete around the pool, Johnson said another crew would begin working inside the structure.

“We’re going to have the inside of the pool sandblasted, because it doesn’t do you any good to put paint on top of paint on top of paint over the years,” Johnson said. “If we are going to renovate this pool, we are going to renovate it right.”

Johnson said he is also planning to have new water pumps installed at the pool, along with benches and a lifeguard tower.

“We are going to do whatever needs done to get the work done right,” Johnson said. “Right now we are trying to get these main things — the concrete and the sandblasting — done.”

 

Willie Flowers, left, and Will Wilkerson look on as a co-worker uses a jackhammer to break up old concrete around the William H. Dinkins Pool Wednesday morning. (Jay Sowers | Times-Journal)