It’s been a while, but officials are hoping the reopening of the Dinkins Pool will have been worth the wait.

After a two-year hiatus due to its condition, the pool is scheduled to open for the first time this summer on Monday.

“I’m real excited about it,” said interim Selma Parks and Recreation director Lebo Jones. “We’ve been working hard all summer to get to this point and it’s going to be a great thing, not just for Ward 8 but for the city of Selma.”

The pool’s tentative opening date for the summer was set for June 15, but a couple of last minute projects had to be completed before it could be finished. One unexpected twist was that the pool’s pump had to be completely replaced, an extra $5,000 project on top of the over $50,000 already spent.

It was ruled that the old pump, which was likely the first and only pump ever used in the pool, was not in good working condition. Gary Lovelady, who has been overseeing the project for the city since the beginning, said the new pump was needed.

“They had a 7.5 horsepower, probably a 20 year old pump with a small hair catcher on it and it was cast iron and weighed about 300 pounds and it down inside a hole,” Lovelady said. “We put a brand new Pentair EQ Series pump on there with 7.5 horsepower with a larger strainer with a plastic top so you can see in, so that way you know when you need to clean it out. It’s more efficient.”

The project has seen the entire pool get a facelift. The locker rooms have been repainted, the pool has been resurfaced and cracked concrete around the outside has been fixed.

Councilman Michael Johnson represents Ward 8, which includes the Dinkins Pool. He said the extra $5,000 for the pump will likely come from his oil lease funds, but that the entire project could not have been completed without donations from other council members and the mayor, who dug into their own budgets to give.

The Edmundite Missions also contributed what executive director Chad McEachern (sp?) described as a “sizeable donation” to the project.

“The kids deserve the best and let’s give them that,” McEachern said. “We worked closely together — the Edmundite Missions and the city — and pulled it off, and I’m really proud of it.”

Johnson said he’s working to have a plaque for the Edmundites put in place at the pool.

“They really have helped us tremendously,” Johnson said.

There are still a few finishing touches that need to be completed before Monday, but those involved in the project are optimistic work will be completed by then.

“The pump will be running, the pool will be crystal clear and it’ll be ready,” Lovelady said.

The final steps left to be completed include installing new ladders and getting the chemicals in the pool adjusted to the right levels.

“Cosmetically we’ve done a lot of concrete work around it and everything will be real clean. New ladders and a new rope,” Jones said. “The pool is still the same pool but it’s just a lot cleaner and nicer. I think people are really going to be surprised by what they see.”

In the future, Johnson hopes to add a security system that will keep people off the pool grounds when it’s not opened. For now, he said anyone that is caught out there when it’s not open will be prosecuted.

He said children have been sneaking through holes in the fence and swimming without permission.

“The workers had to build a little crack in [the fence] and I want the children to stay out of it,” Johnson said. “Give them time to finish it up.”

The admission charge is 50 cents for each person per session. The pool will be open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. until 6 p.m.

Swim lessons will be taught at the pool by American Red Cross Water Safety instructors through the month of July.

The classes will be held Tuesday and Thursdays for those 3-and-up. Registration will be held at the Dinkins Pool when it opens.

For more information, call the recreation department at 874-2140.