A Tupelo-based landscape architect firm has been hired to design and prepare the specifications for a new splash pad at Catfish Row on Levee Street.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen Monday approved a $7,500 contract with Landscape Services to prepare the plans and contract documents for the new pad, which South Ward Alderman Alex Monsour said should be ready by the summer.

“It will take about three to four weeks to prepare the plans. Once we get the design, the city will put it out for bids and then we’ll move forward,” he said. “We’re going to redesign it and make it better.”

The 15-year-old splash pad is a popular and well-used attraction for the city, but was shut down for almost one month, from June 30 to July 26, while city workers installed rebuilt pumps and filter motors.

City officials closed the splash pad in June after the filter motor locked up, requiring a new part to be ordered and installed. However, as workers prepared to make the repairs, other problems occurred, forcing the city to bring in a crew from Jackson to examine the problem.

Monsour said the problem became worse as the season went on.

“The old design pad, even though we fixed it and got it all running, the pipes that are under the concrete by the end of the summer had apparently broken loose and only way for us to get under there to fix it was to break the concrete and get the pipes fixed.

“We had so much water going out from underneath it so bad and going into the street that we didn’t have a steady flow up top. We were losing water faster than it was coming out.”