The Board of Mayor and Aldermen have taken a second step toward replacing the splash pad at Catfish Row on Levee Street.

The board Wednesday authorized city clerk Walter Osborne to advertise for bids to build the new pad. “The demolition (of the old pad) is complete and we are ready to get a bidder on board and get it built,” city attorney Nancy Thomas said.

South Ward Alderman Alex Monsour, who is over recreation for the city, has said he wants the new pad completed when the summer season opens in May.

Landscape Services, a Tupelo-based landscape architect firm, was hired in December for $7,500 to design and prepare the specifications for a new splash pad.

The 15-year-old splash pad was 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 in October 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 the only way for us to get under there to fix it was to break the concrete and get the pipes fixed,” he said.

“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.”

In another matter, the board authorized Osborne to advertise for proposals from energy service companies to provide a citywide energy management program for city buildings and facilities.

“This is not to duplicate anything we’ve already got,” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said. “As I understand, the previous administration did something with a company and it did not pan out, and we need to look at that. If somebody out there can show us how to do it cheaper and better, we’re sold.”

The board in 2011, under the administration of former Mayor Paul Winfield, signed a $7.6 million contract with Siemens Industries to make lighting, water use and natural gas more efficient in 44 of the city’s 50 buildings.

The contract was to be paid out over 15 years and estimated to save the city $6,860,625.

Siemen’s plan included upgrading lighting fixtures in 44 city buildings, and upgrading and retrofitting 80 downtown street lights, and implementing water conservation methods in 15 city buildings, including 31 new toilets, 56 new flush valves and 10 new faucets, and installing central controls for air conditioning and heating units in 12 buildings.

It also included trending alarms for heating and cooling units and variable frequency drives on pumps at the city pool.