Ask John Maggio what summertime means to him, and he'll talk about watching kids with beach towels walk to the Dormont pool.

"Seeing that just makes me feel so good," he said. "That's what summer's all about."

Mr. Maggio, a borough councilman and president of the Friends of the Dormont Pool, said the 1920s-era pool is slated to open for the season on Memorial Day.

Work currently being done on the site is ahead of schedule and should be done a couple weeks before the pool opens, he said.

The borough and the Friends, a fund-raising group, are in the middle of some $500,000 in major structural repairs to the bath house, filtration equipment and pool decking.

Although some in the town have suggested the cost of the repairs are too much for Dormont, Mr. Maggio said keeping the pool was the issue that got him and three other council members elected last year.

"The vote really was a referendum on the pool," he said. "When I was campaigning all anyone ever wanted to talk about was the pool."

Now the pool is being talked about in other circles.

Dan Holland, founder and chairman of the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh, said the pool was recently chosen as one of the group's top 10 preservation opportunities for 2008.

"The Dormont Pool was selected because it is a community asset worth preserving and can help Dormont attract attention to other aspects of its community," he said.

Mr. Holland said the group's full list will be released on May 16 during the YPA's annual historic preservation month celebration to be held at the Hazlett Theater on the North Side.

As proud as he is of the recognition, Mr. Maggio said he will not be able to attend.

"That's the night of my son's band recognition dinner, and as proud as I am of the work I have done on behalf of the pool, I am 100 times more proud of my son," he said.

Mr. Maggio said Dormont residents can get a discount on a family pass for a summer's worth of swimming if they act by May 8. Normally the cost is $150 but it will be $125 per family until the deadline.

Otherwise the cost is $5.50 per adult per day.

Resident Gary Young said all four of his kids spent many summer days splashing in the pool and getting used to swimming.

"My twin boys use to love it when I would take them out to a little deeper water, holding one in each arm, and jump up and down splashing," he said. "One of my youngest daughter, Molly's, proudest moments was when she passed her deep water test at the age of 9 that gave her rights to swim in the deep end with her friends."

Still Mr. Young said a recent feasibility study showed the pool is used by swimmers to only about 10 percent of its capacity on an average day, and attendance is dropping.

But Mr. Maggio said on some good days the pool has seen as many as 1,200 swimmers.

"People from all over the county use that pool," he said.

He said the annual cost of operating the pool is about $31,000, which is right in line with what other local municipal pools cost.