LIMA — With restoration work set to begin on the Allen County Courthouse clock tower, former Allen County commissioners Sam Bassitt and Dan Reiff have teamed up with PotashCorp to get the tower’s clock back in operation.
In order to make that a reality, Bassitt and Reiff are seeking private donations for the $100,000 project, which includes replacing the inoperative clock works motor currenly in place with a restored mechanism from the same late-1800s period when the tower itself was built, allowing both the clock itself to work, as well as the bells in the tower to be once again operational. The project would also replace the windows on the clock.
“The original clock works went out at the courthouse and were replaced with what I found out to be an undersized motor system that caused the clock to constantly have issues,” commissioner Jay Begg said. “The hands on our clock are bigger than normal courthouses, so it needed to have stronger, better clockworks back when it was replaced.”
Tax-deductible donations can be made to the Lima Community Foundation, with PotashCorp pledging to match any private funds donated up to half the project cost.
“When Dan and I were first running for office, a Bath Township resident asked me, ‘Why don’t you just fix that darn clock?’” Bassitt said. “We strived for a number of years to fix that darn clock and were not able to do so. So we’re asking the community to get behind us and donate $5, $10, $25, whatever to this project, and PotashCorp will match your donation and double what you do.”
Bassitt and Reiff hope to have the funds raised over the course of the summer months. Anyone wishing to make a contribution can make a check out to Lima Community Foundation, with “Clock Tower” written on the memo line. Checks can be sent to: Lima Community Foundation, P.O. Box 1086, Lima, OH 45802.
“Now that word has started to get out, the reception has been very, very positive,” Reiff said. “People have been coming up to me already.”
This project is separate from the county’s plans to repair the clock tower structure. Delphos-based NR Lee Restoration submitted a bid of $589,000 in April to repair the tower, with work expected to take place this summer.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
