Supervisors unanimously approved an option for the project that will cost an estimated $5 million. The selection includes a partial replacement of the clock tower that will keep the intact pieces of the old green patina sheathing, and restore the roof’s skylight.

The option was one of four on this week’s agenda for supervisors to choose from. The other three included taking no action on repairs, removing the clock tower and repairing the skylight for an estimated cost of $2.8 million or replacing the clock tower with a completely new skin at an estimate of $10 million.

Though a minority did favor full replacement of the tower, supervisors all agreed that the vast majority of the public voiced preference for a partial skin replacement at a more conservative cost. An estimated 150 people showed up to the last information session.

“The sheathing has weathered so much over the years that it’s falling apart,” said Chairman Mark Campbell.

The method chosen will attempt to age the new patina somewhat for matching purposes, but the all-green look of the Fort Dodge icon will soon be history after the restoration.

“With a lack of burning coal now, the copper does not turn to green patina anymore,” Campbell said.

The viable pieces of aged green patina sheathing will remain with the new brown-toned patina replacement, arranged to be as symmetrical as possible in the new, two-tone design.

Much of the timeless green sheathing has aged to the point of no return, causing it to fall apart.

Slate will also be replaced with a natural-looking rubber synthetic material, which the chairman says is cheaper, longer-lasting and hail resistant.

Also included in the overhaul is the roof’s skylight restoration, which will once again allow all the light to shine through. The current, clouded skylight has been repaired two or three times since the courthouse was built in 1902, Campbell said.

Though most commenters preferred this course of action for restoration, a minority said a full replacement would have been more in line with what Fort Dodgers of the turn of the 20th century would have wanted.

“When it was built it was done for 100 years, and we should be doing the same thing,” Campbell relayed from some constituents favoring the $10 million option.

But he says the partial sheathing replacement is “a good compromise” to that sentiment, salvaging usable parts to maintain the clock face and get as much life out of it as possible at a dramatically lower cost.

“Some will like it, some will not like it,” he said of the new look. “We try to be conservative with our finances.”

Earlier estimates in a 51-page report on the project, completed in January, came in at $3 million to $4 million for the project. The project will be financed through bonding.

As 117 years ticked away, weathering all the brutal Iowa winters that came with it, the town’s icon sustained significant damage to both the copper dome and the wooden structure beneath it.

Further examination by Snyder & Associates, of Ankeny, earlier this year revealed that the wood structure was the main culprit for damage — not the steel structure, which some had previously suspected was the case. Wood is attached to the steel, and then the copper is fastened to the wood, making the wood integral to the entire tower, even if the copper and steel itself is in good shape.

“The copper somewhere along the line started leaking, which led to the wood rotting, and once the wood rotted there’s no more connections,” Project Engineer Paul Jacobson told The Messenger in April.

A key part of the restoration will include installation of a plastic membrane to act as a water barrier between the copper and wood, leaving most levels of the tower dry. The top level of the tower is open to the air, so that the bell can ring. The water barrier will be designed so that water can flow back outside.

The courthouse improvements were at the top of the county’s wish list of improvement projects supervisors would like to see completed in 2020.