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Restoration

Clock tower plans accepted

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
The clock tower of the Webster County Courthouse is framed by a light and wreath on the street Tuesday afternoon in downtown Fort Dodge. The Webster County Supervisors approved plans for a $5 million renovation project for the tower at their Tuesday meeting.

The Webster County Courthouse clock tower will have a different glow to it about a year from now.

That’s because the clock tower will be refurbished starting next summer. And according to Mark Campbell, chairman of the Webster County Board of Supervisors, the tower will light up when finished.

Plans for the estimated $5.3 million restoration project on the clock tower and courthouse roof were accepted by the Webster County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

A public hearing on those plans is scheduled for Jan. 7 at 10 a.m. The hearing will be held in the Board of Supervisors room at the courthouse. A letting date is set for Jan. 10.

Project Engineer Paul Jacobson, of Snyder and Associates, of Ankeny, said the county decided on strategic replacement for the clock tower.

“In other words, the copper that is good, we are keeping,” Jacobson, the former Humboldt County engineer, said. “It all comes down and the stuff that’s good goes back up, or it’s replaced.”

The method chosen will attempt to age the new patina somewhat for matching purposes, but the all-green look won’t be quite the same after the restoration.

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.

Jacobson said there’s about $4.6 million that will be tied up in construction costs for the project. He estimated the total project cost at $5.3 million, which Jacobson said includes engineering fees and testing fees such as testing for asbestos.

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 clock tower has always been a landmark, an icon to Webster County,” Campbell said. “It’s very important to us to make sure we maintain that. It will be lit up when the project is all done. We are currently working with engineers on how to do that properly.”

Campbell described the lighting as a soft light.

He said all four sides will be lit.

“It will be more of a floodlight from the back of the building forward,” Campbell said.

He was quick to point out that the overall project involves much more than the tower.

“We are going to be doing all the slate on top of the building,” Campbell said. “We are redoing the flat roofs. We are redoing the copper eaves and spouts. It’s a lot bigger than just the clock tower.”

The skylight will also be changed.

“It has faded to a point where not much light comes through it,” Campbell said. “It never has been completely transparent. It has always been a clouded or shaded product. We will be restoring that to allow more natural light into the building.”

Jacobson said the skylight will be returned to its original size.

“It will be much brighter in the atrium here,” he said.

The current, clouded skylight has been repaired two or three times since the courthouse was built in 1902.

Funding for the clock tower and roofing project comes in the way of a general obligation bond that will be paid back through property taxes.

“Everybody across the county pays for it,” Campbell said. “It’s all under dilapidated and essential. The structure is at a point where we have to do something with it. And rather than going in and completely restoring it, which would be $10 million or $11 million, we are going to go in and fix the essential things and get it back to its original state.”

Shuck-Britson, Inc., of Des Moines, is the structural engineer for the project. OPN Architects, Inc., of Des Moines, is the architect firm. And Twin Rivers Engineering Consultants, of Des Moines, is the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer.

The clock tower and roof project has a completion date set for Dec. 18, 2020.

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