Courthouse bell rings once again

The Montgomery County courthouse clock tower has been given new life.
For several years, the clock tower remained silent, as the cost for repairs to the bell striker to make it functional were outside of the county’s budget. In September of 2021, Lois Pratt with the  Monday Club made the offer to the supervisors to pay for the entire cost of the repairs through their organization.
Also in September, the supervisors approved a bid from Americlock, Inc. of St. Louis, Mo., for the replacement of the hardware at $4,200, and $2,700 for labor.
Maintenance supervisor Dan Wright met with the supervisors at its Feb. 1, meeting and advised them that the work on the bell striker had finally been completed.
“The clock now strikes on the hour from seven in the morning to seven in the evening, but the times can be adjusted,” Wright said.
While that portion of the project was in the books, Wright said Americlock was intending to get him new quotes for other work.
“While they were up there, they told me that the clock that we have up there is kind of on its last legs.  They are going to get me some prices on restoring it, and a quote on a centralized automatic master clock,” commented Wright.
The centralized automatic master, Wright explained, would make certain things easier in the long run.
“We could do everything from the ground level. We wouldn’t even have to go up there and change the clock, it would all be run from the computer,” Wright stated.
Supervisor Randy Cooper, who coordinated the initial Monday Club investment for replacing the bell striker, said there might be more funding available.
“I talked with Lois Pratt about the clock, and they said if anything else came up, she said to contact them, so I think they would be willing to further help us out,” Cooper advised.
Cooper also said he’d heard praise for Wright’s ability to find a new motor for the clock, as the company that did the repairs had been unable to locate one themselves.
Supervisor Donna Robinson confirmed that the clock striking between 7 a.m. and p.m. was the way it was set, and could be reprogrammed. Wright said it could be, if needed.
“Inside, there’s a little mini-computer. You can change it to strike if there was a funeral, and there are all sorts of different settings for it. I also demonstrated the settings for our IT director, Jim Scott, so Jim also knows how to program it,” Wright explained.
Due to the wintertime being darker, Robinson said she understood the need for the clock to cease chiming at 7 p.m., but felt that maybe in the warmer months the clock could be reprogrammed to strike from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Wright said all the supervisors needed to do was let him know the different time for the clock to chime, and it could be changed at any time.