PORT TOWNSEND — An emergency allocation for the repair of the landmark 1890 Bell Tower has been approved by the City Council.
“All four support posts on the tower are severely rotted, and it could go anytime,” Public Works Director Ken Clow told the council Monday night.
“It’s a good structure that has held up to the elements over the years, but last week’s windstorm had a lot of people on edge.”
Clow estimated that the repair of all four supports would cost around $150,000, but the emergency allocation was for no more than $200,000 to allow for contingency and engineering.
Due to the emergency nature of the situation, the job was not put out for bid and will be completed by Hoch Construction Inc. of Port Angeles.
Hoch is currently working on the renovation of the Charles Pink House and completed the last Bell Tower repair 10 years ago.
The funding for the allocation will come from the 2010 bond, either from the bond’s contingency amount or by reducing the scope of other projects according to the resolution that was approved by a unanimous council vote.
Clow told the council that all four posts needed repair, and “if we hand two legs that were working we would be looking at this differently.”
Waiting, he said, was not an option due to the historic nature of the structure and the severity of the damage.
The plans for the repair are not final, but Clow said the posts would probably be replaced one at a time.
The hilltop Bell Tower was constructed at Jefferson and Tyler streets in 1890 as a way to alert Port Townsend residents to fire and emergencies, and was also where the town’s only fire engine was located, according to City of Dreams, a reference book about Port Townsend.
In the early 1970s, the structure had deteriorated and was in danger of collapse. The Jefferson County Historical Society raised money for its restoration and maintenance.
At Monday’s council meeting Clow said the tower has needed major repairs every 20 years since that time as well as minor repairs in the intervening years.
He said that he would like the city to use more durable materials for future repairs to avoid expensive stopgap measures.
This could be accomplished by using more durable cedar posts for the upcoming repair and to use a design where water does not collect in the joints.
The area around the clock tower has been cordoned off in order to keep people away from the structure since August.
Clow said Tuesday that he did not know how long the repair would take. He expected that scaffolding will go up this week.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
