PORT TOWNSEND — About 25 residents who live within a couple of blocks of the county courthouse attended a meeting Tuesday night to express concerns about the upcoming Clock Tower Renovation Project scheduled to begin in May.
The overriding concerns neighbors have with the project were the county’s lack of communication about the details, extended work hours — until 8 p.m. weekdays and from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Saturdays — and noise.
“I don’t know why we weren’t brought in earlier,” said Bill Brock, who attended the meeting held in the commissioner’s chambers on the ground floor of the county courthouse building.
“We would have been collaborators to get through this.”
Gordon Ramstrom, Jefferson County Public Works project coordinator, fielded the questions, but failed to satisfy many of the neighbors’ concerns.
“At this point it would tend to be fiction,” Ramstrom said when asked for specific plans and a schedule so neighbors can know what to expect.
Contract awarded
The $1.5 million contract was awarded on Monday to Drury Construction of Poulsbo.
Renovation work will stabilize the clock tower by drilling 6-inch diameter holes in each of the four corners from the tower’s top floor down seven floors to the ground and fill the holes with concrete and rebar.
The stabilization work will not affect the tower’s outer aesthetics.
