The owner of Plain City’s clock tower building is asking the village for help preserving the structure.
At Monday evening’s council meeting, Tammy Redmond, owner of Tique-Tock, asked the village to help pay for damage to the clock, which the village owns but sits on top of her building at 101 S. Chillicothe St.
“We are having major, major problems with it,” Redmond said of the clock.
She detailed a series of events that led to flooding inside the clock tower.
“When the clock was taken down, it was not sealed correctly,” Redmond said.
She said that when it rains, the water comes into the mechanism. She said the water coming into the clock is damaging her building and store. Redmond said that when it rains, she and family members empty buckets of water multiple times a day and have towels on the ground that are dried multiple times each day.
Redmond said the company that replaced the clock and the village insurance company both said the damage was a result of the failing roof on the 115-year-old building. She said her insurance company is blaming damage to her building on an improperly sealed clock.
“So here we are, stuck in the middle with no money from the village insurance and no money from our insurance company,” Redmond said.
She said there is no access to the clock from inside the building and that anytime someone wants to get inside the clock, they need to walk across her roof. She said each time someone walks on the roof, it becomes more damaged.
“Absolutely, some damage has been done from us walking on it,” Plain City Mayor Darrin Lane said.
He added that as the mayor he probably shouldn’t admit to things like that, but as a friend he feels the village owes Redmond and her family appreciation.
Redmond said a portion of the clock’s works are rusting and are damaged. She said she has nightmares about the floor of the clock tower giving way and the clock coming through the roof of her business.
“We need your help to figure out this problem,” Redmond said.
The business owners said she was denied once, but has since secured a loan to repair the roof. She asked what can be done to preserve the new roof. Business owner Jason Shumway, who is repairing several buildings in the village uptown, explained that pads can be placed on the roof so people can walk across without damaging it. Redmond said that even with the pads, access to the repaired roof will be “kept to a strict, strict minimum.”
Council members explained that the village has a small account to help pay for the clock and needed repairs.
Redmond said she wasn’t asking for much money, just “a little bit” or for help acquiring grants. Officials said it is almost a waste of time requesting money from the state unless you are doing a million dollar project.
Shumway said he would “call in some favors” to get donated or discounted materials to help with securing the clock and the clock tower. He said he has bought enough building materials that he is owed some goodwill. Additionally, he said he is friends with the exterior company helping with maintenance and repair to the tower.
Shumway said the bigger issue is to make sure that recent restoration work to the clock is protecting “the integrity of the clock itself.”
Redmond said she was going to bring pictures, but said they could never do justice to the damage being done. She invited village officials to come to the clock tower to see the damage first hand. Lane agreed.
“I think the village owes it to you for being a good steward of the clock tower for the past several years, that we need to look into doing something, setting up an account for future maintenance of it. We can talk to the insurance company,” Lane said.