For the first time in months Red Deer’s downtown street clock is showing the right time more than twice a day.
And nobody is happier than Mayor Morris Flewwelling.
“This clock has been one of the banes of my existence for a long time because I have to look at it every day out my window,” chuckled Flewwelling, who can see the clock from his corner office at City Hall.
“When I go to Sherwood Park and see they have a clock running on their city square it drives me crazy because ours doesn’t.”
Charity Dyke, who has been overseeing the clock saga for the city, said the decorative timekeeper has proven a little tempermental, especially in hot weather.
The west face expanded in the heat this past summer, causing the hands to drag and lose time. A condensation issue also emerged when temperatures rose, tripping a breaker.
The city opted to shut off the clock in late summer while an Edmonton company worked on solutions to the temperature issues.
Now that it’s colder, the city decided to restart the clock and is testing it to see how it handles the cold.
It’s hoped permanent fixes for all the problems can be completed next spring.
Meanwhile, the mayor has his fingers crossed that the hands will keep moving.
“It’s now working again, and God willing it will continue to work.”
The six-metre European-style timepiece on Ross Street and 49th Avenue was unveiled in May 2008. The four Rotary service clubs — Red Deer Sunrise, Downtown, Red Deer Centennial and Red Deer East — paid for the $55,000 clock.
A couple of years later, two of the four faces warped and began losing time.
Unfortunately, before the American manufacturer could fix the problem the company went out of business.
A $10,000 overhaul in 2011 got the clock working again, but the fix proved temporary. The clock commemorates Citizens of the Year and Young Citizens of the Year.