An agreement between Miami County commissioners and Illinois Tool Works (ITW) calls for removal of the decades old clock overlooking Adams and Main streets from the pedestrian bridge that will be demolished along with the former Hobart Brothers manufacturing plant.
The contractor will deliver the clock to the county during the demolition, which ITW representatives said would begin yet this month, the commissioners said March 11 in approving a Demolition and Access Agreement with ITW.
Commissioners Richard Cultice and John “Bud” O’Brien said they did not yet know what the county would do with the clock. Cultice said the clock has not been operational for a number of years.
The pedestrian bridge now connects on its east end to the county-owned Hobart Center for County Government. The building previously was the corporate office for Hobart Brothers Company.
Hobart Brothers built the manufacturing plant at the bridge’s west end in 1925
Once the 500,000 square foot manufacturing plant is gone, the property between Main Street to the south, Water Street to the north, Elm Street to the west and Adams Street to the east will go to the Troy Development Council, J.C. Wallace, TDC president, said earlier this year.
The purchase is intended to have better control over how the site is redeveloped, he said.
The demolition project is expected to take up to nine months, with the bridge to be removed early in the process, the commissioners were told. The county will be given two weeks notice before removal begins, Cultice said.
Although the county initially was told demolition was to begin at the building’s west end, commissioners said they did not know if those plans had changed.
The commissioners have been exploring the best way to repair the west exterior wall of the Hobart Center building once the bridge is taken away.
The commissioners received an estimate of $18,000 for labor and materials to "button up" the building exterior after demolition, according to a memo from Chris Johnson, county facilities and safety manager. The estimate does not include work that would be needed to finish the interior wall.
The commissioners last week also:
- Approved a three-year agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police/Ohio Labor Council Inc. for employees of the county Communication Center. The contract is retroactive to Jan. 1 and continues through December 2016.
Among its provisions are pay raises of 3 percent the first year, 2 percent the second and 1 percent the third.
- Signed a new police protection contract with the village of Bradford and the Miami County Sheriff’s Office. The contract provides 8.5 hours of police protection daily from the sheriff’s office. The cost is $6,510 per month with $7,500 for fuel for the year.
The contract was effective March 1 and continues through year’s end. The contract calls for fewer hours of a deputy working in the village, a change forced by village budget issues.
