Greensburg Rotary gives town clock face-lift during courthouse garage reconstruction

Greensburg’s town clock is getting a face-lift and update while the site it occupied since 1991 outside the Westmoreland County Courthouse is under construction.

The four-sided clock had to be removed from the corner of Courthouse Square to make way for ongoing reconstruction of a county parking garage underneath the plaza. That provided an opportunity to address issues with the aging timepiece, Greensburg Rotary officer Mark Barnhart said.

The local Rotary club funded the original $18,900 purchase of the clock from the Verdin Co. of Cincinnati and turned over ownership to the city of Greensburg.

Under a lease agreement extending through 2041, the county supplies the space and electricity for the clock while the city is responsible for maintaining the decorative device.

The clock has undergone various functional repairs through the years. Most recently, Barnhart said, the Rotary club stepped forward to get the clock back in working order.

A company wanted $8,000 to repair and repaint the clock.

“The city didn’t have that to spend on a clock during the covid pandemic, so the city gave us their blessing to try and get it running again,” Barnhart said.

The club was able to make the repairs at a cost of about $500.

“But that didn’t solve the cosmetic problems,” Barnhart said.

The costs for refurbishing and transporting the clock are expected to total close to $18,000 for the Rotary club, he said.

“It’s not our clock because we gave it to the city. But we figured we will go ahead and take care of this,” he said. “Having the Rotary emblem on it, it’s a reflection of our club and of Rotary in general.”

Rocky Mountain Garage in New Stanton has completed most of the repainting, using a silicon-based black paint that is expected to last 25 to 35 years. ‘

When the time comes to renew the finish, “You can repaint it in place, without having to sandblast it again,” garage operator Jeff Prycl said.

He said the clock was prepared for painting by sandblasting with baking soda to protect the fiberglass surface.

The clock faces also were fitted with new lenses of Lexan, a polycarbonate resin thermoplastic.

“They didn’t look discolored until you took them off,” Barnhart said of the old lenses.

The clock was expected to be trucked this week to another garage space, donated by a Rotary club member. There, club member Gene James will install upgraded LED lighting while fellow member and local artist Nick Silvis will provide the finishing touches, applying gold accent paint.

Moving the clock has been no small task.

Prycl used a forklift to move the 10-foot aluminum pole that serves as a base for the clock. He estimated the pole’s weight at 250 pounds or more.

“Two people can lift the pole that it sits on,” Barnhart said, “but I wouldn’t want to carry it too far.”