Wood Buffalo decides to keep its giant bison clock after all
FORT MCMURRAY The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo now says it will return the bison-shaped countdown clock commissioned for the Western Canada Summer Games back to its place in front of city hall.
The clock was removed from its place in front of city hall last month.
The municipality defended the removal as necessary because of the clock’s physical deterioration, the safety hazard it posed and the “unwarranted expenses” required to repair it. The clock was to be sold, donated, or scrapped.
Annette Antoniak, the municipality’s new chief administrative officer, has since decided the clock should be preserved and is prioritizing finding a new place to put it.
“She said that because the clock’s an important part of the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games that she’s working to find a permanent location for the clock,” said Megan Steiestol, communications manager at the municipality.
Steiestol said Antoniak is aware of some of the clock’s repair needs, including the statue’s base and the digital time display, which has stopped working.
“We’ll be looking at finding solutions for these in the future so that we can keep this important piece in the community,” Steiestol said.
The clock’s designer, Vincent Bonisoli, has said he has tried many times over the past three years to get permission and funding to repair known problems with the clock, and does not believe it poses a safety hazard. The clock was commissioned in 2014 by the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games Host Society, and was given to the municipality when the Host Society dissolved at the end of 2015.
In late 2015 the Public Art Committee decided the clock did not qualify for inclusion in the municipality’s public art collection.
Antoniak will be presenting options to council next week on where the clock could be stored, Steiestol said, adding she did not know if these options would be discussed publicly.