What should happen to the Millennium Clock?
The city plans to look at options for the much-maligned Millennium Clock.
The clock tower was built to much fanfare in 2000 at the intersection of Dorchester Road and Morrison Street.
At that time, it stood at the corner of what was once Optimist Park. The park was sold and redeveloped in 2014 and is now home to a strip mall, a club house and a residential area.
At a recent council meeting, Coun. Victor Pietrangelo made a motion asking the city to look into other options for the clock, such as relocating the tower.
“It’s really lost its prominence,” Pietrangelo said of the structure. “It would be nice to have a plan to do something with it.”
Pietrangelo suggested Firemen’s Park would be a “much better location” for the clock, but added that other options may also exist.
“It really should be in a park setting, like where we originally had it, but the development of Optimist Park happened,” he said. “I don’t even know if people recognize it any more when they drive by.”
The clock mechanism malfunctioned a few years ago and the clock face was capped over with the city’s logo. Two digital message boards that were available to non-profit agencies to advertise events and activities also stopped working.
Ken Todd, the chief administrative officer at the city, said repairing the Millennium Clock has been on the city’s radar for some time but the work hasn’t been done because “other priorities took precedence.”
“Every year, our staff in each department prepare a list of capital items and staff prioritize those items and they are prioritized amongst other departments,” he explained.
Paisley Janvary-Pool, who was the chairwoman of the Millennium Committee, which spearheaded the clock campaign, would like to see the timepiece functioning again.
“I would like it to stay where it is and I’d like it to work,” she said.
The tower, funded in part by what was then known as the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation, includes a list of city mayors, a sponsor wall and a memorial wall in honour of local soldiers.