Work to make the Mahanay Bell Tower in Jefferson a full, 47-carillon began Wednesday.

The Verdin Company brought in a crane and took down nine of the 14 bells from the top of the tower and will take those bells, plus another 15 from inside the courthouse to their facility in Cincinnati, Ohio. Field Service Technician Patrick Bradley says they will install new head pieces to hold the bells in place and install new strikers. There will also be another 18 bells to be cast to complete the full, four octave carillon bells.

The four West Minster and Hour Strike bells were left in place on the tower because the strikers were replaced last year.

Greene County Engineer Wade Weiss said the County will pay $75,000 to paint and prep the bell frame, replace a couple of doors and do some electrical work to the over $440,000 project. The rest of the funds are coming from the Bell Tower Community Foundation. Weiss expects their work to be completed in two weeks and during that time, the bells will not be activated, for safety of the workers.

All the bells are anticipated to be installed by April of 2017.