Deputy Montfort Tadier, who has lodged the proposal, said that he had never intended to make the timepiece the subject of a States debate but now felt he had ‘exhausted all other reasonable steps’.
These, he said, included emailing Ports of Jersey, which has responsibility for the clock, as well as asking parliamentary questions and contacting the Treasury Minister – the States’ Ports of Jersey shareholder representative.
But he said he had grown frustrated at the lack of progress made.
He is now asking States Members to agree to the clock being repaired by 31 December, to request the Treasury Minister to formally transmit the view of the States to Ports of Jersey and to request the same minister to report back no later than 30 November with an update.
In his proposition, Deputy Tadier said: ‘Now, one can only request the Minister for Treasury and Resources [what does a steam clock have to do with the Treasury Department?] to request Ports of Jersey to do something about it.
‘It may well be, of course, that Members feel the Steam Clock is not worth repairing. I would suggest, it is at least worth trying.
‘As Simon Crowcroft, the Constable of St Helier, asked in a recent supplementary question on the subject – could it not at least be repaired with an electronic mechanism, and is the steam mechanism too costly or impractical to fix?
‘If this is beyond the means of Ports of Jersey, then it may be that we need to think about either transferring ownership of the clock and its surrounding grounds to the direct control and ownership of the Government of Jersey. But let’s at least try.’
Over the years many Islanders have criticised the clock, which was commissioned by the Waterfront Enterprise Board in 1996 at a cost of £250,000 to taxpayers.
The proposition is due to be debated on 6 October.
