DAYTON-The community electronic reader board that many Dayton residents have been hearing about for months is about to become a reality.

Martha Lanman, Administrator of Columbia County Public Health Dept., has finalized a deal with Dale Maron, the owner of All Your Building Needs on Main Street in Pomeroy, to purchase the electronic reader board located at his property there.

"I was driving through town and saw the sign, and that the building was for sale," Lanman said. On May 2, Lanman called Maron and received an $8,000 price for the sign, but was put on hold when he thought he had a buyer for the property.

"Maron got back to me when the sale fell through," Lanman said.

Lanman said she was able to purchase the reader board from Maron on June 9 using funds donated by partnering agencies through Columbia Cares, a community nonprofit organization.

Some of the agencies contributing funds to the purchase are the Dayton/Columbia County Fund, the Dayton School District, and Columbia REA, who contributed $5,000; $2000; and $1,000; respectively, she said.

Lanman is expecting quotes from Sign Crafters in Lewiston, Ida. to move the sign from Pomeroy to Dayton, and from Walla Walla Electric for installation costs. City of Dayton Mayor Craig George is also looking into an easement, she said.

Funding sources for moving the reader board and for the electrical work to install it have yet to be identified, but Lanman said she hopes to have all the i's dotted and t's crossed, soon, so the reader board can be in place sometime this summer.

The reader board is thirty-seven inches high and seven feet wide. It is double-sided, with three lines of ten-inch copy, making it easily visible from both directions on Main Street, she said.

The reader board will be specifically for broadcasting events in our region, and it will not be used for private advertising, Lanman added.

The City of Dayton, Columbia County, the Port of Columbia, the Dayton School District, the Columbia County Health System, the Dayton Memorial Library, and the Dayton Chamber of Commerce, are just a few of the nonprofits in Columbia County that are expected to use the reader board, Lanman explained.

"My ultimate goal is to connect the reader board to a Facebook page," said Lanman about her vision of getting information out to the wider community.

Lanman said she has been working on the project for the last two years. She initially wanted to buy a new sign, but a new sign carries a price tag of around $34,000, she said.

Lanman said she was happy to have found the used reader board with a price tag of only $8,000.

The electronic reader board will be located in the city right-of-way on the south side of West Main Street, about seventy feet west of Willow Street, according to Karen Scharer, Planning Director with the City of Dayton.