Electric City welcome sign going out to bid

Electric City’s council voted Feb. 12 to go out to bid on a welcome sign to the city.

The sign would be placed at Electric City’s southern limits on SR-155 on the south side of Osborne Bay and would read “Welcome to Electric City,” and “Re-energize your recreation,” with the city’s logo suspended between basalt columns.

An earlier cost estimate for the sign from Graybeal Signs was $42,000.

The council discussed whether to have the sign framed by actual basalt columns or by aluminum made to look like rock columns and questioned how long actual basalt columns would last.

“Rocks are rocks; they last as long as rocks do,” City Clerk Russ Powers said.

Some councilmembers’ estimates of how long actual rocks would last ranged from 20-100 years.

No one brought up that the Grand Coulee and Steamboat Rock are made of basalt and are millions of years old.

The council determined that they would like both options offered in the bids.

Another detail discussed was whether to have the sign be one sided or add a back to the sign that would read, “Thank you for visiting,” or another such sentiment for those leaving the city.

Adding a back side to the sign would increase the costs by a fair amount, Powers pointed out.

Councilmember Aaron Derr suggested having a one-sided sign, and turning the sign in such a way that it was obvious to those arriving to the city but the empty back side of the sign wouldn’t be obvious to those leaving.