Richard Moody is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Columbia County Board of Supervisors County Government Committee has acted to set aside three properties from its list of 22 tax foreclosures as possible locations for new 911 communication towers. The committee approved a motion at its October 23 meeting to reserve an 8-acre property on Queechy Lake Drive in Canaan; a nearly 14-acre parcel at 101 Bathrick Farm Road in Gallatin; and, 6 acres of vacant land on Covenant Circle in New Lebanon. “I know the county wants to put these up for auction as early as possible,” Hudson 3rd Ward Supervisor Michael Chameides said. “We can set these aside and we can always sell them later.” The county attorney’s office sets minimum bids for foreclosed properties and two of the three set aside by the committee have a combined minimum bid amount of $16,000. The third has no set minimum. The minimum bids for the county's full list of potential foreclosures, excluding those set aside, total $204,000. Columbia County 911 Department Director Robert Lopez chose the properties as potential locations for new towers. The higher the elevation relative to the local terrain, the better the spot is for radio to work, he said. “Relative to the region, the identified locations are high enough to offer us decent coverage,” Lopez said. “These spots will also help us cover a larger area.” The cost for constructing the towers is still unknown, but the county has $3.5 million on hand for this purpose. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.