Jammel Cutler reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Columbia County is using the 2023 Statewide Interoperable Communications Grant. for $446,381 for the maintenance of the county’s 911 radio and microwave system and to upgrade its emergency microwave radio and logging equipment. Robert Lopez, Columbia County 911 director, said, 'We will upgrade our point-to-point system that provides the backhaul to our radio system. The manufacturer has given them an end-of-life, which includes no replacement parts. These items are over 15 years old. The logging recorders that are used for all of the radio frequencies and telephone systems will also be updated. We typically upgrade it in a window of five to seven years, which is the industry standard.” Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chair Matt Murell said, “We want to upgrade our systems; we’ll probably have fewer failures within the county where it’s hard to get service. We want to improve coverage to help our first responders and to better serve residents of Columbia County.” Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com