On Jan. 5, Congressman Paul Tonko announced that the Federal Communications Commission awarded more than $600,000 to Mid-Hudson Data Corp., which will use the money to expand coverage all over the state, including Westerlo. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic begins to starve municipal budgets of sales-tax revenue, mobile carriers are also looking for their pound of flesh.

After two months of public comment, the Altamont Planning Board this week closed the hearing it had opened on Dec. 17, 2018, for a proposed cell tower on Agawam Lane and voted to allow the tower to be built.

Two seats on the Altamont Board of Trustees are up for grabs in March. Incumbents Nicholas Fahrenkopf and Michelle Ganance both say they will run.

The Altamont Planning Board this week heard an update and kept open public comment about a proposed cell tower to be built on Agawam Lane.

Enterprise Consulting Services is once again looking to install a cell tower in Altamont. In 2013, the company had the same proposal for the same for the same site, on Agawam Lane.

Mid-Hudson Data Corporation is set to occupy the Albany County Sheriff’s radio tower on Edwards Hill Road.

The decision comes after months of multiple site tests, public hearings, and arguments for and against the 120-foot tower.

A member of the gallery accused the planning board chairwoman of a conflict of interest by expressing a desire for cell service, and threatened a legal battle should the tower be approved.

Westerlo is currently facing a decision of whether or not to construct a 120-foot cell tower in order to improve cell service in the area. But some residents are more concerned about potential health risks and the visual impact.