By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- The Potsdam Village Board of Trustees Monday approved a resolution supporting the selection of Fort Drum near Watertown as the site of a proposed missile defense system planed for somewhere in the northern U.S.

Also at its Monday meeting, the board authorized the chief of police to canvass for officers for two unfilled positions.

The missile base resolution that the trustees and mayor approved on a 4-0 vote said that the East Coast Interceptor Missile Defense Base will involve “as many as 650 new jobs and have an estimated $27 million per year economic impact within the region.”

Two other possible sites are still under consideration by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Camp Ravenna Joint Training Center in Ohio and Fort Custer Training Center in Michigan.

Other sites that have been considered but eliminated from the running are Camp Ethan Allen in Vermont and Naval Air Station Portsmouth SERE Training Area in Maine. One reason cited for not putting the missiles in Maine was “extensive costs associated with developing infrastructure in a remote area,” according to a Jan. 15 press release from the MDA.

Potsdam’s resolution of support will be sent to the MDA, Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand, Rep. Stefanik, and the Fort Drum Regional Liaison Organization.

One of the two police positions that now may be filled through action at Monday’s meeting has been open since September 2014 and the other has been open since this spring, according to village Administrator Everett Basford.