A Chatham-Kent councillor is hoping to introduce a better way of notifying residents about potential emergency situations.
Ward 1 Councillor Mark Authier will bring forward a motion at the February 10 meeting asking staff to look at possible options for a municipal wide alert system.
Authier said the idea stems from the boil water advisory that was in effect for the Tilbury area from January 8 until January 11. During this time, residents were advised to avoid drinking tap water because of elevated bacteria levels. However, according to Authier, he received calls from citizens who didn't even know there was an advisory in place.
"I got a call Saturday morning from people who just found out the boil water advisory was on and it actually ended that day. So they had been using water," he explained. "Luckily, it was all good. But I had many people that didn't find out until well after."
Currently, alerts commonly go out online, through social media and through local media outlets. Authier said the current system risks not all residents being informed of what's going on and he wants to see an improved model put in place.
"I'd like to be able to have some kind of way, basically a phone call out to people wherever the area is where there's some kind of problem," he said. "Whether it be flooding, some kind of emergency, a fire... to let people know something's going on instead of social media because many of the seniors in this particular area might not have social media or the internet."
In his motion, he recommended that Chatham-Kent look at the Town of Tecumseh's current alert system, stating that residents in the town get a phone call that notifies them of any urgent situations.
"People have to sign up for it, that way they give the authority that they can be contacted. Something like that, they just send out a message over the phone lines," he said.
Authier's motion will only be asking for a staff report of recommendations and options for now. If a workable solution comes back to council, he said he then plans to put forward a motion to implement the system.
"I just want everybody to be able to be notified and notified right away," he said.
