Tilbury councillor Mark Authier wants Chatham-Kent to look at the possibility of creating a notification system to notify residents about emergencies.
Authier brought a successful motion to council on Monday night for the municipality to investigate having a notifying system that can notify certain parts of Chatham-Kent or municipal-wide when there is important information for one community or an all-out emergency.
“A boil water advisory or flooding or fires or anything where they could get out and let people know this os going on right now, or don’t come to this particular area at this moment because we’re having an emergency,” Authier says.
The West Kent rep says he’d like to see alerts sent out by phone or email to reach as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.
Part of the reason why Authier wants an emergency notification system in place is due to a recent boil water advisory in Tilbury. He said many residents weren’t aware of the advisory until it was over.
“Even with social media, people didn’t hear about it until the day it was called off,” Authier says.
Administration is in the early stages of drafting a report to bring back to council with various options and associated costs.