Essex administration will be looking into the possibility of creating a 'vulnerable persons list' to check in on those in severe weather events.
During Monday's meeting, councillor Kim Verbeek presented her notice of motion asking for administration to look into what this list would look like, and who would be the ones to check in on the vulnerable population.
Verbeek says in the light of severe weather events the community went through in 2023 - including severe rain events and power outages - it's a way to help those who don't have access to the internet, or who may live far away from family.
Other communities throughout the province do have similar programs that is run by a wide range of individuals including their municipality, police, doctors, nurse practitioners, and community members.
Verbeek says she hopes this gives family members, and the vulnerable population some peace of mind.
"We don't want any of our residents to fall between the cracks. So we learned last year the hard way when we had these three major events. We know now that we do have vulnerable individuals that are living alone in the community. And there is a piece of them that are not even linked through electronics and cellphones, and so the idea of this is at that demographic."
Councillor Katie McGuire-Blaise, says she's heard of other areas having similar committees.
"The ones that I heard about are made up of some town staff, OPP, councillors, nurse practitioners, and community members, and they kind of get together about four times a year, in the ones that I've heard about, they get together four times a year and they have this list, and they go through it and delegate."
Mayor Sherry Bondy says this could go larger than the Town.
"Could you imagine if we had one at the County that said Essex, Amherstburg, Kingsville, Leamington, so this might be something that we want to push up and not just get Essex, but get Essex County."
The report from administration will come back at a later date.