The conversation of potentially phasing out school crossing guards will return to Tecumseh council on Monday.
Council met on April 23 to discuss phasing out the program, but councillor Alicia Higgison asked to defer the report as she wanted to allow more time for public consultation.
There are four policies that have passed in the Town to address community safety zones, controlled pedestrian crossing, school safety zones, and speed management and traffic calming.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Higgison says she's heard from many in the community that they don't want crossing guards to disappear.
Based off the April 23 report, it would cost taxpayers between $80,000 to $127,000 to continue the program in 2024.
Higgison says Tecumseh is seeing similar issues that Chatham-Kent was experiencing when council voted to phase out crossing guards in 2016.
"I know Chatham's main concern was being able to fill those spots. They had quite a few more than the Town of Tecumseh does, and they really had trouble filling them. We're seeing some of the same trends in Tecumseh, and so even the expectation that we'll be able to maintain these going forward is a bit of a question mark at this point."
She says as a mom she definitely understands the concerns from residents.
"They're certainly concerned about safety, they're definitely concerned about multiple levels of safety there. I'm grateful to hear that from them because it is able to either give me a perspective that I was missing, or bring that perspective to council so that they're able to hear that as well."
She adds that there are things that could be done if the crossing guards are phased out.
"Signage, and new road painting, and having an enforcement of a lower speed limit for 24 hours a day instead of just a portion of that time. So there's a few different things that you'll see, not every intersection will be treated the same. Some of them will have pedestrian crossovers with the little button, some of them will not, and so really it's a case-by-case basis."
There are currently seven intersections within the Town where crossing guards are located.
Council will meet on Monday at 7 p.m., with the phase out of crossing guards on the agenda.
-with files from AM800's The Morning Drive & CTV News Windsor