Tempers flared Thursday night when the Acadia Parish Police Jury’s new Ambulance Committee met for the first time and, with officials from three different ambulance services present, that might be expected.
But the flare-up wasn’t among the ambulance officials. It was between two members of the newly appointed committee.
Robert Guidry and Richard Faul were at odds over the full jury’s decision in February to deny a permit for Med Express to operate in the parish. Guidry, who voted in favor of the permit, questioned the legitimacy of the jury’s vote on the application while Faul, who voted against the permit, contended that the vote had been taken and the matter was closed.
The lone item on the agenda for the meeting, called by Chairman Peter Joseph, who abstained at that February vote, was to discuss the parish ambulance ordinance and permitting system. Guidry, however, brought up the February vote at the outset, asking Secretary-Treasurer A.J. “Fatty” Broussard, “Did Med Express meet all of the criteria of our ordinance?”
Broussard said they did.
Guidry then referred to Section III, which mandates that permit applications “shall be made to the secretary” of the jury, who will determine whether or not all criteria is met.
In Section IV, the ordinance stipulates that the police jury “shall give weight and due regard” to the criteria.
According to Guidry’s interpretation, “Nowhere in the ordinance does it specify that the police jury is to vote on the application. The permit is to be determined by the secretary.”
Glen Howie, parish counsel, appeared to disagree, explaining that he interprets “shall give weight” to mean that the secretary would bring the permit application to the jury for final approval.
But Guidry was not to be dissuaded.
“I don’t see how we can deny the permit if they meet all the criteria,” he said. “We have no right to deny them a permit.”
But Howie reminded, “You did deny the permit, by a vote of 4-3-1 (four in favor of denying, three opposed, one abstention). And then you voted to give Acadian Ambulance time to ‘fix their stuff.’”
He referred to the subsequent 6-2 vote to allow Acadian Ambulance to develop a plan to enhance its services in the parish. That plan is to be presented to the jury at its April 9 meeting.
In an attempt to bring the meeting back to its intended purpose – to discuss the parish ambulance ordinance – Howie said he feels the ordinance under which the parish currently regulates ambulance services should be rewritten.
He said he had compared the Acadia ordinance with similar ordinance from other parishes and found the one in Jeff Davis Parish covered many of the issues Acadia juror and citizens were concerned about, including response time.
“This police jury can regulate anything you want to regulate,” he said. “We have a defective ordinance in my estimation.
“I think you need to repeal and rescind your current ordinance and, at the same time, adopt a new one. Judging from the emotion and heated debate we’ve heard about response times indicates that that is a matter of real concern to the people of the parish.”
He suggested that the committee ask the public – including representatives from the ambulance services present – for input.
From there, the meeting seemed to deteriorate into a comparison of services offered by Acadian Ambulance, who has been the sole provider for the parish for 15 years, and Med Express, the company denied a permit in February.
That back and forth of officials from the two companies – Tyler Martin, director of operations for Med Express, and Michael Burney, regional vice president of Acadian Ambulance – continued for nearly an hour before Faul called a point of order.
“We’re off track here,” he said. “We’re here to talk about an ordinance for the parish, not to compare the two companies.”
But Guidry reiterated his original criticism.
“I want to emphasize that we denied Med Express a permit even though they met all of our criteria,” he said.
“That’s how we voted. It’s over,” commented Faul.
But Guidry persisted, asking what the vote was based upon if not the criteria.
“We want a sole provider,” answered Faul. “At least, my people (constituents) do.”
“Well mine don’t and I won’t stop representing my district,” Guidry said.
“Neither will I,” answered Faul.
On Howie’s recommendation, Joseph suggested that the committee plan a “work meeting” to review the parish ordinance and compare it with similar documents from other parishes.
Howie also invited input from counsel for the ambulance companies present.
“This is going to be a lot of work,” he said.
