Harlan Kirgan
Action on three appointments to Eunice’s St. Landry Hospital District 1 Board were delayed for a third time.
The latest delay came at the St. Landry Parish Council’s Administrative-Finance Committee on Wednesday.
Two applicants were reported for three seats. They were Brenda Hardy and Newton “Chip” Thibodeaux, who serves as chairman of the Board.
Their terms are expiring along that of Robert Quirk Jr.
Also on the Board are Lloyd Antoine, Michelle DeRouen and Sandifer Burson.
Instead of sending the names of Hardy and Thibodeaux to the full Parish Council meeting on Jan. 17, the committee asked its legal counsel, Chad Pitre, to meet with the hospital district’s legal counsel.
Pitre said the Council had asked the hospital district to provide legal organization documents, but it has not done so.
The appointment stall came after questions were again raised about the district.
Thibodeaux was summoned to the Council’s Dec. 20 meeting to explain the district’s workings.
Thibodeaux said among the distirct’s activities is it provides scholarships.
On Wednesday, responding to a question about the scholarship, Pitre said in most cases the state constitution prohibits using funds for loans, grants and donations.
“You can’t give taxpayer money away,” he said.
In December Thibodeaux said the board is a public-private entity.
Councilman Harold Taylor said, “I think we need to get a little more information on this because I don’t think it is the same. I think there is a private hospital and they have a member on that board as a community representative.”
Taylor suggested the Council invite Thibodeaux back to its next meeting.
“We need to get a little clarity,” Taylor said.
Don Leger, an Opelousas resident, said, “I’m concerned that this board decided that they could not accomplish their mission, which they perceived as tearing the old hospital down.”
Noting the scholarships and health fairs, Leger said, “They are doing good things, but that is not what the hospital board was created for.”
Leger said the hospital district is in Eunice and questioned why the parish is involved.
“You all have way more than you all can handle without them coming in and telling you they can’t accomplish their mission. And, they’ve got a couple of hundred thousand. Would you all have ever have known that there was a couple of thousand with a board that can’t accomplish their mission?”
At the December meeting, Thibodeaux said the district’s assets include $90,000 in cash and a $200,000 certificate of deposit.
The district’s assets also include the vacant Moosa Hospital.
Estimates to demolish the old hospital reach toward $1 million because of asbestos issues, Thibodeaux said at the December meeting.
Thibodeaux also said he was appointed to the Board in 1994. Moosa Hospital was public and losing money. The district made an agreement for a private-owned hospital and its operations now include the hospitals at Eunice and Ville Platte, he said.
The for-profit hospitals employ 531 people with an annual payroll of $28 million. The hospitals paid $1.3 million in taxes in 2016 and provide thousands of dollars in donations to local schools, a health-related scholarship and other civic organizations, he said in a statement to the Council.
The hospital district’s board members serve until the Parish Council makes appointments.