Steve Bandy /Crowley Post-Signal
Filling three vacancies on the board of commissioners of the Acadia-St. Landry Hospital Service District turned confrontational Tuesday night when the CEO of the hospital accused a pair of police jurors of interfering in the operations of the hospital, contrary, she said, to state law.
“Once a police jury creates a hospital service district, the hospital service district has the authority to operate, manage and control the assets of that district without the interference of the police jury,” Cindy Walters explained. “The jury has the power to create the hospital service district and to require prior approval from us of any taxes or bonds, but it may not interfere with the district or assume management or control of our funds or our facilities.
“The police jury appoints our board of commissioners and they may remove a commissioner for cause with a two-thirds vote. The police jury makes an appointment of a commissioner when the term expires, and that is why we are here tonight.”
She said the law grants the police jury the right “to participate and ask questions but not to interfere with our daily operations.
Walters then outlined, in detail, a series of events at the hospital dating back to a personnel issue in late November, 2020, in which she claimed jurors A.J. “Jay” Credeur and Pat Daigle questioned the actions and ethics of the administration and of some commissioners, going so far, she said, as to threaten to remove commissioners if their demands weren’t met.
In early February, Credeur demanded the hospital “restructure” its organizational charts, according to Walters. “He gave me one week to ‘turn the hospital around,’” she said.
A couple of days later, Walters said she was called by a member of the St. Landry Police Jury who told her that he had been contacted by “two jurors from Acadia Parish” who claimed that the lone commission appointee from St. Landry, Benjamin Bellard, had been “improperly appointed” because he worked for one of the hospital’s vendors.
Walters said she obtained an opinion from the state Board of Ethics clearing Bellard of any alleged violations.
“He (Credeur) told me he didn’t care what the Ethics Board said and that the opinion wasn’t worth the paper it was written on,” Walters said.
Also addressing the jury was Myra Lewis, one of three commissioners who’s term was up for reappointment.
Originally from North Louisiana, Lewis has been employed at the hospital in Crowley for the last 37 years and said that she has “humbly served and shared her knowledge and skill” with the Acadia-St. Landry commission and “would like to remain on the board.”
Ultimately, all three commissioners were reappointed, including Dr. Michael Williams, chairman; Candy Leger, who was completing the unexpired term of Nick Bellard; and Lewis.
Only Lewis’ appointment was challenged when Credeur moved that Jeff Richard replace her. His motion, however, died for lack of a second and Steve Comeaux’s motion, seconded by Walter Andrus, passed.
Following the vote, Credeur explained that the actions he had taken concerning the hospital were in response to questions and complaints from constituents and employees at the hospital he claimed were afraid to come forward for fear of retaliation.
He also noted that this was the first time he could remember the jury denying a board recommendation from a juror representing that board’s district.
He said the recommendation to replace Lewis with Richard was Juror Pat Daigle’s. However, Daigle was not present at the meeting.
“I’ve served this jury for 13 years and we’ve always acknowledged each other’s districts,” he said.
While the three reappointments were approved, it was obvious from documents distributed at the meeting that two other commissioners’ seats also were under scrutiny.
Alleged violations of the commission’s bylaws by Roger Boudreaux and Claire Jackson were highlighted.
It was noted that Boudreaux, a former mayor of Church Point, had missed four consecutive commission meetings from September through December, 2020.
According to the bylaws, “No board member shall miss more than two meetings annually and no more than 2 in succession without valid reason being presented to the board.”
Walters explained that Boudreaux “had perfect attendance up until the last quarter of 2020” when he was forced to miss meetings “for personal reasons.”
It was alleged that Jackson lives in Sunset, outside of the hospital service district. But Walters acknowledged Jackson’s home address as Coolidge Street in the Town of Church Point.
In closing, Credeur expressed hopes that “those employees that complained will come forward and not be fearful.” He said many employees fear going to their supervisors “because they’re scared they’re going to be fired.”
But Williams said the commission had, “a year or so ago,” set forth policy whereby no retaliatory action would be taken against employees who file complaints.
“Tonight I feel like we should be trying to come together as a unit and move forward,” Andrus said in closing the meeting. “There were no losers here tonight.”