Court approves Acadian ambulance contract and tables volunteer fire department contracts amid ESD dispute

Liberty County Commissioners on Dec. 16 approved a contract with Acadian Ambulance to provide countywide ambulance services; the contract’s effective date in court documents is April 1, 2026. Acadian representatives described operational readiness and pledged transparency on response time reporting; the court asked about ongoing litigation in Louisiana and how Acadian would address response‑time concerns.

Eric Strickland, Acadian’s corporate director of integrations, and Carlos Watts, Acadian’s local operations manager, said the company’s operational team has been meeting with local stakeholders and that contractual provisions include reporting and performance transparency. Commissioners voted to approve the executed contract after county legal staff said the agreement had been reviewed.

On firefighting services, staff presented draft annual contracts with local volunteer fire departments to provide firefighting services through Sept. 2026. Several ESD representatives and commissioners disagreed over whether the court should contract directly with ESD boards (which own equipment and receive tax revenue) or with volunteer departments. ESD chiefs argued contracting with ESDs provides clearer fiscal controls and accountability; county staff said both contract forms have been used historically. Because commissioners wanted input from all ESDs and consistent wording, they tabled the volunteer fire department items until the first meeting in January and requested revised contract language offering both ESD and VFD options.

Commissioners asked staff to distribute drafts to ESD boards and fire chiefs and to convene a workshop in January to reach consensus before the next round of payments in June.