Ordinance committee forwards changes to ambulance oversight, adds open‑meetings requirement

The Livingston Parish Ordinance Committee voted Feb. 23 to forward proposed amendments to the county’s ambulance oversight ordinance to the full parish council, adding a council appointment to the Quality Assurance Panel and inserting a requirement that the panel hold meetings in compliance with Louisiana’s open‑meetings law.

Councilman Ricky Goff, sponsor of the proposed changes, told the committee he wants the ordinance updated to clarify leadership roles, enlarge the panel from eight to nine members and replace a coroner’s automatic appointment with a council member or designee. "So that person is on this board," Goff said, describing the proposed vice‑chair as a fire‑chief appointee and the chair as the parish Office of Emergency Preparedness director. Goff also said the ordinance should accept state inspection documentation but retain authority for the panel to perform spot physical inspections when warranted.

The change grew out of concerns about consistency between the parish’s ordinance and its contract with the ambulance provider. Chris Anderson, the parish Homeland Security director, told the committee he had not been consulted on the draft and urged preserving the coroner’s input for mass‑casualty planning: "Doctor Coe and Jim Brown has successfully done that with us, and that is a vital piece of information that correlates to the ambulance," Anderson said. Anderson recommended that language in the existing contract that allows spot inspections and requires operational oversight be incorporated or reconciled with the ordinance.

An ambulance provider representative, Dwayne Mesch, said the provider already submits quarterly response‑time reports to the QAP chairman and delivers inspection documentation and insurance records when the provider seeks its operational permit. He said the contract grant of exclusive transport rights was written to ensure a single accountable provider and to sustain the service financially, but also acknowledged future cooperative arrangements could be negotiated: "So that's why the contract was written the way it was, was for exclusive rights to do that. And in return, we guarantee those response times," Mesch said.

Fire Chief Joe Krasrowski, who sits on the QAP, described heavy call volumes and the operational limits that drive coordination between fire districts and the ambulance provider: "These guys answer over 15,000 emergency calls a year," Krasrowski said, urging that ordinance language not conflict with contract terms.

Committee members agreed to add an amendment requiring the Quality Assurance Panel to hold all meetings in compliance with Louisiana’s open‑meetings law; Mister Parker offered the substitute motion and the committee approved it by voice vote. The motion passed unanimously and the Chair scheduled the full parish‑council consideration for March 12, 2026.

The committee did not adopt final ordinance text immediately; members directed staff and stakeholders to reconcile contract provisions and ordinance language and to confirm definitions (for example, the local code section that defines "ambulance") before the item appears on the council agenda.