State Examiner Undercuts Attorney’s Claim on Fire Chief Abolishment

John Summers December 29, 2025 0 Comments

PORT ALLEN — The West Baton Rouge Parish Fire Protection District No. 1 Civil Service Board voted 2-1 to abolish the fire chief classification on December 15, 2025, formally eliminating the position from the parish’s civil service system after a public hearing that drew zero public comments.

The silence was predictable: the notice for the legally required hearing was posted only on a bulletin board inside the parish council building — not on the parish website, not on social media, not on the online meeting calendar. A resident would have to physically enter the government building to discover that a public hearing was being held on abolishing the fire chief position.

The meeting was held in the same council chambers where Parish Council meetings are recorded and made available online. The Civil Service Board received none of that visibility.

What the Board Did

Chairman LeBlanc presided over the meeting with Vice Chair Daigle, Secretary Deanna Fourroux, and board member Little present. Little, the fire employee representative on the board, cast the sole vote against abolishing the fire chief position.

The board took three significant actions:

Abolished the Fire Chief Classification: The board voted to remove the fire chief position from the classification plan entirely. Parish President Jason Manola had previously sent a letter supporting the abolishment when the amendments were first posted. The state Office of State Examiner did not object, treating it as a policy decision for the board.

Adopted “Anti-Percolation” Rules: New requirements for promotion were adopted to prevent what the attorney called the “percolation problem” — where someone gets demoted or fails their working test period and immediately comes back up:

Fire Captain: 5 years total service plus 2 years continuous uninterrupted service as firefighter/operator immediately preceding application closing
Deputy Fire Chief: 2 years continuous uninterrupted service as fire captain immediately preceding application closing

Tabled the “Forever Bar”: The state examiner objected to a proposed rule that would permanently bar someone after 3 failed working tests (captain) or 2 (deputy chief). Her concerns: it creates a “forever bar” and opens the door for favoritism — a chief who doesn’t like someone could fail their working test repeatedly. The board tabled this provision.

The State Examiner’s Actual Position

During the meeting, attorney Henry Olinde stated that he spoke with State Examiner Adrienne Bordelon directly and characterized her position as leaving the abolishment “off the table” — implying approval or neutrality on the decision.

Bordelon, asked by WBR Independent to clarify OSE’s position, responded within the hour. She said she recalled speaking with Olinde “about another matter before the civil service board for the December 15th meeting.”

Regarding the fire chief abolishment specifically, Bordelon stated: “I have no recollection of discussing the abolishment of the fire chief class.”

The Office of State Examiner advises on civil service requirements and procedures. Bordelon explained that OSE receives public hearing notices and may comment if warranted, but noted she was “unaware of any specific communications with any member of the civil service board” regarding the fire chief classification.

What the examiner’s office has consistently told the parish is that if a classified position exists and has an eligibility list, the parish must hire from that list within required timeframes. The parish chose instead to let the eligibility list expire and then abolish the position entirely.

A Pattern of Transparency Issues

The parish government has a documented history of transparency issues.

In September 2025, WBR Independent filed Open Meetings Law complaints with the Louisiana Attorney General’s office regarding both the August 28 Fire Board meeting and September 3 Civil Service Board meeting — meetings where officials moved to abolish the fire chief position without allowing public comment before voting.

Assistant Attorney General Jared Matte closed the complaints in October 2025, noting the corrective action “cured the defect.” The Fire Board held a revote with a proper public comment period, which then triggered the required 30-day notice before the Civil Service Board could revote.

The Parish Council serves as the Fire Board and appoints the Civil Service Board — the same officials control both steps of the process.

Now, just a few months after the AG gave them the opportunity to cure, the same Civil Service Board held the final public hearing on the most consequential fire department decision in years — and advertised it only on a bulletin board inside the government building.

The result was predictable: zero public comments on a decision that affects every resident who might need to call 911.

The WBR Home Rule Charter requires the parish to give “interested persons” an “opportunity to be heard” on matters of parish government — yet the hearing notice was posted only inside the building.

WBR Independent has previously reported that Civil Service Board meetings do not appear on the parish’s regular online meeting calendar. A September 2025 search of the parish website for “Civil Service Board” events returned “No events found” despite meetings having occurred. The parish website contains no Civil Service Board meeting minutes, agendas, or recordings.

Louisiana R.S. 42:20(B)(2) requires public bodies with websites to post meeting minutes online within a reasonable time and maintain them for at least three months. The parish clearly has the capability — other meetings are recorded and posted to the parish calendar. Civil Service Board meetings receive none of this visibility.

The Bigger Picture

While the board eliminates the top position from civil service, it simultaneously makes advancement harder for current firefighters. The new “anti-percolation” rules add time-in-grade requirements that could exclude current employees from promotion opportunities.

The result: the parish will have no civil service fire chief, contracted part-time leadership through Browning Associates LLC will continue indefinitely outside civil service oversight, and the firefighters who remain in the classified system face new barriers to advancement.

What Happens Now

The fire chief position no longer exists in West Baton Rouge Parish’s civil service classification plan. The department will continue operating under a contract with Browning Associates LLC, which provides part-time fire chief services.

Parish President Jason Manola, asked for comment after the December 15 meeting, referred to a previous statement and declined to elaborate. In August, Manola told The Advocate he would consider reestablishing the fire chief position “at the time when it becomes financially and operationally feasible.” He also dismissed critics of the arrangement, saying he would not “let the actions of a few disrupt the progress of what we’ve made here in West Baton Rouge Parish.”

The West Baton Rouge Parish Fire Department operates under a contract with Browning Associates LLC, which provides part-time fire chief services. WBR Independent has previously reported on civil service compliance questions, department governance issues, and fire response times.

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