Parish council hears from citizens on hospital brawl

Members of the St. Mary Parish Council heard comments Wednesday on the physician contract situation at Franklin Foundation Hospital but without the issue being on their agenda, took no action.
In past three weeks members of the Hospital Service District 1 board who are appointed by the parish council have terminated, reinstated and are now renegotiating the contracts of Drs. Steven McPherson and Donna Tesi.
The council heard from Charenton resident Rodney Burgess who said the hospital “serves nothing but excellent care.”
Both Tesi and McPherson “know every inch of my body from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet,” Burgess said. “If these two doctors go Foundation Hospital is going to suffer.”
A colleague and supporter of the two physicians, Dr. Brent Allain, blamed the board and hospital Chief Executive Officer Claudia Eisenmann for keeping “the whole community in the dark about the mess they have created.”
Allain said hospital physicians are issued credentials and are subject to bylaws established and enforced by the medical staff, not the board and CEO.
He added that by their actions, the hospital is in danger of losing “more than half of the doctors in this community.”
Allain urged the council to replace some members of the board “with forward minded people who have no agenda. If you do nothing then close the door, turn off the emergency lights and remove the signs from Highway 90 that direct you to the nearest hospital. Then watch the Franklin economy crumble.”
He noted that the hospital is one the area’s largest employers with some 120 jobs.
“We don’t want this to happen but we can’t do this alone,” he said. “We need your help. Won’t you help us tonight?”
Councilman Logan Fromenthal said he is not in favor of losing the physicians and added that he does support the hospital.
He admitted that he does not know all the concerns but said, “I will find out. … and exhaust all of our efforts to find solutions to those concerns. Whoever is not willing to be a team player then they don’t need to be there. … If there’s problems with the board, then we’ll find out what they are.”
In other business the council:
—Introduced ordinances raising the council clerk’s salary to $24.83 per hour and amending the current fiscal year budget.
—Introduced an ordinance to create Road District 1. The road district would encompass the entire parish with the exclusion of Morgan City. Voters from the rest of the parish would then be asked to approve a road improvement bond package to be repaid with a 1 mill property tax that would basically be a shift of millage currently dedicated to the library debt, according to Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange. That mileage is now 1¼ mills and would drop to one-quarter mill. LaGrange said Morgan City would be excluded from the road district since it already levies a three-tenths sales tax dedicated to road improvements and also is excluded from the library tax since it operates its own library.
—Passed resolutions on change orders with Gray Construction Corp. on the Morgan City Industrial Road and with Southern Constructors, LLC on the Russo and Marcel boat landings improvement projects.
—Passed a resolution on the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bond attorney Jason Akers of the Foley and Judell law firm said the resolution has to do with the SEC filing process of bond documents.
—Reappointed Chad A. Gianfala and Alton L. Broussard to Consolidated Gravity District 1.