BATON ROUGE — East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sid Edwards' plan of potentially merging East Baton Rouge EMS and the Baton Rouge Fire Department took a step forward Monday. This came after the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board voted Monday to expand Baton Rouge Fire Chief Michael Kimble's job description.

Edwards says that if they decide to merge the departments, Kimble would oversee EMS.

"I want to do it, I wanted to do it, I had made up my mind, until our employees with EMS asked for a town hall meeting," Edwards said. "I met with those folks. I heard them out, and they asked me at that meeting, 'Is this done yet?' I said it is not done." 

However, East Baton Rouge EMS Paramedics Association President Janice Willard says they feel this move is premature and that many of their questions remain unanswered.

"I feel like it's going really fast," Willard said. "I feel like the reclassification of the fire chief's job position is premature. I feel like there are a lot of things that haven't been answered and a lot of what-ifs that are still out there. The mayor said they were doing this to fix us, even though we are a gold standard service, I think were his words. If we're gold standard, what needs fixing?"

Edwards says they are looking into other municipalities and cities in other states that have merged their EMS and fire departments to get the pros and cons. He also added that there are a lot of misconceptions going around about why they would decide to merge if they did.

"There's some misnomer that it's a money grab, no. Constitutionally, I can't touch their money. That would remain separate. I just thought under one rooftop would be best for the parish efficiency-wise," Edwards said.

Edwards says he needs to do a little more homework on the situation and will do what he believes is in the best interest of the parish.

He was also asked about how towns like Baker or Zachary would be affected, considering that EMS serves East Baton Rouge Parish and BRFD is for Baton Rouge. 

"They wouldn't see any difference. There'd be no difference in it. Basically, Chief Kimble would overlook the whole operation, but EMS would have their chief as well. Their number one in command, so not just a structure change; the service doesn't change, and where the money goes doesn't change. None of that changes," Edwards said.

Chief Kimble called the expansion of the job description a monumental move for the fire department and East Baton Rouge Parish.

"We have multiple divisions of specialized technical people that support the Baton Rouge Fire Department. This just changes the description to add an EMS division to the Baton Rouge Fire Department if we choose to add that division to the department," Kimble said.

Willard said the paramedics simply want to know why a merger would be necessary and that a second town hall hasn't happened.

"We actually had two scheduled, and the Mayor cancelled the second meeting, and so half of the department, half the employees that work here didn't actually even get to participate in any sort of town hall," Willard said.

The Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board Chair, Press Robinson, discussed with WBRZ why the board voted to expand.

"The decision was that we need to bring our job classification plan up to state standards. We're required to do that. The legislature has already said that you can combine EMS and fire departments in the state. Our plan has to show that," Robinson said.

Edwards was also asked about whether Acadian Ambulance, the primary provider for non-emergency ambulance services in East Baton Rouge, could have a spot in this merger.

"Not directly related, but I can imagine that there's a future. They're as well an award-winning, absolutely outstanding organization, so yes, I could see future involvement with them. Depends on how all of this falls out," Edwards said.

Additionally, a question of whether Kimble's salary would change with a new job description.

"No, not at this moment. His salary will not change. He's kind of on the same scale as any employee in the city parish," Edwards said.