Fire board votes to abolish full-time chief position, approves continued part-time leadership under Browning Associates LLC
Special meeting reconfirms shift to part-time leadership under Butch Browning's Browning Associates LLC's continued service
WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH — The West Baton Rouge Parish Fire Protection District Number One Board of Commissioners voted Thursday night to formally abolish the full-time fire chief position and approved a $50,000 consulting agreement to continue part-time fire leadership under Browning Associates LLC, a private company.
The August 28 special meeting formalized an arrangement that has been in practice since 2022, when Parish President Riley "Peewee" Berthelot entered into a consulting agreement with the company before the eligible candidate list for the full-time position expired in 2023. Current Parish President Jason Manola recommended changing the contracted role from fire superintendent to part-time fire chief.
Butch Browning, registered agent and officer of Browning Associates LLC, previously served as Louisiana State Fire Marshal, a tenure WBR Independent has covered extensively.
Justification for the Change
Manola told the board that no eligible candidate list currently exists for appointing a full-time fire chief, as the previous list expired in 2023 after 18 months. He emphasized that only part-time consulting agreements have been budgeted since 2022, with no funding allocated for a full-time position during that period.
"Why do we want to continue with a full-time fire chief? That's a question to ask," Manola said during the meeting. "As appointing authority, I don't even have an active list to even be able to appoint someone as a full-time fire chief, even if you guys chose to budget it at this time."
The parish president cited several factors supporting the continued part-time approach, including the district's first consolidated rating, ongoing emergency transport ambulance service, and full staffing levels in fire services.
Questions About Stated Justifications
The parish's explanations for eliminating the full-time fire chief position raise questions when examined alongside current operations and standard practices in modern fire departments.
"New Requirements" Argument: Officials cited the addition of EMS services as making the current fire chief classification "obsolete." However, the parish already employs a part-time EMS coordinator alongside the part-time fire chief arrangement, demonstrating that positions can be updated rather than eliminated. Most modern fire departments combine EMS and fire functions under one full-time chief, rather than splitting responsibilities into multiple part-time roles.
Budget Concerns: Parish President Manola stated that only part-time arrangements have received budget allocation since 2022. However, this decision came after choosing not to select candidates from the existing civil service eligibility list, despite the position having been occupied by a full-time Fire Chief through 2019 and already receiving budget approval for the 2022 fiscal year—which had originally justified conducting a civil service examination for Fire Chief in November 2021.
Records show Manola served as Chief of Administration under former Parish President Riley "Peewee" Berthelot during this period, when the decision was made not to fill the position from the eligibility list and instead contract with Browning and Associates LLC as the Fire Superintendent in June 2022. This creates circular reasoning: the parish declined to budget for a full-time chief after deciding against filling the position, then referenced the absence of budget funding as rationale for leaving it vacant.
Officials assert this restructuring generates annual savings of $150,000–$200,000, though the parish continues financing multiple part-time contracts—including Browning's $50,000 agreement alongside operations and EMS positions. Officials have not provided transparency regarding the total expenditure of this arrangement versus employing a single full-time chief. Additionally, the parish fire department maintains full-time positions for a training and safety chief, fire prevention chief, and director of administration.
"No Eligible List" Claim: While no current eligible list exists, this resulted from allowing the 2021 examination list to expire after 18 months without making any appointments. The parish had qualified candidates available but chose not to utilize the civil service process designed to ensure merit-based hiring.
Fire Department Performance Claims: officials have consistently highlighted enhanced fire ratings as validation of successful management, yet these assessments focus on community infrastructure and insurance considerations rather than administrative competence or professional operations. The Property Insurance Association of Louisiana (PIAL), representing insurance industry interests, conducts these evaluations primarily to establish homeowner insurance premium rates. PIAL's assessment framework emphasizes structural elements including water distribution systems, equipment inventory, emergency response timing, training documentation, and dispatch operations rather than examining professional protocols, comprehensive training standards, safety procedures, or administrative leadership quality.
In contrast, professional accreditation from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) delivers thorough organizational assessment, evaluating leadership capability and compliance with established industry excellence standards. Presently, just two Louisiana fire departments have earned this accreditation: St. Tammany Fire District 1 (serving Slidell) and St. Tammany Fire District 4 (Mandeville Fire/EMS) CFAI International Accreditation – Mandeville Fire / EMS.
The fundamental difference lies in PIAL ratings demonstrating sufficient community fire protection infrastructure that may reduce property losses and insurance costs, while failing to reflect organizational quality, professional advancement, or competent fire service administration.
During Browning's part-time tenure, the parish secured notable fire protection rating enhancements, although these improvements primarily demonstrate infrastructure expenditures and personnel levels rather than individual administrative effectiveness. Previously, separate parish areas maintained ratings ranging from four to six. Initial consolidated assessment yielded a parish-wide class three designation, potentially reducing homeowner insurance costs for residents. Such rating advancement typically results from infrastructure development and adequate staffing regardless of leadership configuration, and does not represent professional fire service accreditation or performance assessment.
These circumstances suggest organizational decisions rather than unavoidable barriers to establishing appropriate fire department leadership frameworks.
Grant Success and Ambulance Service
The part-time leadership has also proven effective in securing funding and expanding services. Under Browning's guidance, the district secured four ambulances and funding for a combined law enforcement and fire station in Erwinville through Capital Outlay.
Officials cite the eight-month-old ambulance service as providing additional manpower for fire calls while ensuring no out-of-pocket expenses for West Baton Rouge Parish residents transported to hospitals, regardless of insurance coverage or deductibles. However, this claimed benefit of additional manpower may be undermined when ambulance personnel are deployed on fire calls—leaving EMS resources unavailable for medical emergencies, which account for a large portion of the department's call volume. Additionally, detailed response times, cost and revenue records have not been made publicly available or independently verified.
The parish's EMS operations also lack professional accreditation from the Commission on Ambulance Service Standards (CAAS), which evaluates clinical protocols, response times, equipment standards, and personnel training focused on patient care quality rather than insurance considerations. In contrast, Acadian Ambulance, which provides secondary EMS coverage in the parish, maintains CAAS accreditation, demonstrating that professional EMS standards are both achievable and available in the region.
Legal Process and Civil Service Requirements
Civil service attorney Henry Olinde explained the legal framework for abolishing the position. The civil service board has authority to remove positions from the classification plan based on requests from the appointing authority, particularly when positions haven't been funded and circumstances have changed significantly.
"The grounds of your request, as I understand it, are the fact that, number one, the position hadn't been funded, a full-time fire chief position. Number two, the class plan that's out there right now is somewhat obsolete because now you have EMS, you have a whole lot of changes," Olinde told the board.
The process requires the civil service board to post notice and hold a public hearing 30 days later before voting on the classification plan change.
Future Flexibility Maintained
Manola emphasized that the decision doesn't permanently eliminate the possibility of reinstating a full-time fire chief position. When circumstances make it financially and operationally feasible, he can bring a formal request to both the fire board and civil service board to re-establish the position.
"At the time it becomes financially and operationally feasible for us to re-establish the full-time fire chief, I will bring a formal request to the fire board and to the civil service board to re-establish this position once after it's been abolished," he said.
Consulting Agreement Details
The board also approved an amended consulting agreement with Browning Associates LLC, changing the title from "fire superintendent" to "part-time fire chief" while maintaining the $50,000 annual compensation that has been in place since 2022.
The consulting agreement structure raises questions about fire department operations, as the parish contracts with Browning Associates LLC rather than H. Butch Browning as an individual. This unusual structure — contracting with a company rather than an individual — raises questions about who holds final legal authority in emergencies: the LLC, Browning personally, or parish officials.
The board's actions formalize an existing arrangement while questions remain about the fire department's leadership structure.
Meeting Process and Public Participation
The special meeting agenda, published in The Advocate on August 25, included only the pledge of allegiance, attendance log, the two resolutions, and adjournment. No public comment period was scheduled, meaning residents had no opportunity to speak before the board voted on either the abolishment of the full-time position or the consulting agreement.
Following the fire board's action, the West Baton Rouge Parish Fire Protection District No. 1 Civil Service Board met September 3, 2025, and approved proceeding with the abolishment request. However, the process requires a 30-day public notice period followed by a public hearing before the Civil Service Board can make a final decision on eliminating the full-time fire chief position from the classification plan.
The civil service meeting notice was posted on bulletin boards the day before the September 3 meeting, meeting the state's minimum 24-hour notice requirement but providing limited time for public awareness. The meeting did not appear on the parish's regular online meeting calendar, further limiting public visibility. A search of the parish website's calendar system for "Civil Service Board" events in September 2025 shows "No events found," despite the meeting having taken place.
The parish website contains no Civil Service Board meeting minutes, agendas, or recordings despite meetings having taken place. According to available records, the Civil Service Board has not posted any meeting documentation for years. Louisiana Revised Statutes 42:20(A) requires all public bodies to "keep written minutes of all of their open meetings." Additionally, 42:20(B)(2) requires public bodies with websites to post meeting minutes online within a reasonable time after meetings and maintain them for at least three months.
The absence of documentation leaves residents unable to verify what decisions were made — or whether meetings actually occurred at all. Based on available public records, this leaves open the possibility that minutes either were never created, or exist but are being withheld.
Louisiana Revised Statutes 42:14(D) requires public bodies to "allow a public comment period at any point in the meeting prior to action on an agenda item upon which a vote is to be taken." The statute applies to all public bodies subject to notice requirements under the Open Meetings Law, including both fire district boards and civil service boards.
In short, both boards were legally required to keep minutes and allow public comment before voting. Only the fire board posted meeting minutes and agenda — neither board allowed public comment.
The sequential meetings demonstrate how major decisions about public safety leadership can move through multiple government bodies with minimal opportunities for public input, despite both meetings providing adequate legal notice timeframes.
Accountability and Transparency Questions
The documentation gaps raise questions about Parish President Jason Manola's campaign commitment to transparency. "I've ran my campaign on being accountable, understanding that the role of the parish president is accountable to the citizens and the taxpayers of West Baton Rouge Parish," Manola said in a post-election interview. That promise stands in contrast to the current documentation gaps and limited opportunities for public input on fire department leadership decisions.
Parish officials were not immediately available for comment on the documentation practices, legal requirements, or the decision to contract with an LLC rather than appoint an individual fire chief.
The West Baton Rouge Parish Fire Protection District Number One Board of Commissioners meets as needed for special sessions and during regular parish council meetings. More information is available through the parish government offices.
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