Council may fill IMC board vacancy

Published 6:15 am Tuesday, January 22, 2019

The Iberia Parish Council will meet Wednesday night and may finally decide who the next member of the Iberia Medical Center Board of Commissioners will be.

The council has been deliberating for months over the process of appointing members to the board after two physicians said they were not being considered for a vacancy on the board. Those discussions led to research which showed the hospital’s Medical Staff pick for the position, Dr. Larry Nelson, was termed out and no longer eligible to serve.

There are two members of the board appointed from the Medical Staff. Nelson had served for 15 years in one of those seats.

After the council required the vacancy to be advertised and posted the other two candidates, Dr. Jose Mata and Dr. David Benson, finally had their resumés forwarded to the council, with Mata noted as the Medical Staff’s recommended candidate. The council also will be adding an ordinance to its agenda for Feb. 4 to discuss changing the requirements for advertising and appointing members to the IMC board.

IMC CEO Parker Templeton sent out an email to the IMC board explaining the process so far in filling Nelson’s seat and welcoming Mata to the board. However, the council will not vote on the Medical Staff’s recommendation of Mata until Wednesday evening.

The council also will vote to appoint a new member to the Iberia Parish Library Board. Kitty Courts and Virginia W. Lewis have applied for consideration.

The council also will accept two resignations of members of other parish governing boards. Wayne Bell has resigned as a member of the Twin Parish Port Commission representing Iberia Parish, and Karl Vincent has tendered his resignation as a member of the Iberia Parish Airport Authority.

The council is also expected to vote on a resolution to accept the bid and award a contract to  Minvielle Lumber Company for renovations to the Dutch Gosnell Manufacturing building for use as the Iberia Parish Public Works Facility. That vote had been tabled at the council’s Jan. 9 meeting.

In another matter, the council will discuss spending up to $10,000 to hire a lawyer to defend the parish’s interest in a lawsuit being brought against Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal, Iberia Parish Jail Warden Paul Scott and the Iberia Parish Government. Attorneys for former inmate Ulysses Spencer claim that the parish did not adequately fund the jail, which caused trauma to a healing leg injury when he was incarcerated.

The Iberia Parish Council will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the council meeting room on the fourth floor of the Iberia Parish Courthouse, 300 Iberia St.