Pie chart depicting recent vote of EBRP Paramedics and their responses of whether they support EBRP Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ proposal to merge (though EMS folk consider it an outright “takeover”) EBRP EMS with (by) BR Fire.
The same recent poll asking respondents their planned course of action if Mayor-President Edwards proposed merger (“takeover”) becomes reality.
EBRP Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ “Thrive Plan” yesterday was narrowly rejected by voters. Complete but unofficial results are available by clicking here (click on “parish,” then choose EBRP from the drop-down menu). Let us summarize the vote below:
Proposition 1 (Library renewal & $50M one-time transfer): Yes, 25,970, or 47.2%; No, 29,046, or 52.8%.
Proposition 2 (Mosquito Abatement renewal & $6M one-time transfer): Yes, 26,349, or 47.9%; No, 28,628, or 52.1%.
Proposition 3 (Council on Aging renewal & authorize 0.25 Mills to be redirected to the General Fund): Yes, 25,886, or 48.9%; No, 28,146, or 51.1%.
We could spend time dissecting the Thrive vote (and likely will on a future feature), but we’re moving forward with our eight (8th) feature focusing on EBRP EMS. Here is the third appearance of EBRP EMS Paramedic Association President Janice Willard and Vice President Allison Sharp and their admonitions to Edwards on his controversial proposal to merge (they say “takeover”) EMS with (by) the BR Fire Department:
11/4/25: Willard and Sharp continue to provide their sentiments on Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ proposed merger (“takeover”) of EMS with (by) the BR Fire Department.
While Willard did the vast majority of the talking in the above video, in our opinion, it was Sharp who made the most astounding observation. Specifically, Sharp referenced this feature of the Fort Worth Fire Department’s July 1, 2025 merger with the Fort Worth EMS.
As outlined in the article, Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Davis resigned soon before allegedly facing a “no confidence vote” by the Firefighter Union in Fort Worth.
According to Willard and Sharp, Baton Rouge’s top brass governmental officials have touted the Fort Worth model as the one Baton Rouge should attempt to emulate and replicate.
Further, they assert that the resignation of the Fort Worth Fire Chief so soon after the two entities merged should serve notice upon those Baton Rouge leaders who are pushing this merger (takeover) so hard.
As supported by surveys outlined as the lead photos of this feature, Willard and Sharp assert that, notwithstanding Edwards’ claims that “three out every four people I talk to support this measure,” his claims are in direct contradiction to the clearly-expressed desires of the “vast majority” of EMS workers, whom they assert via their surveys actually overwhelmingly oppose the planned combination.
Also, on the video above, both Willard and Sharp reference Edwards appearing on a podcast and allegedly (we use that word only because we did not listen to the podcast), stating, “I could do this tomorrow if I wanted to do that.”
While we did not listen to Edwards’ brash statement, what we did listen to is a one-hour feature of the attorney representing EMS in its litigation against the City of Baton Rouge, Robert Aguiluz, and here’s pretty close to verbatim what his response to Edwards’ brash statement was:
Technically, Mayor-President Edwards is correct. We achieved a Temporary Restraining Order blocking him from proceeding forward which expired by operation of law after fourteen (14) days. We did not pursue a Preliminary Injunction only because all parties agreed to conduct discovery and not advance his initiative forward until the trial on March 25, 2026. If he were to try to implement his plan despite all parties agreeing to just hang tight, we would immediately file for a Preliminary Injunction blocking his efforts, and I don’t think the judge overseeing the case (19th JDC Judge Ron Johnson) would be too pleased with Edwards’ violation of the agreement we all made at a prior court hearing.
Aguiluz also went on to say in that same audio podcast that he does not believe the matter will ever go to trial because he plans to file a Motion for Summary Judgment for the Declaratory Order to be issued by the Court which he fully expects will be granted. Aguiluz asserts that Edwards’ plan is, “illegal on its face because it blatantly violates the Parish Plan of Government.” Aguiluz further states that, to resolve the problem of Edwards’ alleged illegality associated with his plan, there is no question that his proposal would have to go before a vote of the people.
It’s worth noting that Edwards attempted to implement the core components of his Thrive initiative (most specifically a raiding of the dedicated millage going toward libraries in EBRP) without a vote of the people, but he got informed that was not possible, hence yesterday’s vote of the people.
If a hearing for a Rule to Show Cause is served upon the City after any such Motion for Summary Judgment is filed by Aguiluz, we’ll certainly be there to observe the court hearing and report upon it.
Now, as we wrap of this feature, we do want to point out several points that Baton Rouge Firefighter Union President Jake Morgan conveyed to us upon watching Willard and Sharp’s Second Installment in this series. Here are the verbatim sentiments which Morgan provided to us in writing:
Robert, a few points of clarity you can address on your next video please.
#1) I explained this to Allison Sharp, but I guess she doesn’t believe me. I did not refer to EMS as being poor stewards of tax dollars in my video (see the video at about the 18:10 mark). I referred to dedicated tax funds for organizations with multi-million / hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank. Library BREC, etc.) those organizations are considered to be “Gold Standard” in our parish and are very well funded. Even after being the fantastic services that they are, they still have tremendous bank accounts. I believe they are overtaxing the public. EMS is not overtaxing the public, and they were not the point of my comment.
#2) Janice referred to me as “not being on the floor” (meaning I am not a fireman riding a fire truck). That is a lie. I am a Fire Equipment operator and work of C-Shift (meaning I drive the fire truck and work 24hr shifts at fire stations).
#3) Almost every concern they had has been addressed (in writing). Janice was in the meetings with us and was provided documentation on these concerns. Everybody in these meetings had ample time to speak and questions were answered at length. Janice chose to be very silent in our meetings.
#4) if EMS employees do not want the merge to happen, fine. We hope everything works out for them.
Finally, just like we presented Morgan’s sentiments above, we feel we have an obligation to provide EMS Reform’s Walter Beach’s commentary sent to us in writing as well regarding the videos of both Morgan and the duo of Willard and Sharp.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Beach praised the presentations of Willard and Sharp, but he referenced Morgan’s video as “propaganda.”
Finally, let us present our comprehensive table of all of the EMS features which we have published to date and provide the assurance that we will remain on top of this subject as it progresses through the court system as well as any developments thereafter on the chance that Aguiluz may be wrong in his assessment that Edwards’ plan is, “illegal on its face.”:
Robert, thank you for being an essential platform that allows us to address issues. Far too often, the go-to is retaliation.
A very special thank you to those who speak out in the face of fear of retaliation.