Commission OKs Soileau to take fire chief exam

The Ville Platte Civil Service Board made their decision on whether fire chief applicant, and vice chairman of the board, Chris Soileau met the requirements to take the fire chief civil service test or not, but on Friday the board found itself having to assemble once more to re-address the topic from their previous meeting.
Board member Edward Avie felt that Soileau did not meet the qualifications to take the civil service test. Avie,who was the only board member to vote against approving Soileau to take the test, questioned if Soileau had held a supervisory position for the two years that are required to apply for chief.
Following the board’s September 30 meeting, Avie called the State Civil Service Board in reference to the board’s vote to approve Soileau to take the test. The State Examiner for the Louisiana Office of State Examiners for Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Robert Lawrence then spoke with the board’s chairman David Ortego and recommended to Ortego that the board call a special meeting.
The vote at the board’s previous meeting to approve Soileau as an applicant to take the civil service test was a tight one, which resulted in a two-one vote approving Soileau to take the exam.
Within the fire chief qualifications it is required that an applicant have at least two years of experience in a supervisory position. Because Soileau’s time spent supervising the training of firemen under Ville Platte Fire Chief Ted Demourelle was done during Soileau’s time as a volunteer and was not as a full-time paid employee holding a rank, Avie felt that Soileau did not meet that qualification.
At the meeting Soileau stepped up to the podium to defend his belief that his merits did in fact qualify him to take the test. “This has really been weighing heavy on me because of the time I have put in here,” Soileau said. “My experience is 25 years at this department.”
Soileau then dove straight into why the supervising he did during his “16 years as a volunteer” firefighter did qualify him to take the test.
“The rules and regulations do not say that the two years in a supervisory position have to be full time or paid,” Soileau said. Soileau then informed the board that after he spoke with State Examiner Lawrence, who had reviewed the requirements of the board, Lawrence had said that in his opinion the boards requirements “do not say those two years have to be full time.” There had been confusion on wether the two-years of experience supervising had to be performed within two-years or if part-time experience over the course of several years could be added up to total two-years.
Soileau said, “Lawrence said that it would take longer to acquire the two years if you are only working as a part-time volunteer but according to the qualifications you could still acquire the two years experience as a volunteer.”
Because part-time experience has to be considered when qualifying the applicants, Soileau confidently said, “I should be able to squeeze two years of supervising training out of the total 16 years I was a volunteer.”
Demourelle was at the meeting and vouched for Soileau by saying, “When I became chief my duties increased and Chris began helping me with the training and helped me to develop a training program for our department.”
Once Soileau finished addressing the board, Avie reminded Soileau that he has nothing against him personally. “I love this great place,” Avie said. “I just want to make sure everything is done fairly.”
When it came to making a motion to once again approve Soileau to take the civil service test, the motion came from an unlikely board member. Avie said, “I make a motion to allow Chris Soileau to take the civil service test.” The motion was seconded by board member Larry Lachney and then approved by all board members other than Soileau who abstained from voting.