The St. Francisville Board of Aldermen agreed Oct. 8 to pay $5,000 toward an annual contract for emergency air ambulance service in West Feliciana Parish.
West Feliciana Parish Hospital contracts with Air Evac Lifestream to provide helicopter ambulance service for critically ill or injured patients who need to be transported for medical care in Baton Rouge or other cities.
In the past, the town made a contribution to the hospital for the service but stopped at some point, hospital administrator Lee Chastant said.
The contract costs $55,363 per year, and the Sheriff’s Office puts up $10,000, the parish fire district contributes $8,000 and the parish government also contributes $5,000, Chastant said in a memo to Mayor Robert Leake. The hospital covers the remainder of the cost.
Chastant told the board that 12 to 15 people per year are transported from the parish by the helicopter service.
On another matter, the board agreed to continue streaming its meetings via Facebook Live until its meeting room is upgraded to include a more formal seating arrangement with microphones placed to improve the sound quality of the video recordings.
Alderman Andy D’Aquilla, in his bid to replace Leake as mayor, has pushed to have the meetings streamed over the internet, and Leake had the town clerk use an iPhone to stream the Sept. 24 meeting.
The mayor said this year’s budget includes $75,000 for improvements to the meeting room, and the work could include sound and video equipment for streaming the sessions over the internet.
Leake also said trick-or-treat hours will be from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Halloween, Oct. 31.