Official: Cancel hospital contract

Jefferson Parish Councilman John Young called Friday for the immediate cancellation of West Jefferson Medical Center's questionable insurance agreement with Wally Pontiff Sr. and B&A Insurance Agency.

Young cited a section of the publicly owned hospital's contract with Colonial Supplemental Insurance, for which B&A and Pontiff act as brokers, that states Pontiff agrees not to pay commission to any third party. His comments came five days after The Times-Picayune reported that Pontiff had a secret partnership to split commissions with former Parish President Tim Coulon and Lagniappe Industries, an insurance brokerage co-owned by the parish administration's chief administrative officer, Tim Whitmer. Neither Coulon, Whitmer nor Lagniappe Industries were listed on the resolution that the Parish Council ratified to appoint Pontiff as broker of record for supplemental insurance plans bought by hospital employees.

Young called Pontiff's partnerships a blatant violation of the contract and said he spoke with his appointee to the hospital's board of directors, James Cramond. "I requested that he move to cancel the contract immediately," Young said.

The board is scheduled to convene Monday.

Young's request comes a day after Parish President Aaron Broussard assigned Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson to examine all laws applicable to public employees' relationships with the parish's two hospital districts. Wilkinson is also supposed to determine whether Whitmer broke any laws or policies, Broussard said.

In addition, Broussard said Whitmer requested a ruling from the Louisiana Ethics Board about Lagniappe Industries' business with the Marrero hospital.

Coulon deferred comment to Pontiff and Colonial as the signatories on the contract. Pontiff didn't respond to a message left at his Metairie home. Whitmer said it wasn't prudent to respond until he heard from the Ethics Board.