BATON ROUGE — Mayor-President Sid Edwards' plan to merge EMS services with the Baton Rouge Fire Department is moving forward after a brief pause spurred on by a temporary restraining order last week.

The Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board voted Monday morning to expand Baton Rouge Fire Chief Michael Kimble's job to also include overseeing EMS. 

The news of the merger moving forward comes less than a week after a judge directed the city-parish's civil service board to temporarily hold off on the merger while questions about how operations would work under the merged leadership. The judge's decision was in response to a lawsuit filed by members of the East Baton Rouge Emergency Medical Services Paramedics Association. The suit was filed Aug. 19 against the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board.

“Last week I mentioned that I would respect the (judicial) process, and today I was pleased to see the process work,” Mayor-President Edwards said Monday. “I have always said I want what’s best for our parish.”

Fire Chief Kimble previously told WBRZ that the goal was to streamline services, not eliminate jobs, as the parish faces a budget shortfall.

Edwards, who proposed the plan in June, agreed to a 30-day delay in merger talks. That ended Monday, when the board met. Nineteenth Judicial District Chief Judge Don Johnson is set to hold a hearing on the paramedics' request for a preliminary injunction in the case on Wednesday.