This story has been updated to clarify Ronnie Rivera’s role in Sheriff Chip Simmons’ campaign for sheriff.
The Escambia County Administrator’s pick for the new director of West Florida Public Libraries (WFPL) is leading to accusations of political favoritism after county staff overrode WFPL’s Board of Governance recommendation for the six-figure salary position and opted for a candidate with no experience as a librarian and who is the spouse of a community leader active in Escambia County politics.
Escambia County Administrator Wes Moreno is recommending the Escambia Board of County Commissioners confirm Christal Bell-Rivera as the Library Services Director, with an annual salary of $113,547 and a car allowance of $400 per month, effective March 5, 2026.
“Mrs. Bell-Rivera brings almost 20 years of general management and library operations experience in state and local government,” the county says of Bell-Rivera in the agenda. “She is highly skilled in budget administration; development and implementation of long and short-term plans, policies, and procedures; establishing and maintaining positive working relationships with outside partners, other county departments, and local leaders.”
According to her resumé, Bell-Rivera has never been a librarian and has just three years’ experience working with a library system.
She was a state senior highway safety specialist for most of her career.
The WFPL Board of Governance (BOG), a board created by both the city of Pensacola and Escambia County to oversee the local library system, is pushing back against the administration’s decision because they say Bell-Rivera lacks the education and experience for the job.
Per its bylaws and past role in selecting and recommending leadership, the board conducted a selection process for the new WFPL library director and unanimously recommended the county hire Bradley Vinson, coordinator of media services for the Escambia County School District with an extensive career as a librarian.
County administrators overrode their recommendation, and disregarded the board’s second choice for the position, Chris Hare, who currently serves as Library Public Services Division Manager for WFPL, has a master’s degree of library and information studies, and “brings substantial institutional knowledge.”
“To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that a board’s recommendation has been vetoed by the county administrator for a library director’s position, and they were instead going with the acting director,” said West Florida Public Library Board of Governance Chair K. Blaine Wall.
Wall said as a governance board they have oversight responsibilities and the board’s recommendations have been followed by the county in the past, but “this time there seems to be no interest in following our recommendation or in explaining why the position isn’t being followed.”
Interim library director with no experience as librarian
Bell-Rivera was appointed by county administration as interim director in August 2025, following the retirement of former Library Services Director Todd Humble.
According to her resumé, Bell-Rivera has three years of experience working in the library system, experience she gained after Escambia County hired her to be an aide to the director in 2022, then deputy director in 2023, before she was appointed as interim director seven months ago.
Most of her professional background is working as a senior highway safety specialist for the Florida Division of Motorists Services from 2008 until she went to work for Escambia County in 2022.
She has a bachelor’s degree in legal administration and is currently enrolled in the Master of Library Science program at Florida State University and is expected to graduate in May 2026.
“This decision was based solely on Christal Bell-Rivera’s qualifications and interview performance, in addition to her leadership and proficiency demonstrated while serving as the deputy library services director and interim library services director,” Escambia County Director of Communications and Public Information Kaycee Lagarde said.
Wall said the board spent months selecting a new director, thoroughly vetting candidates and carefully following the BOG’s bylaws before recommending Vinson.
Vinson graduated with a master’s degree in library and information science in 2006 and has worked as a librarian and media specialist for most of her career.
“Ms. Vinson was selected following an in-depth discussion and careful consideration of the four finalists for the position,” Wall wrote to the county of the board’s decision. “The board was impressed by her extensive leadership experience and deep familiarity with library operations at multiple levels.”
Wall said the board did not support Bell-Rivera for the position because she is still working toward her library degree and has not worked as a librarian.
Wall said state statute typically requires a master’s degree and five years of experience in a leadership role as a librarian for the director role.
“She certainly had an important job,” Wall said of her position as interim director. “She was helpful in enacting the director’s vision and oversight and management, but it’s not a librarian’s position. We felt very strongly that if someone is a director of a library system, that they should have broad experience working as a librarian, earning experience in different roles, and that they certainly should have the degree.”
Wall said the criteria are tied to state funding for the library system and although Escambia County received a waiver for the interim director this year, he pointed out a waiver wouldn’t be necessary for the most qualified candidate.
In response to a request for comment about the recommendation, Lagarde said “Bell-Rivera is the only candidate who has managed a library system.”
In Vinson’s role as coordinator of media services for the Escambia County School District, she oversees library programs and services district-wide and manages a combined libraries and textbooks budget of approximately $11 million.
The board pointed out Vinson’s prior experience also includes positions as a school librarian, several roles within West Florida Public Libraries, including cataloging librarian, children’s services coordinator, and circulation clerk.
Despite Vinson’s qualifications, county administrators told the board they thought Bell-Rivera was “hands down the top candidate.”
“We appreciate all the time and thoughtfulness you and your fellow board members put into this process,” Assistant Escambia County Administrator Debbie Bowers said in an email to the board. “While we value your input…we have chosen to go in another direction. Based on the interviews I participated in…I believe that Christal Bell-Rivera is hands down the top candidate. After discussion with Mr. (Wes) Moreno and Mr. (Wesley) Hall, we all agreed that she is the best choice for the Library Director position.”
Questions of political favoritism
Former WFPL Board member Lori NeSmith said the decision to make Bell-Rivera director seemed to be decided from the time she was made interim director in August without the board’s involvement and consultation.
NeSmith was still on the board at the time.
“From that moment on, it just became extremely weird, extremely adversarial,” NeSmith said. “They wouldn’t give us any documentation like job description, salary requirements, and documents we needed for the selection process. They insisted the board members only speak directly to Christal only. She gave us an email that said we could not talk to any other staff members, and we are the governing board for the library system.”
NeSmith said she gathered the documentation the board needed to follow the proper selection process. She said she was unexpectedly removed from the board in November, three months ahead of when she was originally scheduled to roll off in February.
NeSmith said the county’s handling of the selection process is much different now than how it was handled in the past, including in 2015 when she said the BOG worked with the county to hire Humble and selected him over the then-interim director who had also applied.
“It’s a volunteer board that has literally put in hours and hours and hours of time, above and beyond their normal meetings to support the library,” NeSmith said. “They have really put forth due diligence in a structure to find a new library director. I believe that they chose a great candidate for the position. From the get-go, it was very clear to everyone on this board that the county already had their candidate chosen.”
Bell-Rivera is married to Ronnie Rivera, former director of development for Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons’ campaign. After Simmons was elected sheriff in 2020, Rivera was appointed to Community Relations Neighborhood Specialist in 2021. He has also served as a county-appointed member of the Escambia County Tourist Development Council for nearly a decade.
Board members say they have fielded questions from the public and other community leaders about Bell-Rivera’s selection as library director and the appearance of possible cronyism.
“I don’t have any evidence that that’s the case,” Wall said. “I do know that at some of our board meetings, we have heard from members of the public, and I have been contacted by employees and by members of the public who have expressed that concern themselves. It seems that all along the county administration had decided that they wanted to go with the acting director.”
WFPL Board members are appointed by city and county leaders. City Council member Jennifer Braiher appointed Wall to the WFPL BOG.
She did not comment on the concerns about the possiblity or appearance of political favortism but had this to say about the county’s decision:
“I think that it’s important to note that this is not an advisory board,” Braiher said. “They moved it from advisory to a governance board. By state rules, that looks to me like it means a fair amount. As elected officials who ask people to spend all this time to serve, when we disregard them, I think that we undermine ourselves.”
The county declined to comment further on the hiring decision until commissioners had an opportunity to vote on the matter.
Escambia’s Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to vote on the recommendation to make Bell-Rivera director of library services at its next board meeting March 5, 2026, at 5:30 p.m., 221 Palafox Place.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia pick for library director not a librarian, raises questions
Reporting by Mollye Barrows, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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