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County Administrator Rejects Board Recommendation, To Name Christal Bell-Rivera Next Library Director
March 2, 2026
Escambia County Administrator Wes Moreno will not accept the recommendation of the West Florida Library Board of Governance (BOG) for the next director of the West Florida Public Libraries.
As we reported last week, the committee recommended Bradley Vinson, current coordinator of media services for the Escambia County School District, as its top choice to run the library system. The BOG’s second choice was Chris Hare, current division manager for WFPL.
According to the county, personnel decisions fall to Administrator Wes Moreno, but he is not bound by the WFPL BOG recommendation. The administrator’s choices for county department head positions such as the library director are approved by the Board of County Commissioners, which can vote them up or down.
On Thursday, Moreno will recommend Christal Bell-Rivera as the next library services director, according to a commission agenda. She is the current interim director, appointed by Moreno after the retirement of Todd Humble in November 2025.
If she is confirmed, Bell-Rivera’s annual salary will be $113,547.20 with a car allowance of $400 per month.
According to an Escambia County Commission agenda for Thursday, March 5:
“Bell-Rivera brings almost 20 years of general management and library operations experience in state and local government. 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; and overall management of daily operations. Since beginning her employment with the County in June 2022, Mrs. Bell-Rivera has played a pivotal role in the improvement of the general operations of the West Florida Public Library (WFPL), which earned her a promotion to Deputy Director in March 2023 and subsequently to her appointment as Interim Director in August 2025. Mrs. Bell-Rivera has also become heavily involved in the library industry and has served as pre-conference facilitator and guest speaker for the Florida Library Association, is member of the of Florida Library Association’s Professional Development Committee and Leadership Subcommittee, and a recipient of the 2024 James Patterson Library Worker Bonus. Mrs. Bell-Rivera’s exceptional management skills and passion for librarianship make her the ideal candidate to continue leading WFPL and is hereby recommended for the role of Library Services Director for Escambia County, Florida.”
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
6 Responses to “County Administrator Rejects Board Recommendation, To Name Christal Bell-Rivera Next Library Director”
Why would anyone think bypassing a person that is doing the job,running the system Budget and all is a good idea ?
She’s done a great job on top of that.
And go to a school librarian with little if any Management responsibility and no Budget responsibility.
Stick with a win in Ms.Rivera.
I have read her resume and talked lto several employees there . I feel she is qualified if not over qualified for that position. Not yo mention her advance classes she’s taken . I think it’s a bad move not to put her in this position. Bradley introduced those books into the library system which in my opinion is negligent!!!!!!!!
She has management and other factors she brings to the table
Leadership and community outreach… she is overqualified as far as I’m concerned
BD Epp
What is being ignored is alarming.
Christal Bell-Rivera is unqualified for the position. Per grants we receive, she does not meet the minimum requirements to head the library system. If she is brought on, then we lose our grants, fullstop.
Where is that money going to come from then? Increased taxes (likely)? Just losing it?
Why is the board of commissioners considering costing our county and tax payers such amounts of money because they want to install a director who is not qualified to do the job?These are questions we need to be asking at the Thursday meeting.
Bradley Vinson would be much better and more qualified – I think it’s really weird that the top two recommendations are being ignored.
“Bradley Vinson, current coordinator of media services for the Escambia County School District”
The school district banned gay porn books and suppressed freedom?
It’s a philosophical difference in people. What I know is Christal Bell-Rivera is a more central choice, and one that I also agree with. Of the three candidates discussed, I know only one personally, which is Bradley Vinson. She’s a very fine person, however my experience from working with her through the book committee with the Pensacola Public Schools, is she’s also extremely partisan towards allowing in CRT bias. Considering how polarizing the subject, we’re much better off in the County to have a more objective approach to our Libraries. This is exactly where this discussion needs to be addressed, as now we must agree that anything leaning towards wokeism is creating a divisive issue where again it doesn’t serve the purpose of being a public service. It doesn’t take a village, where families are concerned. It takes values that reflect the individual over the collective. I’m in full support of Wes Moreno and his judgement on this. Let’s not all get alarmed, where the alarm should be directed in the other direction.