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County Commission Affirms Administrator’s Decision To Hire Christal Bell-Rivera As Library Director
March 6, 2026
Thursday night, the Escambia County Commission affirmed the county administrator’s decision to hire Christal Bell-Rivera as the next library services director, rejecting recommendations from the West Florida Library Board of Governance (BOG) that ranked two other candidates higher.
The BOG 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, the administrator has the sole decision on employe hires, with the board only voting to approve or disapprove. The commission only appoints the county administrator and county attorney.
Administrator Wes Moreno’s decision came under fire because Bell-Rivera did not meet minimum qualifications without a master’s degree in library science, which opponents argued would cause the county to not receive state grants. She is currently a candidate to receive the degree this year.
Assistant County Administrator Debbie Bowers, who attended the commission meeting for an absent Moreno, said that while the position was advertised with certain educational requirements, it also included “an equivalent experience” provision. She said Bell-Rivera had proven herself as an assistant and interim director at the helm of a library system with a $12 million budget and 111 employees.
“Christal has equivalent experience,” Bowers said. “I think that she has done a great job.”
Bowers said BOG and public concerns are moot regarding the library system potentially losing state funding after receiving assurances from the state library system. “We were assured that we could be eligible for the funding,” Bowers added.
“Sometimes you have to hire somebody for the heart that they have for the community, for the job that they are doing, and sometimes that’s not exactly what’s on the job description,” District 4 Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger said. “Sometimes the heart that somebody has, and the passion they have for the job that they do, along with other relevant experience, combines and makes them the perfect fit for the job.”
“Doing the job is more than meeting a minimum requirement, if you’ve actually been doing the job successfully,” District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry said. “By accounts from administration, she has been.”
“It’s our administrator’s decision to hire who he thinks is best qualified,” District 1 Commissioner Steve Stroberger said. “I’m sure he took everything into account, and I trust his decision.”
A motion by Barry and seconded by Stroberger to affirm Moreno’s decision to hire Bell-Rivera passed 4-1 with District 2 Commissioner Mike Kohler voting against.
Kohler said he found out on Thursday that Bell-Rivera did not meet the qualifications for the position, and said the commission does not listen enough to its citizen advisory boards.
Comments
6 Responses to “County Commission Affirms Administrator’s Decision To Hire Christal Bell-Rivera As Library Director”
Shame on Barry, Stroberger, Hofberger, and May! Although, May did try to lead the other three to the water multiple times he just couldn’t get them to drink.
If they don’t listen to the people they shouldn’t represent the people.
Outstanding choice.
Never let someone else dictate who you’re going to hire when you are the one that has to deal with the repercussions from their hiring or job performance.
Congratulations, Christal!! Very well deserved.
Having worked alongside Christal, I can say she’ll do a solid job! She is passionate about elevating WFPL into modern library services, ensuring there is something for the ALL at the libraries. Those who are upset are only upset because they will now have to do things with purpose and planning, instead of running wild like they have been allowed in the past. I always planned my events and programs with a written plan and they were always successful, others did theirs based on emotion or last minute planning making for stale programming. I moved from Pensacola and wish I could find another job that was passionate about their mission like WFPL is!
I am more upset that the BOG did not recommend Chris Hare as their first choice as he has been with WFPL for years. I can see that due to Christal’s political and community connections as to why the BOG did not (for selfish and insecure reasons) want to recommend her, however to recommend the Bradley woman over a long time WFPL staff member, like Chris is DISAPPOINTING. Just because Bradley works for the school district in leadership doesn’t mean she knows the public library landscape, I feel as if they recommended her because she serve on the BOG and is one of them. That’s what’s sad here! Just because she’s worked at WFPL as a librarian years ago doesn’t mean she’s anymore qualified than Chris, she obviously left WFPL for a reason and jumped ship, yet Chris stayed and served with passion. However, he does not have leadership experience that is required to run the staff and HR side of the library which is CRUCIAL as a department head. This is where Christal becomes the best candidate and will succeed!
I agree @BufordT. That is exactly what holds Pensacola back from everything good.
Good Ole boy system at it finest. Thanks BOCC for showing your true colors.