Escambia County Library Services Director Christal Bell-Rivera resigned yesterday. When I asked about it, I received this text:
“Library Services Director Christal Bell-Rivera submitted her resignation on Monday, Aug. 10, effective Sept. 9, providing 30 days’ notice per county policy,” wrote Director of Communications and Public Information Kaycee Lagarde. “Escambia County remains committed to continuing to provide the highest quality library services to our community.”
What Happened:
Republican State Rep. District 2 Candidate Trei McMullen called out Bell-Rivera and her husband, Ronnie Rivera, a Community Relations-Neighborhood Specialist for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, for tampering with McMullen’s campaign signs at the Bellview Library, which is one of the 10 early voting sites in Escambia County.
Under the title, “Welcome to Escambia Politics. This is un-flipping real!!!!!!,” McMullen wrote on Facebook:
“Meanwhile, at Bellview Library, a member of someone else’s team documented something very different happening to our campaign signs.
Escambia County Sheriff Neighborhood Specialist Ronnie Rivera and his wife, West Florida Public Libraries Director Christal Bell-Rivera, whose daughter works as a consultant for my opponent’s campaign, were photographed placing regular yard signs directly in front of my larger campaign sign to cover my face!
Look at the pictures for yourself.
The signs were positioned directly over the portion displaying my face. I am not asking anyone to take my word for it. They are not even trying to position them so people can see! LOOK AT THE PICTURES.”
- Husband? I checked with the ECSO, and Ronnie Rivera still works for Sheriff Chip Simmons. Ronnie Rivera is an experienced campaign operative, having worked on the campaigns of Simmons and former County Commissioner Doug Underhill. District 4 Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger joked with Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier about Rivera running against District 2 Commissioner Mike Kohler.
Controversial Hire
The qualifications problem
Christal Bell-Rivera joined West Florida Public Libraries in 2022 as an aide to then-Director Todd Humble, was promoted to deputy director in 2023, and became interim library services director in August 2025 when County Administrator Wes Moreno appointed her.
- She has never worked as a credentialed librarian and was still working toward her library science master’s degree, which she completed in May 2026.
- Under the qualifications the county used when it hired Humble in 2015, she wasn’t eligible. HR solved that by quietly rewriting the job requirements, cutting the 10-year professional library experience requirement to seven years of general professional experience, and allowing a “combination of education and/or experience” to substitute. That let her Motor Services career count the same as library management experience.
The board fight
The Library Board of Governance, created by a 2013 county resolution to oversee hiring recommendations, resisted going along with Moreno’s preference.
- When it asked for a normal process, the county stalled, showed up to meetings without job descriptions or salary information, and told the board its role was merely “advisory.”
- When board member Lori NeSmith kept pushing back, Moreno asked Mayor D.C. Reeves to remove her from the board, four months before her term ended anyway. Text messages show Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger’s aide, Melanie Luna, helped coordinate the removal. Luna has since resigned.
Despite that, the board completed its search and unanimously recommended Bradley Vinson, the school district’s coordinator of media services and a two-decade library veteran, over Bell-Rivera.
The whisper campaign
Moreno overruled the board’s pick.
- To justify it, county officials spread claims that Vinson “bombed her interview” and had no managerial experience, even though her application clearly documented years of supervisory library work.
- Assistant County Administrator Debbie Bowers called Bell-Rivera “hands down the top candidate” in writing.
The commission vote and the ignored policy
On March 5, with Moreno on medical leave, the commission voted 4-1 (Kohler dissenting) to approve Bell-Rivera, largely citing trust in Moreno’s judgment.
- Separately, records show Bell-Rivera possibly should have been disqualified under a 2011 county policy barring contact between applicants and commissioners or aides during hiring, since she’d met with Hofberger and Luna during the process.
- Moreno told commissioners that policy was never actually implemented; Inweekly found a 2011 memo showing it was.
The board is now down to three of five members, with two vacancies Moreno has yet to fill. Moreno canceled the board’s summer meetings and refused the board chair’s request for a special meeting.
To learn more, read “Lies, Deceit & Abuse of Power.”