PENSACOLA CITY COUNCIL
Brahier, Bare Warn Library Agreement “Not Being Upheld”
Council Vice President says the city is watching the West Florida Public Library board collapse unfold “in a respectful way,” and isn’t happy about it.
Pensacola City Council Vice President Jennifer Brahier used the closing minutes of Thursday’s city council meeting to put the county’s handling of the West Florida Public Libraries Board of Governance on the record, and Councilman Charles Bare backed her up, saying the city should “do something about” how the county has managed its control over the library system.
Brahier said she deliberately separated the issue from a routine funding item for repairs to the library building on Spring Street, which the city owns and maintains under its interlocal agreement with Escambia County.
- Why this matters: The money flow, as Brahier laid it out: the city collects 10% of the MSTU (Municipal Services Taxing Unit) revenue generated inside city limits to maintain library facilities, while the county receives the other 90% to operate the library system.
“In this agreement, which is pretty ironclad, there’s an interlocal resolution on the county side. We have an interlocal, they have a resolution. And then by both of those, the library board of governors sets the bylaws and runs the entire thing.”
Her central complaint: the library board of governors is the body with authority over removing and replacing members, and Brahier said that process hasn’t been respected. She pointed specifically to the removal of Lori NeSmith, a city appointee, from the board.
- Brahier described NeSmith as a “long-term advocate for all kinds of things in our city” and a philanthropist and entrepreneur who volunteers her time
- She said NeSmith “was pulled from that board unjustly really.” (Note: Mayor Reeves removed NeSmith to appease County Administrator Wes Moreno.)
- She said the board currently has vacancies — “they’re shy members” — and that the pattern looks like “an attempt to try to make that collapse”
Why it matters to taxpayers: Brahier reminded the council and the public that the library MSTU is one of only a handful of line items, alongside property taxes, school taxes, and the stormwater fee, that show up on every Escambia County tax bill. She estimated the agreement covers roughly $11 to $12 million in citizen funding.
Brahier’s bottom line: “Right now it is not being upheld in a respectful way… I just want to bring the awareness to that and make sure you guys were looking into it because it really is our obligation to make sure that this agreement is upheld with a tax dollar that’s associated with it.”
Councilman Charles Bare followed Brahier’s comments by aligning himself with her concerns and revisiting his objection to the underlying interlocal arrangement.
“Vice President Brahier, I’m very concerned about the library. As I mentioned before, I did not support giving the county the control that they have over it. And I think their local was an attempt to mediate that, and I don’t think it’s been executed the way it should have been. I think they knew how it should have been executed, and it has not been done that way. So I would like to see us do something about that and address it.”
Dig Deeper: Sources inside Pensacola City Hall have shared that the administration is reviewing the documents that established the unique relationship between the city and Escambia County that created the Board of Governance. Stay tuned.
- I have put all the public records on the WFPL in one place. Check out Library Public Records.
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