Library Board
The Escambia County Commission will fill two vacancies on the West Florida Public Libraries Board of Governance at its Nov. 5 meeting. Eleven residents sent in resumes. Only one lists a master’s degree in library science, and several have no library experience at all.
The 11 applicants: Jacquelyn Wilson, Bree Uher, Jennifer Trawick, Pueschel Schneier, Velda Overbey, Phil Nickinson, Susan Martin, Fadil Lee, Jack Hierholzer, Linda Fussell and Travis Bright Jr.
Library, Archives and Education Backgrounds
- Jennifer Trawick. An instructor and librarian at Pensacola State College since 2023, she holds a master’s in library and information studies from Florida State (2022). She also worked for the West Florida Public Library as a clerk from 2016 to 2019 and as a library assistant from 2020 to 2021, where she helped coordinate a Feeding the Gulf Coast partnership during the pandemic. She is the only applicant with both a library degree and experience inside the local system. Her letter says she wants to bring a “values-driven, collaborative approach to governance.”
- Jacquelyn Wilson. She was archivist for the University of West Florida Historic Trust from 2009 until she retired in 2020 and edited its journal, Pensacola History Illustrated. She holds a master’s in public history from UWF and earned the university’s Nautilus Excellence Award in 2017. She also served as curator of research and collections at the Pensacola Historical Society.
- Linda Fussell. A retired teacher, she spent 17 years at Brown Barge Middle School and was named Escambia County’s Middle School Social Studies Teacher of the Year for 1994-1995. She is a member of the Friends of the West Florida Public Library and of the UWF Historic Trust. Her resume says she seeks to serve as a volunteer on the board.
- Susan Martin. She was an academic advisor in UWF’s School of Education from 2018 to January 2026 and a school counselor in Santa Rosa County for 13 years before that. She also ran a Georgia nonprofit and wrote grants for it. Her letter is dated Oct. 15 and says the upcoming vote on property taxes “may present a serious challenge to our library budgets.”
Business, Legal and Technology Backgrounds
- Travis Bright Jr. A personal injury attorney at Michles & Booth since 2019, he earned his law degree from Florida State in 2013. He previously defended medical malpractice and insurance claims at two Pensacola firms. His resume lists no library or board experience.
- Jack Hierholzer. A technology executive, he was cloud delivery lead for utilities at Oracle University from 2022 to 2025. He spent 15 years at the Gulf Power Distribution Control Center and is co-inventor on two utility technology patents. He is active in Big Lagoon Kiwanis, whose Reading Is Fun program provides books to Escambia County schoolchildren, and mentors at-risk youth with Big Brothers Big Sisters.
- Pueschel Schneier. She has owned Great Change Cleaning Service for 18 years and holds an inactive Florida real estate license. She served on the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority Citizens Advisory Committee from 2017 to 2021 and as second vice president of the Escambia County PTA. Her resume says she can use “critical thinking skills to give input on major policy, budget, and various issues.”
- Bree Uher. A personal trainer at Anytime Fitness and co-owner of an auto paint repair business, she worked five years as a paralegal at a Milton criminal defense and family law firm. She coaches the Escambia County Special Olympics powerlifting team and has organized drives for Manna Food Bank and the Pace Center for Girls. Readers voted her Best Trainer in Inweekly’s Best of the Coast contest in 2025 and 2026.
Political and Public Safety Ties
- Phil Nickinson. A former Pensacola News Journal news editor, he now serves as communications manager at Community Health Northwest Florida and owns EPN Strategies. He led Pensacola Youth Soccer as president from 2019 to January 2025 and remains on its board. His resume also lists work as communications director for a 2018 mayoral campaign and a 2020 City Council re-election, and he was a candidate for City Council in 2024.
- Pueschel Schneier. Her resume lists her as secretary of the Escambia County Republican Executive Committee since December 2018.
- Velda Overbey. A retired family physician who also studied alternative medicine, she has been a precinct committee woman in Escambia County since 2021. She sat on the Escambia County Book Review Committee from March to May 2025, where she evaluated materials for age-appropriateness and community alignment. Her resume says she wants to bring “what I have heard parents and residents say they wish were available.”
- Fadil Lee. A Homeland Security Investigations special agent in Pensacola since May 2025, he previously worked as an ICE deportation officer, Border Patrol agent and sheriff’s deputy. His resume lists a master’s in Christian ministry and a bachelor’s in philosophy and Spanish. It does not mention libraries.
What to Watch Nov. 5
Two seats, eleven résumés. The commissioners will have to choose between applicants with professional library or archival experience and applicants whose strengths are in business, law, technology and politics. Wilson and Trawick bring the most direct library and records experience.
- No questions on record. The resumes say little about how any applicant would handle book challenges, budget decisions or the board’s relationship with the library director and the commission. Those are the questions commissioners should ask before they vote.
- County Administrator Wes Moreno told the PNJ that he would interview the applicants. Did he?
The Escambia County Commission meets at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, in the Commission Chambers, 221 S. Palafox St.
I’ve been attending WFPL Board of Governance (BOG) meetings since November and have a pretty good idea of what skill sets and backgrounds would add to the current membership mix. The two most obvious picks this time around are PSC professional librarian Jennifer Trawick, replacing UWF professional librarian Liza Campbell, and retired educator Linda Fussel. Linda has the added benefit of being a regular attendee at BOG meetings to include the one held his past Monday at the Tryon Branch. She was one of only three citizens in attendance. Also, during the in-person interviews of the four library director applicants, the top three who earned their spots and Christal Bell-Rivera imposed on the BOG by County Administrator Moreno, Assistant County Administrator Hall asked the applicants how they would approach five problem areas that needed attention. Bradley Vinson, #1 of the 22 applicants, knocked it out of the park and Smith seemed very pleased. Bell-Rivera had her usual “deer-staring-in-the headlights” look to include because Smith’s questions were a subtle criticism of her. Smith described the importance of the county library system working better with the school district. There is some interaction now but not enough. As a professional educator who has been supporting the WFPL through her work with the Friends of the Library, Linda Fussel seems the answer to that concern of Smith. According to the agenda item posted yesterday, Susan Martin withdrew on November 2 so the current number of applicants is ten. Resolution 2013-17 establishing the BOG in 2013 requires that BOG members be registered to vote in county elections. I “hope” that someone has checked to see if all ten applicants are county voters. The prior regular order of business was that the library director would pull together the applications and present them to the BOCC without direct interference by the county administrator. In March, Library Director Bell-Rivera I was present when she told the BOG that she had forwarded the applications to the BOCC but County Administrator Moreno was sitting on them. Assistant County Administrator Hall was present but said nothing. During a prior round of the BOCC selecting appointees to the BOG, Library Director Humble sent forward all applications but did point out in his memorandum to the BOCC that one applicant was not a county voter.