Joe Vinson, husband of Bradley Vinson and son of the late Federal Judge Roger Vinson, has shared with Inweekly the statement he plans to read tonight at the Board of County Commissioners meeting:
Hello, County Commissioners.
My name is Joe Vinson, a resident of District 4. I’m here to urge you to reject the County Administrator’s recommendation for Library Director. As the husband of candidate Bradley Vinson, I am obviously not an unbiased party, but I am a proponent of honest, open government. My dad taught me that everyone in public service has the duty to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, and this process fails the “sniff test” in many ways.
For starters, the county’s own job description gives the “minimum qualification requirements” for the director position: a Master’s degree in Library Science from an ALA-accredited institution, and at least seven years of professional public library experience. Ms. Bell-Rivera has neither. According to the resume included in your agenda packet, her first library job started less than four years ago as a director’s aide. It’s difficult to understand how she was promoted to Deputy Director in less than a year, and there are lingering questions about the circumstances leading to the previous director’s departure.
I’m also alarmed at how the Administrator’s office has ignored the Library Board of Governance’s role in selecting a director. When the county took over the library in 2013, BOCC Resolution 2013-17 charged the Board of Governance with the “administration and operation of the West Florida Public Library system,” including the power to recommend a Director to the County Administrator. While the Administrator can accept or reject that recommendation, there is no mechanism in R2013-17 authorizing him to bypass the board entirely and put forward someone they did not recommend. Beyond the fundamental question of legality, this choice is a sign of disrespect to the citizen volunteers who gave their time in good faith for a process the Administrator’s office — it’s clear now — never intended to honor.
In any other department, this wouldn’t be tolerated. This board would never consider hiring a County Attorney who was still in law school — who hadn’t yet earned their J.D. The Sheriff’s Office would never promote an administrative assistant with no other background in law enforcement to Chief Deputy within a year of being hired. It just wouldn’t happen.
Standard processes exist because it is in the public’s interest to ensure merit-based hiring. When these standards are discarded, it is a red flag that hiring is being based not on merit and qualifications, but on personal connections. That is the most obvious explanation for what’s happening here, and everyone in this chamber knows it. That kind of hiring is the definition of “cronyism,” and it is the clearest indicator of a government that does not have the public’s interest at heart.
I ask you today to reject the County Administrator’s choice and restore integrity and trust to this process. Thank you.
To understand the issue:
County Admin rejects Board’s Pick, Signaling Politics Over Qualifications
Library Board Chair Fires Back at County Administrators, Urges Commissioners to Reject Bell-Rivera
District 4 Aide Endorses Bell-Rivera for Library Post
