County Administrator Wes Moreno has an impressive record when it comes to construction projects.
- FY 2024: Last year, Escambia County Administrator Wes Moreno appeared on my podcast to tout the completion of $100 million in projects, including the Ashton Brosnaham Athletic Park Multi-Use Facility, Beulah Fire Station, Perdido Bay Boat Ramp, and Perdido Key Multi-Use Path. The county also made substantial progress on stormwater management, completing improvements at Eleven Mile Creek Basin, Surrey-Windsong, and Moreno Street. See annual report.
Why this matters: Over the past year, Moreno has botched issues concerning transportation for disabled citizens, commissioners tampering with the hiring process, Escambia Children’s Trust and the West Florida Public Library (WFPL) system. The issue required a skilled negotiator who put the public ahead of ego. Three involved extensive discussion by the commissioners, but Moreno failed to follow through. The public cannot trust Moreno to follow through on a directive from the BCC, even if it’s unanimously approved.
- Has Moreno reached his Peter Principle moment? Or is he so comfortable with having three commission votes that he can ignore issues that are too difficult?
Paratransit
Sept. 4, 2025
County Administrator Wes Moreno placed on the consent agenda a recommendation to terminate the county’s agreement for Paratransit Transportation Disadvantaged Services with Innovative Transport and Logistics Solutions, LLC (ITL Solutions).
- From the Minutes: The Board held a lengthy discussion regarding the Agreement with ITL; contract issues; their service (which the Board commended); costs and potential ways to save, including the possibility of reducing service hours or bringing the services in house; and options for a path forward. The Board agreed to ask the County Administrator and County Attorney to work with the ITL team to identify whether an agreement could be reached and bring a recommendation back to a future BCC meeting.
- Commissioner Steven Barry made the motion, Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger seconded, and it passed unanimously.
HR Policy Regarding Tampering
May 7, 2026
Moreno told the commissioners that the policy implemented under County Administrator Randy Oliver in 2011 didn’t exist.
- He pledged to do a policy review. “We don’t want to be a knee-jerk reaction, so we are going to review the policy, massage the verbiage, make sure it fits the way it needs to go through legal review and then we’ll bring that policy back to the board for review for acceptance and discussion.”
When Commissioner Lumon May asked Moreno, whose responsibility is it to ensure that policies passed by the board are indeed put into policy?
- “I believe if you take an action, give me direction, then it’s my responsibility to make sure that direction is there and there’s some follow-through with it,” Moreno said.
Escambia Children’s Trust Presentation
May 21, 2026
The Board held a lengthy discussion regarding the Escambia Children’s Trust (ECT), including a review of data from an ECT report, and the tangible and perceived ROI of the impact of the ECT. The Board agreed to take a deeper dive and discuss further at the June Committee of the Whole and requested that both the ECT and School Board be present for the discussion
West Florida Public Libraries
Aug. 25, 2025 – Present
The West Florida Libraries Board of Governance told Interim Library Services Director Christal Bell-Rivera that they wouldn’t hand her the job without following the process outlined in the bylaws.
- In 2015, the hiring of a library director took three months, with County Administrator Jack Brown accepting the board’s recommendation of Todd Humble.
Moreno dragged the process out over six months, but not before:
- Sending Assistant County Administrator Wesley Hall to a board meeting to tell them HR would handle it;
- Moreno personally trying to strong-arm Board chair Blaine Wall to accept Bell-Rivera; and
- Getting Mayor D.C. Reeves to remove the longest-tenured board member, Lori NeSmith.
Though Bell-Rivera didn’t meet the job requirements, Moreno had HR deem her qualified and eligible for interviews, with no input from the board. Under Brown, the board reviewed all applications and decided who to move forward for interviews.
When the board failed to recommend Bell-Rivera after two rounds of interviews, Moreno hired her anyway and launched a smear campaign to damage Bradley Vinson’s reputation with the commissioners.
- Moreno canceled all Board of Governance meetings until late September. He refused to reply to Chair Wall’s request for a special meeting before June 30.
A Pattern, Not a Coincidence
Four separate issues. And four times, Wes Moreno either slow-walked the process until it collapsed on its own or simply ignored what he was told to do.
- That’s not bad luck. That’s a strategy.
Moreno’s defenders will point to the $100 million in completed construction projects as proof he can execute. But building a boat ramp and negotiating a contested policy dispute require different skills, and the county administrator has shown he’s only interested in work that doesn’t require him to sit across the table from those who disagree with him and reach a win-win settlement.
The question isn’t whether Moreno understands what the board wants. His own words, “If you take an action, give me direction, then it’s my responsibility to make sure that direction is there and there’s some follow-through with it,” show he knows exactly what’s expected of him.
- The question is whether the Board of County Commissioners is willing to enforce its directives, or whether Moreno has calculated, correctly so far, that three votes will always be enough to look the other way.
- These are only a few examples of the Moreno Molasses Strategy. If you have more, please email them to me at rick@inweekly.net.
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