West Florida Public Library
Library Board Chair Demands Moreno Cite His Authority, Calls for Special Meeting
Dr. K. Blaine Wall, chair of the West Florida Public Libraries Board of Governance, sent County Administrator Wes Moreno a pointed email Monday afternoon, less than three hours after learning his board’s meeting had been scrapped. Wall says he can find no provision anywhere in the resolution, the interlocal agreement, or the bylaws that gives Moreno the power to cancel the board’s meetings or decide who sits on it. He’s now invoking the bylaws himself to force a special meeting by July 1.
Board of Governance Chair Dr. K. Blaine Wall fired back at County Administrator Wes Moreno on Monday, sending a detailed email that lays out, point by point, why he believes Moreno had no authority to cancel the board’s meetings for the summer.
The email, sent at 1:33 p.m. to Moreno and copied to Library Director Christal Bell-Rivera, board members Joyce Hopson and Rachel Hendrix, county attorney Alison Rogers, the county legal department, and Pensacola City Attorney Adam Cobb, describes how Wall found out his board wasn’t meeting that afternoon after all.
Details: According to Wall, shortly after 11 a.m., the library director’s aide notified him that the meeting had been canceled. When he asked why, she said she didn’t know but would have Director Bell-Rivera call him. About thirty minutes later, Bell-Rivera told him that Moreno had directed that Board of Governance meetings be canceled for the summer until a decision is made on the board’s vacancies. Read Breaking: Moreno Cancels Library Board Meetings for the Summer.
“I Have Been Unable to Identify Any Provision”
Wall’s email asks Moreno directly to clarify the legal or governing authority behind the cancellation—and then methodically explains why he doesn’t think one exists.
“After reviewing the governing documents establishing and regulating the Board of Governance, I have been unable to identify any provision authorizing the County Administrator to unilaterally cancel meetings of the Board or suspend its operations.”
Wall walks through three governing documents to make his case:
- Resolution No. R2013-17 establishes the Board of Governance as the body responsible for overseeing the library system, including recommending a library director, conducting that director’s annual evaluation, and making budget recommendations. Read Resolution Creating Board.
- The 2013 Interlocal Agreement also sets up the BOG to establish library policy and make budget recommendations. It places the library director under the supervision of the county administrator for personnel purposes, but Wall says he found no provision in it granting the administrator authority to suspend or cancel the board’s own meetings. Read 071513_Interlocal Agreement.
- The board’s 2024 Bylaws state that the board meets monthly, sets its own annual schedule, and that special meetings can be called by the chair or by written request of three members. The bylaws also specify that the library director, after consulting with the chair, prepares the agenda and serves as the board’s staff liaison. Read BOG Bylaws.
Who Actually Appoints Board Members?
Wall also challenges the premise behind Moreno’s stated reason for the cancellation—evaluating “the BOG vacancies.” He says he can’t find any provision giving the county administrator authority to appoint members to the board at all.
Instead, Wall notes, the governing documents assign appointment power to three separate bodies:
- The Escambia County Board of County Commissioners (three members)
- The Pensacola City Council (one member)
- The Mayor of Pensacola (one member)
Why this matters: Filling vacancies isn’t something Moreno’s office controls, and Wall’s email suggests that using vacancies as a reason to suspend meetings doesn’t hold up under the documents that actually govern the board.
“Discourteous” Notice and Sunshine Law Concerns
Wall didn’t limit his objection to legal authority. He also raised concerns about how the cancellation was handled—with notice arriving only hours before a scheduled public meeting.
“Providing notice only hours before a scheduled public meeting is discourteous to Board members who arranged their schedules to fulfill their governance responsibilities, to library staff who prepared for the meeting, and to members of the public who intended to attend.”
Wall went further, tying the cancellation to broader transparency concerns:
“Canceling regularly scheduled public meetings deprives residents of an opportunity to address their governing board and diminishes the transparency contemplated by both the Sunshine Law and the governing framework established for the Library System. The Board exists to conduct the public’s business in public, and regular meetings are central to that responsibility.”
Wall Invokes the Bylaws to Force a Special Meeting
Rather than waiting for Moreno’s response, Wall used the same email to act. Citing Article V, Section 3 of the board’s bylaws—the provision allowing the chair to call a special meeting—Wall formally requested one.
- He asked that Director Bell-Rivera, acting in her role as staff liaison under Article VIII of the bylaws, coordinate with board members on a date, issue the required public notice, and get the meeting scheduled no later than July 1.
The bottom line: The WFPL board’s chair says he cannot find any authority—in the resolution, the interlocal agreement, or the bylaws—for Moreno to cancel meetings or control board appointments. Wall isn’t just objecting; he’s already moving to call a special meeting himself, putting the question of who actually controls the Board of Governance’s calendar back in front of the board, the county, and the city.
City of Pensacola
Sources inside City Hall have shared that the administration has begun its review of the county’s resolution, the interlocal agreement and the video from January 2013, when the Board of County Commissioners established the WFPL Board of Governance. I have pointed out to city officials that they have a subject-matter expert on the resolution, City Finance Director Amy Lovoy, who can be seen in the video sitting next to Interim County Administrator George Touart as he presents the resolution to the commissioners.
- More Buzz: County Administrator Wes Moreno has begun threatening city officials that he will have BCC terminate the interlocal agreement and dump three branches inside the city limits on the city if the city officials challenge his hiring of Bell-Rivera and his takeover of the West Florida Public Libraries system. In other words, Moreno is will do anything to shut down any investigation into his abuse of power, even destroy a county-wide library that has worked well until last August.
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