No West Florida Public Libraries

Silenced Board Member Speaks Out

Lori NeSmith spent nearly four years championing the West Florida Public Libraries. When she started asking too many questions about the director hiring process last fall, County Administrator Wes Moreno had Mayor D.C. Reeves remove her.

Background

In March, the Board of County Commissioners approved Moreno’s hiring of Christal Bell-Rivera as the new library services director. Moreno chose Bell-Rivera over the Library Board of Governance’s unanimous recommendation of Bradley Vinson—who leads the Escambia County School District’s media services—and its second choice, Chris Hare, the WFPL’s Library Public Services Division Manager. Both had far more library experience than Bell-Rivera.

• Inweekly’s public records requests uncovered a coordinated effort among county officials to make Vinson appear to have bombed her interview and to lack any managerial experience. Her application and the interview recording proved both claims false. The county also spread rumors alleging that Vinson behaved unprofessionally by removing her shoes during the interview. That didn’t happen either.

When Commissioner Mike Kohler challenged Moreno about his selection during a May commission meeting, the county administrator didn’t mention the false claims spread behind Vinson’s back. Instead, Moreno attacked the Library Board of Governance, claiming his frustration began when he and staff were “treated very rudely, very hatefully” at a board meeting.

Commissioner Kohler tried to get Commission Chair Ashlee Hofberger to apologize for how she and her aide disparaged Vinson. “You owe them an apology. You may not have the courage to do it, but you owe an apology.”

• Moreno stepped in and offered a half-assed one. “I do apologize for the confusion in some of the process,” he said. “If there’s been some optics that don’t look that great, I apologize for that.”

Inweekly has learned that Moreno’s hostility had a more specific target: Lori NeSmith, a volunteer whose dogged insistence on following the board’s mandates made her a problem he chose to eliminate.

A Volunteer Who Did Her Homework

NeSmith describes herself simply: a small business owner, a mother, a philanthropist, and an active community member. She and her husband own Oren International, a local manufacturing company. When she heard about an opening on the Library Board of Governance, she didn’t hesitate.

“I love the library. I love all the things it offers to the community. I think it’s a wonderful asset. And when I heard there was an opportunity to serve from a community member standpoint, I thought that’s fabulous.”

NeSmith praised board chair Blaine Wall as “an amazing leader” and described the board as collaborative, respectful of its role, and “above board and supportive of the county’s desire to be involved in the director hiring process.”

• Dig Deeper: Dr. Blaine Wall is a professor of English and Communications at Pensacola State College.

August: The Process Begins—and the Resistance Starts

When Library Director Todd Humble resigned in August 2025, Bell-Rivera called NeSmith to inform her. At the board’s next meeting, Bell-Rivera made it clear she hoped the board would simply recommend her for the permanent position.

• NeSmith pushed back immediately. Having served through two bylaw reviews, she knew the county’s resolution establishing the board gave it the responsibility for recommending a new director. She told Bell-Rivera that a process needed to be followed first.

Searching for Resources

“That started my investigative steps to figure out what the prior board did 10 years ago when it hired a director,” NeSmith said. She tracked down David Bryant, a former board member who had been involved in the previous director search and still had detailed records.

Almost immediately, the relationship between NeSmith and county staff soured. In the past, the board members had a cordial relationship with the director and library staff. Bell-Rivera informed NeSmith that she could no longer speak directly to library staff about anything. All inquiries had to go through Bell-Rivera. Read Follow-up August 25, 2025 Library Board Meeting from Christal

NeSmith said, “The board interaction with staff went from wonderful to adversarial, in my mind, overnight. That was not the case prior to her being in that position.”

In another email, Bell-Rivera further informed NeSmith that her requests for information would be treated as public records requests. “I was really surprised. We weren’t the public. We were the board.”

• Read 9-5-25 response to email requesting letter copy

Note: The irony is that Bell-Rivera cites the Library Board of Governance bylaws in her emails as the reason NeSmith can’t talk directly to staff and why her requests must be public record requests. Later, county officials would argue that the bylaws don’t matter.

September: The County Tips Its Hand

In September, Assistant County Administrator Wesley Hall attended the board meeting. When board chair Blaine Wall asked how the hiring process was supposed to work, Hall’s response was blunt.

“Don’t worry—the county’s got it handled,” NeSmith recalled Hall saying.

NeSmith had come prepared. She brought printed copies of the interlocal agreement, the relevant resolution, and David Bryant’s notes for everyone in the room, walking through how the process had worked before and how it needed to work now. Read  September-2025-minutes.

Tipped Her Hand

She acknowledges she tipped her hand to Bell-Rivera and the county administration that day—but has no regrets. “I think that had the board not pushed so hard to be part of the process, they would’ve just single-handedly named Christal director and moved on.”

NeSmith also observed what she believed was a deliberate stall strategy. She and fellow board member Liza Campbell were both due to roll off the board in February 2026. “It was very obvious to myself and the other board members that they were trying to drag their feet until February so they could have some other members in place that may be more pro-Christal.”

October: The Meeting Moreno Called “Hateful”

By late October, the board had spent two months trying to get the hiring process moving, only to encounter delays, incomplete documents, and shifting explanations at every turn. When county HR Director Nikki Powell showed up to the Oct. 27 board meeting with no job description, no salary information, and no substantive materials, NeSmith and the rest of the board pressed for a concrete timeline.

Moreno later told the Board of County Commissioners that this meeting was where he and his staff were treated “rudely” and “hatefully.” NeSmith disputes that characterization, and the recording supports her.

“I was not pleased that they showed up empty-handed. But there was nothing but respect from our board to the county. We wanted them included. But they did not have a vote at the end of the day.”

Here is the recording of the discussion. The overall tone was frank and, at times, pointed, but it stayed professional.

Collaboration?

At the Oct. 27 meeting, Moreno said: “I’m looking to be collaborative. I’m not looking to just put a hammer down and say, ‘No, we’re not doing this.’” He later insisted, “It’s not a matter of it’s our way or no way.”

• Note: Moreno and Powell didn’t attend the August meeting when Bell-Rivera appeared as interim director. The pair didn’t meet with the board until 63 days later.

2015-03-23 Minutes – Initial Discussion of BOG Responsibilities.

2015-04-06 Minutes

Moreno and Powell had a different agenda. “They already had a candidate picked out,” NeSmith said. “Because we were pushing hard to follow precedents and do our duty, he was trying to play along, but you could hear him in that October meeting saying ‘Yeah, we want to be collaborative’ while doing none of it.”

October 31: The Call to the Mayor

Four days after the Oct. 27 board meeting, Moreno called Mayor D.C. Reeves and asked him to remove NeSmith from the board. Reeves didn’t hesitate. On Nov. 13, he sent NeSmith a letter informing her that “effective immediately, you are being removed from your position as the mayor’s appointee to the West Florida Public Libraries Board of Governance.” Read LN BOG Removal 11-13-2025

NeSmith emailed County Attorney Allison Rogers seeking a legal opinion. Rogers responded within minutes: the mayor had full authority to remove his own appointee. Read Alison Rogers Response to LN removal from BOG.

NeSmith did not challenge the legal question. Instead, she found something unexpected in her removal.

“It was actually a bit of a blessing. I was not able to talk individually with a board member except in public meetings. The moment I was removed, I had the ability to really talk and explain and share—make sure everybody had a good understanding of the interlocal, the resolution, the past precedents. I felt like I was a better asset off the board than I was on.”

When Volunteers Are Silenced

NeSmith spoke candidly about what her removal signals to others who might consider serving in similar volunteer roles.

“I have no desire to do anything beyond support my community, support my family, and build a business here. But when I get involved in something, I put my heart into it. I was on that board for almost four years and enjoyed every minute of it, even the hard parts.”

She paused before continuing. “And then it’s discouraging to volunteer your time and be unceremoniously removed just because they didn’t like an opinion. Someone who was doing her homework, understood the mandates, understood the past precedents, and was trying to make that part of the conversation—and they didn’t like it, so they just quieted her.”

Her final concern is for community participation itself.

• “It doesn’t encourage people to volunteer for jobs that may be controversial, or are hard, or time-consuming. Because heck, they don’t appreciate you anyway.”