Escambia County commissioners approve administrator's pick for library director despite board objections

The Escambia County Board of County Commissioners on March 7 voted 4-1 to approve the county administrator's recommendation to appoint Crystal Bell Rivera as director of library services, overriding a unanimous recommendation from the West Florida Public Library board of governance and a long line of public speakers who said the administrator's choice did not meet minimum professional qualifications.

The decision followed more than two hours of public comment in which former library-board members, library staff and residents alternately praised Bradley Vincent's master's degree and decades of library experience and argued that selecting a candidate who did not meet the job description risked the county's eligibility for state library grants. "Miss Bell Rivera does not meet any of [the minimum qualification requirements]," resident CJ Lewis told…