Tuesday, the Kern County Board of Supervisors rejected the occupancy agreement for Bakersfield Recovery Services (BRS) to operate in a county building. BRS was chosen as the organization to replace The Open Door Network in a contract to support victims. According to District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer, they began supporting the DA’s office on May 4 and just needed approval to operate inside a county building.
Community members spoke during the public comment portion, stating that BRS is not equipped to handle victims of sexual assault and that they do not trust Zimmer either.
Nadine Escalante spoke about her experience being a victim of domestic violence, explaining that she was arrested by the person who hurt her and harassed by the sheriff’s department. She stated that this is why it’s important to have people who are trained to assist victims.
“BRS is not properly trained. They deal with substance abuse, not domestic violence, not sexual assault victims. Have any of you men ever gone with a sexual assault victim to have a rape kit done? No. I have,” said Escalante. “They want people who listen, who’ve been through it, and who understand. You are making a decision for women that you do not understand, that you don’t represent, that you’ve never experienced. And my concern is with the money. It’s so much being discussed. This is making the county look extremely bad, and it’s as if you are complicit in some kind of illegal activity that’s happening in this county.”
During the meeting, Supervisor Leticia Perez was absent, and Supervisors David Couch, Chris Parlier, and Jeff Flores had to recuse themselves due to campaign contributions from entities related to the contract. Chairman Phillip Peters agreed to have county staff draw from a jar to see which two of the recused could still vote. Parlier and Flores were chosen, adding another point of tension between the community and the supervisors.
“It is a live crime scene. You are preparing to draw names out of a hat, a parlor trick to decide which financially compromised supervisors get the privilege of awarding millions of taxpayer dollars to the exact same network that illegally funded your political campaigns,” said David Abbasi.
Jack Lavers stated that the whole situation has lacked transparency due to emails between Zimmer’s office and Ganesh Archarya, CEO of BRS, that KGET made public, showing that, prior to the Open Door Network being fired, Zimmer’s office was discussing how BRS could secure funding.
“While the public was given one explanation, private emails appear to show another reality entirely. At this point, it is apparent that the District Attorney’s Office has lost the trust of many people in this county, and we cannot have a functioning government if the public no longer trusts the institutions that are supposed to serve them honestly and transparently,” said Lavers.
After public comment, Flores stated his support of the agreement and shamed community members who asked for transparency and accountability from the board and the district attorney’s office.
“These people are the ones that are chosen. These people will help the victims that need the services trauma care, medical housing, counseling, whatever it may be. These are the people that we’re serving, and this is who this contract will serve. This is who the rental agreement will serve. And to say otherwise actually cheapens, cheapens. It’s an attack on victims. And shame on all of you,” said Flores.
Philip Peters voted no to the agreement and stated before the vote that he had some reservations.
“I do have some reservations, though, just as far as the convenience of providing those services in one location; those services are still available. But the weighing of that against the right, wrong, or otherwise public perception of how this whole process occurred and, and whether or not that influences the public’s perception of the county as a whole. It’s a difficult issue for me,” said Peters.
Bakersfield Recovery Services will now hold the contract to operate within the Kern County Family Justice Center until March 31, 2028. Because the contract was for $33,000, they did not have to go through as formal a process as with a typical contract.
