An agreement regarding the operator of a victims\u2019 services center was once again delayed after the issue was pulled from the Kern County Board of Supervisors\u2019 Tuesday morning agenda as details continue to be finalized.<\/p>\n
Services are still available at the Kern County District Attorney\u2019s Family Justice Center on 18th Street even after the agreement for Bakersfield Recovery Services to occupy the center was pulled from the agenda.<\/p>\n
The center \u201ccontinues to offer a full array of services to the community through the support of over 20 community partners,\u201d Daniela Gonzaga, spokesperson for the DA\u2019s office, wrote in an email.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny victim of interpersonal violence is welcome to visit our centers whether they have made a law enforcement report or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
As to the status of the new agreement, Gonzaga said, \u201cThere are a few remaining steps to complete before the process is finalized; therefore, today\u2019s item was pulled from the agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last month, the DA\u2019s office announced it was ending its longstanding agreement with The Open Door Network to run the center due to public statements made by the organization\u2019s CEO, Lauren Skidmore.<\/p>\n
The DA\u2019s office previously told The Californian it asked Skidmore in September to refrain from making public statements about pending cases, saying public statements from a partner agency could complicate the DA\u2019s prosecutions.<\/p>\n
Skidmore has claimed the cancellation was more personal, and made in retaliation for her advocacy for the estranged wife of DA Cynthia Zimmer\u2019s nephew.<\/p>\n
Zimmer\u2019s nephew Zack Scrivner was a Kern County supervisor until late 2024 when he resigned, months after an incident at his Tehachapi home where he is accused of inappropriately touching one of his children while high on drugs. Scrivner was not charged with any sexual crime. A judge approved a mental health diversion for child endangerment and weapons charges, which could later be dismissed if he completes the terms of the program.<\/p>\n
Because of her relation to Scrivner, Zimmer recused herself from the investigation and prosecution, which was ultimately handled by the California Attorney General\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Skidmore has often appeared alongside and issued statements on behalf of Scrivner\u2019s estranged wife, Christina Scrivner, and in February joined her and Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, at a press conference in Sacramento regarding stricter limits for mental health diversions.<\/p>\n
Supervisors were meant to approve an occupancy agreement with Bakersfield Recovery Services \u2014 the organization chosen by the DA\u2019s office to run the Family Justice Center \u2014 at their March 24 meeting, but due to a lack of quorum were forced to continue the item.<\/p>\n
Supervisors Chris Pariler and Jeff Flores both recused themselves from the vote, citing contributions made by Bakersfield Recovery Services to each of their campaigns. Supervisor David Couch was absent from that meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An agreement regarding the operator of a victims\u2019 services center was once again delayed after the issue was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,117809,100429,735,117808,36095,117810],"class_list":["post-271434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-daniela-gonzaga","tag-family-justice-center","tag-kern-county","tag-occupancy-agreement","tag-public-statements","tag-services-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}