{"id":315261,"date":"2026-05-14T11:18:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T11:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/315261\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T11:18:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T11:18:39","slug":"whats-next-for-the-family-justice-center-after-county-denies-da-motion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/315261\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s next for the Family Justice Center after county denies DA motion"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 The Board of Supervisors did not hit a majority of yes votes<\/a> to approve the occupancy of Bakersfield Recovery Services staff at the Family Justice Center.<\/p>\n

The names of supervisors who took campaign money from BRS leadership were drawn out of a hat, in order to conduct county business. The two supervisors drawn, Chris Parlier and Jeff Flores, who took money, voted yes. Phillip Peters, who did not take any money in the last year, voted no.<\/p>\n

Watch 17 News, After Sunrise and more local news free on your smart TV. Click to learn more about KGET+ <\/a><\/p>\n

Peters\u2019 vote stopped the motion from passing.<\/p>\n

In a statement to 17 News, Peters said \u201cthe concerns brought up repeatedly by the public outweighed the benefit of approving the proposed lease agreement at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Family Justice Center is still open, and victim services are still being provided. However, when Open Door Network<\/a> was staffing the shelter, it was able to house domestic violence victims in a private shelter.<\/p>\n

Does BRS have a shelter ready to go?<\/p>\n

Michael Bowers, the BRS chairman said yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call it transitional housing support. We also have our Housing Navigation Center on site, which helps with transitional rent,\u201d said Bowers.<\/p>\n

Bowers also said BRS has a network of hotel partners, to help connect people with safe housing.<\/p>\n

The board\u2019s vote has put a hiccup in the district attorney\u2019s plans, which Bowers said will hurt victims seeking resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the current occupancy agreement may be revisited in the future, the reality is that any added step in the process can create another barrier for victims seeking help,\u201d Bowers said.<\/p>\n

In reality, the DA could bring the agreement back to the board relatively easily.<\/p>\n

When asked if the motion could be brought back to board, a spokesperson with the county said \u201cassuming some change in circumstances or additional information, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The voting process on the issue at the Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday is complicated.<\/p>\n

Supervisors who accepted political contributions from BRS or its officers ordinarily would be disqualified from voting. Supervisors Jeff Flores, Chris Parlier and David Couch all have taken campaign money from the group.<\/p>\n

That left only supervisors Peters and Leticia Perez to cast votes, but Perez was absent Tuesday.<\/p>\n

For anything to be considered, at least three of the five supervisors must vote one way or another, so the clerk of the board picked the names of two of the conflicted supervisors from a jar at random.<\/p>\n

They were supervisors Flores and Parlier. Couch was not picked and so did not participate in Tuesday\u2019s action. Along with Peters, Flores and Parlier made the quorum for the decision Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 The Board of Supervisors did not hit a majority of yes votes to approve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,6702,49510,100429,87581,106312,117808,131597,131980],"class_list":["post-315261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-board-of-supervisors","tag-campaign-money","tag-family-justice-center","tag-jeff-flores","tag-michael-bowers","tag-occupancy-agreement","tag-phillip-peters","tag-supervisors-jeff-flores"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315261","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=315261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}