RIDGECREST, Calif. (KERO) — For years the eastern Kern County courthouses, like the ones in Mojave and Ridgecrest, have been listed on the Judicial Council’s Five-year Infrastructure Plan for Replacement. Now plans have changed.
"We were on the list, near the top of the list for replacement of our judicial center, which is in need of repair," Ridgecrest Mayor Eric Bruen stated, reacting to the decision to consolidate the Ridgecrest and Mojave courthouses, and move them to the Tehachapi area.
With little time to spare, these communities and their justice partners are challenging the decision to consolidate the courthouses, a decision made by former Kern County Superior Court presiding Judge Colette M. Humphrey. After a series of three informational meetings, one in Bakersfield, Mojave, and Ridgecrest, current presiding Judge Eric Bradshaw seems scarcely closer to making a decision.
"I think the court's process was flawed, and that’s why we’re here," Judge Bradshaw said during the Bakersfield meeting on Thursday. "We did not pay attention to how removing a courthouse from a community would impact that community."
In a letter sent to the state court facilities advisory committee in January 2022, Judge Humphrey requested to combine the Ridgecrest and Mojave projects into a New East County Courthouse. In her request — a new Ridgecrest courthouse would be “Withdrawn from funding consideration" and the existing “Ridgecrest Division B courthouse” would “continue its operation for services to the Ridgecrest area." The scopes of the new Ridgecrest courthouse and new Mojave courthouse would be combined into a four-courtroom courthouse in the Tehachapi area, according to Judge Humphrey's request.
Judge Humphrey cited staffing difficulties, caseloads and difficulties moving in-custody inmates from pre-trial facilities to the courthouses. In her letter, she states the new courthouse had the potential to save approximately $32.7 million and result in “tremendous cost savings” in ongoing cost of transportation and staffing.
However, prior to this request, email correspondence between Judge Humphrey and Ridgecrest City Officials — from September 30, 2021 to October 6, 2021 — show Ridgecrest City Manager Ronald Strand and Mayor Bruen asked for the consolidation of the courthouses to be reconsidered and for the community to be involved in any decisions moving forward.
In an email, Judge Humphrey responded that at that point it was only a “very informal discussion about the possibility of a consolidated court" and that they will seek feedback from Ridgecrest should the discussion move forward.
According to Bruen, no public meetings involving the city were held before the request was made to the Judicial Council — who approved consolidating the two courthouses in June of 2022, according to the Five-Year Plan for Fiscal Year 2023-24.
A public meeting request would not be made until May of 2023, by Presiding Judge Bradshaw, who took over in January.
"The court said it was going to involve people in the decision before any was made, and that did not happen," he said.
In the meeting announcement, the court offered three alternatives:
- The first: Take No Action on Current Consolidation Plan - 4 and 1
- The second: Request change of the current plan – rescope/replace the proposed New East County Courthouse (4 courtrooms) in the proposed FY 2024-25 five-year capital outlay plan with a 3-courtroom facility in Mojave/Tehachapi area, and leave two existing courtrooms (Div. A & B) in operation in Ridgecrest.
- The third: Request removal of New East County Courthouse from funding consideration to future fiscal year.
Judge Bradshaw asked for written statements from any interested parties, and he received many.
During the meeting in Ridgerest Friday, Bradshaw heard from not only Ridgecrest City officials, but from Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood, District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer, Deputy District Attorney Scott Garver, as well as Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake Commanding Officer Captain Jeremy Vaughn.
Along with the meeting comments, Bradshaw also received letters from the Kern County Board of Supervisors, Assemblymembers Vince Fong and Tom Lackey, and Senator Shannon Grove.
All comments from interested parties requested Kern County Superior Court work to maintain a courthouse and judicial presence in both Ridgecrest and Mojave.
"We feel like the ugly step-children of Kern County," said Chris Hill, the Board Chair of the Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce. "Due to the actions of a few, of some, it seems like they're going to impact many."
Hill said after hearing from Judge Bradshaw and the rest of the community Friday, he hopes the judge will take into consideration the many arguments made for keeping the Ridgecrest courthouses.
One argument that Judge Humphrey gave for consolidating and moving the courthouse to Tehachapi was distance, and the difficulty to find Judges, Judicial Officers, and other staff to travel to Ridgecrest. She argued commuting to Tehachapi would be more preferrable to Bakersfield and nearby residents.
Lt. Chris Noble with the Salvation Army in Ridgecrest said the same argument could be made for the people he serves, who cannot afford traveling such distances for court services.
"Many of them don't have the opportunity to travel," he said. "I don't think they're taking in great consideration of the people and what their needs are."
District Attorney Zimmer also argued a similar point in her letter, claiming that removing courthouses from these communities sends the wrong message to crime victims, and can potentially turn these "actual deserts" into "legal deserts."
"Without court, we don't have justice. Without justice, we don't have quality of life," Strand said. "Once they closed the Lake Isabella court in 2019, most all those cases aside from felonies were brought to Ridgecrest. Now you're going to have people from the Kern River Valley traveling over 100 miles and people from Ridgecrest traveling over 75 each way to go to court."
Judge Bradshaw attended the third meeting in Mojave Friday afternoon. He said that the Judicial Council has several meetings scheduled from the month of June and he hopes to present to them during those meeting after reviewing the feedback he's received.
As for interested parties in Ridgecrest, they say no matter what plan moves forward they want a commitment that Ridgecrest’s courthouse will not be set aside and closed entirely as part of this effort.
