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Public Dispute Resolution |
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Services by Local Dispute Settlement CentersTwenty-seven dispute settlement centers operate in North Carolina, and general information about all of them can be found through the Mediation Network of North Carolina website. Three of the centers currently have sufficient expertise and experience in public disputes to be helpful to North Carolina state and local government officials for a variety of problems or conflicts. However, all 27 centers offer basic mediation training which can assist elected and appointed government officials in handling conflicts as part of their public responsibilities. More centers are gaining experience on complex public disputes, and will be added to this site. The three centers are:
The
Mediation Center, Asheville 1. Contact person for public disputes: Kathryn Liss or Barry Master 2. Kinds of services for public disputes:
Explanation: the group facilitation or consultation could be for public meetings (the Center would redesign anything called a "hearing") and the Center has worked with several government bodies. 3. Examples of projects: We have facilitated meetings for groups where there is a controversy. However, we cannot identify the groups due to our standards of confidentiality. One group was a neighborhood group in conflict with developers, another was a group of recipients complaining about a non-profit social service agency. We facilitated a group of non-profit organizations as they worked toward a collaboration around facilities. We have trained citizens to be small group facilitators for the National Days of Dialogue on Race Relations in Asheville and Buncombe County. We have worked with Smart Start communities to facilitate greater collaboration.
Orange
County Dispute Settlement Center 1. Contact person for public disputes: Andrew M. Sachs, Public Disputes Program Coordinator 2. Kinds of services for public disputes: The Public Disputes Program helps groups in the public, private and non- profit sectors to resolve conflicts and solve difficult problems by providing meeting facilitation, multiparty mediation, collaborative process design, and training/educational services. 3. Examples of projects: County Landfill: facilitated a series of work sessions through which residents living near a landfill and representatives of local governments negotiated conditions by which the governments would acquire soil from adjoining tracts for use in landfill operations while minimizing adverse impacts on residents and the environment. Government Agency Retreats: facilitated retreats for the Chapel Hill Town Council, Carrboro Board of Aldermen, Hillsborough Board of Commissioners, Orange County department heads, Orange County Human Relations Commission, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Leadership Team, Chapel Hill Head Start Administrative Team, Chapel Hill High School faculty and administration, Triangle J Council of Governments staff and the Triangle Transit Authority Board of Trustees. Community Agency Retreats: facilitated board and staff retreats for Habitat for Humanity, Interfaith Council for Social Services, Sierra Club Headwaters Group, Orange County Literacy Council, Orange County Housing Corporation, Triangle United Way, Volunteer Orange!, Orange County Partnership for Young Children, Orange-Chatham Comprehensive Health Services, Community-Based Public Health Initiative. AIDS Home Controversy: organized steering group and public forum for sponsors of a proposed group home for people with AIDS and residents of four surrounding neighborhoods. School Bond: assisted Orange County Board of Commissioners, Orange County Board of Education, and Chapel Hill/Carrboro School Board in conducting joint, public discussions on the scope, dollar amount, distribution,and timing of school bond referendum. 4. Publications related to public disputes: “When Neighborhood-Based Dispute Settlement Programs Mediate Local Public Disputes” by Andrew M. Sachs. Conflict Resolution Notes, 6:3, January 1989. “Local Dispute Settlement Centers: Helping Planners to Build Consensus” by Andrew M. Sachs. Carolina Planning, 16:1, Spring 1990. “Local Volunteer Mediation Center Can Help With Solutions” by Scott Bradley and Andrew M. Sachs. Nation Cities Weekly, August 31, 1992. “Extension’s Role in Environmental Policy Conflict” Video script and handbook for satellite teleconference, written by Andrew M. Sachs. North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. (February, 1993). “Resolving Disputes the Kinder, Gentler Way: The North Carolina Way” by Andrew M. Sachs. Planning, 61:5, May 1995. “Strategies for Resolving Intragroup and Intergroup Conflict” by Andrew M. Sachs, in Face to Face: Resolving Conflict Without Giving Up. Curriculum for AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National Service. Washington, D.C.: Corporation for National Service (January, 1996). “Local Dispute Settlement Centers: Helping to Build Consensus in Land Use Planning” by Andrew M. Sachs. ADR Report: News and Strategies for Alternative Dispute Resolution Practitioners, 1:7, August 6, 1997. "Understanding Public Disputes
Resolution in Community Mediation" by Andrew
M. Sachs. Mediation Quarterly 17:4 (Summer
2000). 341-349.
Transylvania
Dispute Settlement Center 1. Contact person for public disputes: John Fenner, Executive Director 2. Kinds of services for public disputes:
3. Examples of projects: Comprehensive Planning Process: helping design, facilitate and train participants in a two year participatory process for City of Brevard as it develops a comprehensive plan for the year 2020. Process includes town meetings, one-on-one “Appreciative Inquiry” interviews, small group dialogue sessions, and numerous volunteer task forces and focus groups. Community Leadership Program: provided training and session design for Vision Brevard/ Transylvania and Vision Henderson leadership programs. Training includes issues of cultural diversity, collaboration and conflict resolution skills, and facilitation techniques. Community Agency Retreats: facilitated board and staff retreats for Henderson County United Way, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Transylvania Christian Ministry, Henderson County Dispute Settlement Center, Hospitality House, Pisgah Legal Services, Transylvania and Polk County Smart Start. Community Dialogue Projects: organized trained facilitators, and facilitated community wide “Study Circle on Education”, “Listening Project on Race Relations”. Mediation/Facilitation of Controversial Community Issues: facilitated government committee on Biking/Hiking Paths to resolve controversial “rails to trails” issue, facilitated Community Task Force meetings with local school board to address racial and other controversial school issues; facilitated local fire department/community meeting to resolve conflicting issues; facilitated a meeting of neighborhood residents and proponents of a new playground to help address concerns over the project. Special Education Mediation: provide mediation services to schools and parents conflicted over special education issues. |
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