Mediation Newsroom

ADR And Mediation Procedures

The major ADR procedures suited to transportation decision-making are negotiation, facilitation, and non-binding mediation. Negotiation is the process of bargaining between two (or more) interests. It can be conducted directly by the concerned parties or can take place during the mediation process. In negotiation, the concerned parties meet to resolve a dispute. In Nevada and California, after a suit was filed against the Lake Tahoe-area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), environmentalists, developers, and other participants negotiated in workshops and small meetings to develop mutually acceptable environmental standards and long-range plans. The city of Salamanca, New York, negotiated with representatives of the Seneca Indian Nation to reach consensus on steps to provide economic development opportunities for the tribe.

Facilitation refers to skilled leadership focused on meeting process and organization. Agency staff or third parties can facilitate. Because it is broadly applicable to public involvement situations other than dispute resolution, facilitation is presented in this volume as a separate technique.
Mediation uses a trained, impartial third party to help reach consensus on substantive issues at disagreement among conflicting parties in public involvement. A mediator can be from within or outside an agency but must be neutral and perceived as such by all parties. While mediation can be binding or non-binding, only non-binding mediation is considered here. Non-binding mediation generally has the following characteristics:

A neutral third party, impartial and unaligned with any side of the conflict, is appointed to find consensus; the third party has no decision-making authority;
All interested parties are included, by agreement;
The parties are asked to participate voluntarily;
Opportunities are offered for local people, as well as officials or leaders, to be heard;
Community people receive responses to their suggestions or concerns;
The parties work toward reaching consensus; the third party makes suggestions for possible compromise positions and otherwise helps the parties negotiate;
If agreement is reached, it is usually considered a commitment on both sides;
Written agreements, memoranda, meeting minutes, or reports are usually included; and
Sessions are typically confidential and often protected by State statute as such.