The Program is hereby established to provide an innovative and
emerging community mediation services, focusing on being a part of
a preventive strategy to assist the community and community members
to navigate cultural differences and teach and implement mediation
skills for community members to learn, use and benefit from over the
long term. The goal of the program is to facilitate dialogue-based
mediation that guide the parties to design their own path to address
conflict. Community mediation programs are a proven, cost effective,
confidential, problem-solving process where parties in a dispute voluntarily
work together under the guidance of a trained mediator to reach a
solution, through communications to resolve disputes in ways that
promote respect, common goals and keeping relationships intact.
The Program shall operate under the following guidelines:
A. Participation
in the Program is voluntary. Participants may end the mediation process
at any time and for any reason.
B. The
Program is intended to be private and confidential, to encourage open
and honest discussion. Exceptions to confidentiality include: dangerousness
to self, others, or property.
C. Participants
design their own dispute solutions with the assistance of a trained
mediator who shall be appointed by the Mayor.
D. The
Mediator shall make reasonable efforts to schedule the initial mediation
session within two weeks of a request.
E. Mediation
sessions will last approximately two hours with the objective of resolving
disputes in one to two sessions, depending on the nature of the dispute.
F. The
Mediator shall establish guidelines for communication at the commencement
of each session to provide the participants a safe environment. Mediation
sessions shall be designed to be informal with emphasis on conversation,
understanding, and collaborative problem solving.
G. In
addition to resolving disputes, a goal of the Program is to teach
participants alternative ways to handle disputes in the future.
H. The
Program shall be provided to all residents of the Town of Dover at
no cost. Participants in landlord-tenant disputes may access the Program
upon payment of a fee of $100 for one session of up to 2.5 hours,
the cost of which shall be split between the parties.
The Mayor shall appoint a Program Mediator with the advice and
consent of the Board of Aldermen. The Mediator shall have the following
qualifications: A license to practice law in the State of New Jersey,
fully bilingual oral and written English and Spanish, knowledge and
experience in immigration, landlord tenant, and family matters. The
Mediator shall be appointed for a term of one year commencing on January
1 or anytime thereafter if not on January 1 and ending on of that
calendar year ending December 31.