Public Sector Dispute Resolution in Local Governments: Lessons from the SCAG Project

This article seeks to share lessons from an ongoing six-year project to overcome the barriers to the use of facilitation and mediation (ADR) processes for addressing regional and interjurisdictional planning disputes throughout Southern California. The participants in this effort originally assumed that the successful use of mediation in high profile disputes would lead to greater acceptance of ADR processes by governmental officials. After several failed attempts, project leaders concluded that it would be appropriate to refocus the original methodology and strategy for promoting the use of ADR. The new strategy focuses on the establishment of mediation services for community-based disputes referred to city government.

Despite the participation of experienced experts in the field of public policy mediation and an extensive expenditure of time and resources, the anticipated results have not been achieved to date. Nevertheless, participants have learned important lessons regarding approaches that are more effective in increasing city officials' reliance on ADR processes.