An alternative approach

Not all disputes have to be resolved in a courtroom.

Hays, Comal, Guadalupe and Caldwell county residents have an alternative approach they can take through the Central Texas Dispute Resolution Center, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization providing mediation services and training to the underserved and unserved.

The Central Texas DRC started 10 years ago as a project of a Texas State University graduate student named Anna Bartowsky, who was taking classes under Dr. Walter Wright, an associate professor in the Legal Studies Program of the Department of Political Science at the university.

Wright teaches courses in law and alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and his primary research interest is mediation. But even he didn’t think that Bartowsky would be able to get a dispute resolution center (DRC) off the ground as a graduate project, according to Central Texas Dispute Resolution Center Director Martha Joyce.

“Walter didn't think she could do it,” Joyce said. “He didn’t think she could get a DRC going. But Anna was very, very driven — you didn't tell her no. She just kept on until she got something going in January of 2010 — that’s when we had the first training class for mediators.”

There are 19 dispute resolution centers throughout Texas. Wright was a part of one in Houston before he moved to Texas State University, and according to Joyce, he was trying to start one in the Central Texas area but hit a wall until Bartowsky came along.

“It was a goal of his to start one, but it just didn't happen because people weren't very receptive of it,” Joyce said. “So it took Anna’s persistence to get it going. And it was just people had done things the old way all their lives and they didn't see that they needed to change.”

What the Central Texas Dispute Resolution Center does, according to CTDRC Mediation Coordinator Alyssa Kutach, is to take a preventative approach to resolve conflict. They seek to use training and community education to resolve conflict before it becomes a judicial or legal case as well as mediate cases ordered through the courts and cases referred by an attorney.

The CTDRC offers services to over half a million people in its service and ancillary areas. But the population it aims to serve are those that are underserved.

“Our mission is to serve the unserved and underserved for situations that are not typically served,” Kutach said, “to basically peacefully resolve conflict within our communities.”

But mediators aren’t negotiators, Kutach said. They also aren’t lawyers fighting for a side. They are essentially providing a process that can facilitate some sort of resolution for both parties and at the end they can provide a legally-binding contract that serves both parties’ needs.

“Once the mediators have heard both sides, what they do is have a two-way exchange, brainstorming process if you will. ‘So this is what we've heard and this is what you guys are disputing on. Let's think of some options of how we can move forward,’” Kutach said. “And when I say ‘we,’ I mean the parties. Mediators do not make any decisions, what they do is facilitate the conversation. And then hopefully, by the end, there has been some sort of agreement reached, whether it be all or some. And that's when the mediators will memorialize the agreement. So again, the mediators aren't making the agreement, they are taking what the parties have said and writing down what they're agreeing to. And at the very end, hopefully, they will have some agreement to sign off too and we provide a legally-binding contract called a mediated settlement agreement.”

The mediated settlement agreement provides a legally-binding contract in the eyes of the law and gives both parties documentation of the agreement for future use.

The CTDRC has five mediation areas that they serve: Community, civil, family, divorce and child custody disputes.

Community mediation includes anything that is community-oriented and frequently the cases do not have a legal, ordinance, or contractual basis for resolution. Examples of these cases are barking dogs, nuisance type behavior and incompatible land use. In some cases, they involve a neighbor and a neighboring business. These cases are often referred to CTDRC by law enforcement officers, according to Joyce. But a referral is not a requirement and the parties themselves can contact CTDRC directly.

Civil cases that have been filed in the Justice of the Peace courts, district courts or county courts at law can also be mediated by CTDRC. Cases that would fall in the jurisdiction of each court are also appropriate for mediation by CTDRC before the cases are filed in court, as long as the amount in dispute is under $50,000. There is no fee for these cases if ordered by Justice of the Peace Court.

The CTDRC also deals with divorce cases involving property distribution, child custody, visitation and child support as well as suits affecting parent-child relationships, in cases of unmarried parents who are separating. CTDRC does limit these cases by income — Parties can make no more than $60,000 in joint income if the parties are living together or $40,000 of individual income if the parties are living separately.

According to Joyce, CTDRC settles approximately 65-80 percent of all cases that come to them, but she said what they aim to do more than anything is facilitate communication, where there wasn’t before.

“Whether we like it or not, people that come in for mediation might not settle here. But even then, sometimes they leave here and eventually settle because they get to thinking about what transpired, what they talked about and even how communication opened up, and they decide to settle whether they come back to mediation a second time or not,” Joyce said. “I think the big thing is that we try to facilitate communication between the two parties. And we try to get everybody at the table. Now, they may not be at the same table, but we get them at the table talking.”

“I think the big thing is that we try to facilitate communication between the two parties. And we try to get everybody at the table. Now, they may not be at the same table, but we get them at a table talking.”
- Martha Joyce

Mediation saves clients money, according to Joyce, but it also saves county courts money.

“Each court case that we settle, it saves the county at least $5,000 a day in court time. So if we can get them in here to mediate and we can get a mediated settlement agreement written up, and they can get the matter taken care of and finished up, it really moves the process through the court system faster. And if you could only see the way people walk out of here, when they've had a mediated settlement agreement, versus how they came in here — emotionally, mentally, I mean, it's like the world has been lifted off their shoulders.”

For further information contact CTDRC, go to their website or email office@centexdrc.org