Dec 15, 2015 By Harry Funk 2 min read

Neighborhood-type disputes often wind up in front of District Judge Blaise Larotonda, with mixed results.

“My biggest issue in a court setting is that people just will continue to argue, not listen to each other, won’t even hear the other side,” he recently told the Mt. Lebanon Commission. “We need an option where people are going to start talking with each other out of the avenue of a court proceeding.”

Larotonda is working with the Mt. Lebanon Community Relations Board on a revised mediation program by which those with disagreements can attempt to work out issues.

“The goal is not that the community relations board actually comes up with a resolution, but that they encourage the participating parties to forge their own solution and to compromise,” Susan Morgans, municipal staff liaison to the board, explained.

Mediation actually is a long-standing task of the board, which was founded in 1966. The revised program, which is to be conducted on a six-month trial basis, will feature a new component.

“The twist is that we’re going to work with the parties beforehand,” Lisa Borrelli-Dorn told commissioners. She and fellow community relations board member Dianne Wainwright, both attorneys, developed the revision, which the board adopted in November.

Borrelli-Dorn explained that a board member work with each side in the dispute, in part “to learn how to present a case without the extraneous emotional baggage that sometimes can bog things down.”

“They can either present for them,” she said, “or they can help them smooth out their story, hit the highlights so that it doesn’t go on forever, deal with the issues at hand.”

A third member of the board would serve as mediator.

“People could approach us directly for mediation,” Susanne Wagner, board chairwoman, said. “They could either come to the judge or come directly to us.”

Larotonda plans to have information about the program available in his Mt. Lebanon courtroom to make referrals.

“In this day and age, we’re trying to get people to talk to each other again,” he said. “This is one good way to do it, especially when you have a disagreement.”

Borrelli-Dorn said the program addresses the potential for lack of civility in such situations.

“Once you get the emotions out of it, a lot of things can be resolved,” she said. “That’s our goal.”