City drops mediation service City drops mediation service (February 04, 2004)

With demand for the city's mediation service waning and a budget crunch persisting, the Menlo Park City Council voted January 27 to discontinue the service. The vote was 4-0, with Councilman Chuck Kinney absent.

Both city staff and the community members providing the service had recommended terminating it, and no one from the public spoke on the topic during the meeting, Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour said. Since its beginnings in 1981, the service had chiefly been used by tenants and landlords seeking information or trying to solve disputes.

In fiscal year 2003-04, the city budgeted $8,284 for the service. In recent months, the mediators had worked hard to find ways to reduce costs, but demand remained low for unknown reasons, Ms. Seymour said.

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