ORDER NO. ~777Q RPF'ROVRL OF FUNDING REG?UEST FROM HILL COUNTRY ALTERNRTIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER, INC. On this the c3r-d day of Se ptember•, c00~, ~.ipon motion made 6y Commissioner Baldwin, seconded by Coinmissioner• Griffin, the Co~_irt unanimously approved by a vote of 4-O-Q~, the funding r•eq~_iest from Hill Co~_intry Rlternative Disp~_ite Resolution Center, Inc. to allocate ~4E,480.00 from the Alternative Dispute Resolution F~_~nd for• their operations for the next fiscal year. Sent Ry: BANDERA COUIVT'r; B.dU ;u5 g,j~,j~ 1; 9ep'0~ 1:SSFM;:u~ dA';Fai~e 1,~ 2°0~ $q6 -5250 4VtyitYllJJ1VPIL' KJ" I..VUKl AlrLt\LA 1(GVUIvJI PLEASE Fi1RtH[~H ONE ORIG[~YAI.,~1~ NINE COPI&S OF THIS REOUESI ANP DOCUM1iENTS TQ BF REVIE~+'D BY T'IIE COURT'. MEETING DATE: q~L3~02. OFFICE, l~O~:I T actw~~--d ~ ~s«s..,.. PLLG TIME PREFERRED: /O: OZ7 cc , i., iU$JECT: {PLEASE BE SPECIFIC) XECUTIVE SESSION REQUESTED: (PLEASE STATE REA5ON) DAME OF PERSON ADDRESSING 7HE COURT: ;STIMATED LENGTH OF PRESENTATION: F PERSONNEL MATTER -NAME OF EMPLOYEE: ~ZoX- ~mwiv+-. N~A Tithe for submitting this request for Coun to assure that the matter is posted in accordance with Titk 5, Chaptea 551 and 552, Goverrntent Code, is as follows: Meeting scheduled for Mondays: 'HIS REQUEST RECEIVED BY: "HIS REQUEST RECEIVED ON: 5:00 P.M. previous Tuesday. III Agenda Requests will be screened by [he County Judge's Office to determine if adequate information has been ~repared for the Court's fontte] consideration and action at time of Court Meetings. Your cooperation wiU be ppteciated atd contribute towards you request being addressed at the earliest opportunity. See Agenda Request Rules adopted by Commissioners' Court. ~. ~ ~. ~ ~ 77L% B D I BAILEY, DANFORD St EMERSON, P.L.L.C. E Attorneys At Law Ilse Bailey Harold J. Danford Rex Emerson September 17, 2002 Hon. Fred Henneke, Ken County Judge & Ken County Commissioners Ken County Courthouse 700 Main Street Kemille, TX 78028 Re: Funding Request - Hi11 Country Alternative Dispute Resolution Center, Inc., a Texas Non- Profit Corporation Dear Judge Henneke and Commissioners: Please accept the attached as our revised request for funding for the Hill Country Alternative Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (HCADRC). As you will recall, the HCADRC came before this Court over a month ago asking for this Court's support and assistance in turning the Center into a reality, and your support for the idea at that time has enabled us to make great headway on the project. We are proud and excited to tell you that the HCADRC is now neazly ready to begin operation. The HCADRC is requesting that the Kerr County Commissioners authorize $42,480.00 from is mediation fund to be used toward the operational expenses of the Center for the budget year October 1, 2002 -September 31, 2003. When we approached this Court previously, we requested funding for ahalf--year, the Court voiced approval for the project, but suggested that it would be easier for the Court to manage its budgeting of allotted funds if the Center were to make the budget for a full year, and if the Center's budget yeaz coincided with the county's budget year. The HCADRC Boazd of Directors met and authorized both changes, and the attached budget reflects both of these changes. We know the Center will be an asset to our community. The program is thoroughly supported by judges, local citizens, and attorneys. We most sincerely appreciate your support towazd our operational expenses in the amount of $42,480.00. Ilse Bailey, Prest ent HCADRC Enclosures: Project Description List of Board Members 1021 Main Street, Suite 200 • Kerrville, Texas 78028.830-257-4045 • Fax 830-896-5250 Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Constructive Approach "Guiding Clients to a satisfactory resolution of their disputes is the heart of the practice of law. In some cases, the proper resolution can be achieved through the presentation of competing positions before a judge and a jury. As guardian of citizen rights and final recourse when voluntary negotiations break down, the jury trial remains the cornerstone of our legal system. However, our system is organized in the assumption that most cases will settle outside of court. " State Bar of Texas ADR Section "Courts of this country should not be the places where the resolution of disputes begin. They should be the place where disputes end -after alternative methods of resolving disputes have been considered and tried" Sandra Day O'Connor, United States Supreme Court Justice Board of Directors Hill Country Alternative Dispute Resolution Center Officers• President Ilse D. Bailey Bailey, Danford & Emerson, PLLC Attorneys at Law 1021 Main Street, Suite 200 Kerrville, Texas 78028 Vice President Chris Wallendorf Attomey at Law P. O. Box 279 Comfort, Texas 78013 Secretary John Carlson Attorney at Law 260 Thompson Drive Suite 18 Kerrville, Texas 78028 Treasurer M. Rex Emerson Bailey, Danford & Emerson, PLLC Attomeys at Law 1021 Main Street, Suite 200 Kerrville, Texas 78028 Additional Board Members: Linda Uecker Kerr County District Clerk 700 Main Street Kerrville, Texas 78028 David Jackson Wallace & Jackson, P.C. Attorneys at Law 820 Main Street, Suite 100 Kenville, Texas Kerry Schneider Bandera County Attorney P. O. Box 656 Bandera, Texas 78003 WHAT IS MEDIATION AND WHY DO WE NEED IT? The purpose of IICADRC is to provide conflict resolution as an alternative to litigation. This will be done through well-trained mediators serving as volunteers to conduct mediation sessions. Our services are offered to residents of Kerr as well as surrounding counties. While HCADRC is available to all individuals involved in the legal system, we are especially excited with the prospect that IICADRC opens the doors to low-income residents with legal problems who cannot afford a professional litigator. By way of background, the Texas Legislature passed the "Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution Act" in 1987. It defines "alternative dispute resolution" (ADR) as a nonbinding confidential proceeding in which an objective, neutral third party facilitates the resolution and settlement of a dispute outside of a formal court of law. The legislature recognized that not only does ADR provide alower-cost method to the parties for resolution of their disputes, but it can also dramatically reduce the cost to all taxpayers for our court system, since litigation expense is not limited solely to the fees that the parties pay their lawyers. Litigation expenses include fee payments to jurors, salaries of the judges, court reporters, bailiffs, courtroom personnel, and clerks, as well as the basic expenses related to providing the physical courtroom facilities, all of which is paid for by taxpayers. In addition, the financial losses suffered by individual jurors from being required to attend jury service can be significant. ADR processes tend to be quick, informal, economic, flexible and less traumatic than the more formal courtroom proceedings. Because parties pazticipate more directly in resolving their disputes, ADR generally yields practical and creative agreements and more satisfied clients. Even for cases that cannot be fully resolved in the ADR process, it can assist the parties to properly assess their claims, so that they can approach litigation with realistic expectations. The Texas Legislature recognized the need for formalized ADR procedures in 1987. In 1993, a number of Kerr County residents attempted to begin an ADR Center here in Kerr County to provide these services at a minimal cost to local residents, but were thwarted by lack of funding. In 2002, at the urging of local judges, lawyers and concerned citizens, the Kerr County Baz Association enthusiastically took up the challenge of making the HCADRC a reality. Court dockets aze crowded and growing more so each day. Not all parties in dispute situations are financially able to afford the expense of litigation and court costs. So-called "neighbor" disagreements, although of importance to the disputants, are prime examples of how the HCADRC can provide an opportunity for settlement with a "win-win" result at a much lower cost to the litigant and to the taxpayer, and keep these cases out of the courtrooms. Another possible area for future expansion of our services is to assist in establishing a framework for dispute resolution programs in our primary and secondary schools. HILL COUNTRY ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER PURPOSE: The HCADRC, Inc., will provide anon-adversarial environment, staffed by well-trained volunteers, in which all residents of Kerr County and surrounding communities can resolve their differences of importance without the expense of costly litigation and court fees. DESCRIPTION OF THE CENTER: Hill Country ADR is a Texas Non-Profit Corporation, incorporated for the purpose of providing ADR services in Kerr County and the Hill Country region of Texas, more particularly in the counties served by the 198th and 216th Judicial Districts: Kerr, Bandera, Kendall, Gillespie, Kimble, Mason, and McCulloch counties. The board of directors is in the process of making application to the IRS for status as atax-exempt 501(c)(3)nnn-profit corporation. Initially, the HCADRC will serve primarily Kerr County, but the board's intent is to expand services into the referenced area as quickly as practicable. SPECIFIC USE OF FUNDS REQUESTED: Personnel: $42,480.00 The Center will have one full-time Executive Director, who will be responsible for running the Center's operations. This Director will answer to the Board of directors. The annual salary for this position has been set at $30,000.00. Based on our conversations with other mediation centers around the state, we have concluded that it will also be necessary to fund apart-time assistant's position, which we plan at this time to fund $12,480.00. This amount is based on an assumption that the position will be paid at $8.00 per hour, and for no more than 30 hours per week. TOTAL BUDGET REQUEST: $42,480.00 HCADR CENTER PROPOSED BUDGET FISCAL YEAR 10/1/02 - 9/31/03 CATEGORY OTHER FUNDS KERR COUNTY TOTALS Personnel $ 0.00 $42,480.00 $42,480.00 Travel $ 1,000.00 $ 0.00 $ 1,000.00 Trainin Materials $ 4,200.00 $ 0.00 $ 4,200.00 Pubfic Awareness & Education $ 3,000.00 $ 0.00 $ 3,000.00 Office Su lies $ 2,000.00 $ 0.00 $ 2,000.00 E ui ment $ 4,000.00 $ 0.00 $ 4,000.00 Furniture $ 1,200.00 $ 0.00 $ 1,200.00 Posta e $ 1,000.00 $ 0.00 $ 1,000.00 Tele hone $ 2,500.00 $ 0.00 $ 2,500.00 Prof./Accountin Fees $ 3,700.00 $ 0.00 $ 3,700.00 TOTALS $22,600.00 $42,480.00 $65,080.00 Expected Center income for 2002-20(13: $18,000.00 The Center expects to net at least $18,000 in income from training and mediations within the first year. This estimate is based on a projection that 12 -- 1 S people will attend the initial training session, and that approximately 2/3 of these attendees will pay the tuition without reduction. We also project that we will perform at least 150 mediations during the first year, at an average cost of $90.00 per mediation (based on a minimum chazge of $45.00 per participant). WHO WILL BE SERVED?: The HCADRC, Inc., anticipates at least 150 clients for the projected period of 2002-2003 @ $4S (minimum) per client. Our estimate is based on conferring with local justices of the peace and judges of the courts of record in Kerr County regarding the number of cases that they believe that they might refer to the Center. WHO WILL FACILITATE THE MEDIATIONS?: The State of Texas has mandated a specific course of training for certification as a mediator. The HCADRC will utilize only certified mediators. All individuals interested becoming certified as mediators will have an opportunity to attend classes sponsored by the Center. This 40-hour basic mediation class, taught by trained professional mediators, will be offered for approximately $900.00 per participant. This is comparable to costs for such training offered elsewhere in the state. After deduction for the costs of the training, the remainder of this sum will be income to the Center. As an incentive to establish a local pool of available volunteer mediators, the Center will permit attendees at its training sessions to defray the majority of the cost of the training by committing to perform at least 50 hours of volunteer mediation for the center within the first 9 months following the training. Additionally, the remainder of the training fee will be refunded to any volunteer mediator who performs 200 total hours of volunteer mediation in the two yeazs following the training. We are hopeful that this fee structure will encourage trainees to become volunteers for the Center. We anticipate a minimum of 12-1 S in the initial training class, which we plan to offer in November, and we expect at least a few of these to become regulaz volunteer mediators for the Center. FROM WHAT OTHER SOURCES DOES THE CENTER ANTICIPATE RECEIVING FUNDS?: The Center will be making other grant applications throughout the yeaz. We have recently submitted one application to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country for $8,200.00, and expect to submit additional requests shortly. Our initial contacts in the Kerr County community leads us to believe that until we are able to become financially self-sufficient, our local community and other non-local funding sources will be supportive of our efforts and will provide additional necessary funding as the needs arise.