A project known informally as “The People’s Court” is winding down operations.
For the past 18 years the city and Sarnia-Lambton YMCA have partnered on a Community Mediation Program that offered a way for residents to try and resolve neighbourhood disputes through a mediator at no cost to participants.
The program, first championed by Mayor Mike Bradley, has successfully diffused numerous conflicts over the years at little cost to the municipality, a recent staff report noted.
But after the local YMCA was amalgamated into the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario last November the new agency dropped its support for the program.
As a result, city council voted recently to discontinue the service.