Mutual respect and a willingness to negotiation are both cornerstones of successful mediation.  Unfortunately, in the dispute between the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the Mille Lacs County Board of Commissioners regarding a law enforcement agreement, both are missing.  The official reason given for the delay in mediation? “Lack of respect ”.

According to Commissioner Dave Oslin, a recent editorial published in the Star Tribune at the beginning of November about the current law enforcement situation in Mille Lacs County showed a general lack of respect toward the board.  Oslin expressed that he finds the lack of respect tiresome and alluded to it being an ongoing issue.  The editorial stated “the board’s actions are out-of-touch in an area of socially-conscious consumers”.

The Governor’s office hired a retired judge to serve as mediator and was given an estimated total of no more than $10,000 for expenses.  An anonymous donor then submitted $5000 to cover part of the estimated $10,000 total and the Initiative Foundation of Little Falls matched that donation.  But before the two sides could reach mediation over the primary issues at hand, there was a request submitted that the board authorize a payment of $5000 for half of the cost of mediation and a dispute arose about whether financial gifts were an appropriate and legal option for paying for the process.

As a result of the ongoing dispute and issues concerning the cost of mediation, the mediation has been delayed at the request of Oslin, who stated, “I recommend we table this for lack of respect the county is getting.  We need to get the correct message out there.  I think our state officials are misunderstanding”.

When asked, he gave no estimate for how long he intended to postpone the mediation.