About Us
Community Mediation Services began in 1983 as a non-profit Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) that assisted people who caused harm to take responsibility and meet with the person(s) who were harmed, if they agreed to meet, to talk about what was needed to make things right and repair the harm if possible.
About 2014 VORP chose to add the name, Community Mediation Services (CMS), to help Polk County residents recognize that CMS assists more than those who identify themselves as "victims" or "offenders".
Not only did Community Mediation Services historically facilitate Victim Offender mediation (now called Restorative Justice Dialogues), it also assisted community members in resolving their disputes about noise, property lines, barking dogs and a whole laundry list of other types of disputes. It was and still is a policy not to charge for our mediation services.
About 2014 VORP chose to add the name, Community Mediation Services (CMS), to help Polk County residents recognize that CMS assists more than those who identify themselves as "victims" or "offenders".
Not only did Community Mediation Services historically facilitate Victim Offender mediation (now called Restorative Justice Dialogues), it also assisted community members in resolving their disputes about noise, property lines, barking dogs and a whole laundry list of other types of disputes. It was and still is a policy not to charge for our mediation services.
Our Leadership
Our current Executive Director is Ken Braun. Ken has been in this position since January of 2005. He is the 5th person to hold this position in the history of the organization. As a non-profit organization, Community Mediation Services is governed by a Board of Directors, led by attorney, Tony James (President) Commissioner Lyle Mordhorst (Vice President), local business owner Heidi Mackay (Treasurer), attorney Matthew Jarvis (Secretary), retired Police Officer, Perry Lowe, and local business owner Jerry Moran.