LEWISTON – The three men elected to Lewiston government Tuesday won’t take office until January, but City Administrator Jim Bennett plans to get them involved right away.

Voters picked Lionel Guay as the city’s next mayor, and Stavros Mendros and Robert Connors as new city councilors.

Bennett has scheduled a new council orientation for the three on Nov. 12 and is mulling a Friday-Saturday Rumford retreat for the full 2004-05 council later this month.

“We’re working out the details now, but the big thing we want to focus on is working together,” Bennett said. “We plan to stay away from hard topics. What we really want to get them to focus on is how they can communicate with each other and work together.”

Next week’s orientation will be a basic summary of council practices and city government. Although this is the first time any of the three has served on the City Council, Bennett said he thinks they are all pretty familiar with the way it works.

“Connors is the former school superintendent, so he understands a lot of what goes on here,” Bennett said. “Mendros never was on the council, but he was a state representative and he’s certainly been around government. And Lionel, even though he’s new to government, understands quite a lot.”

Bennett said the Rumford retreat would include Guay and the entire council – including the five incumbents re-elected on Tuesday – and Bennett. He plans to hire a facilitator to teach all nine to communicate more efficiently.

Some councilors need to understand the big picture before they can consider the details, Bennett said. Others are just the opposite. They need to understand all of the details before they can begin to consider the big picture.

“Imagine what happens if two of them are talking and they are complete opposites,” Bennett said. “Their ability to communicate is hampered unless they understand the difference.”

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