DIXFIELD – Municipal and economic officials from River Valley-area towns met Tuesday night in Dixfield to discuss sharing services for the betterment of all residents.

A discussion about ongoing talks to examine merging Mexico and Dixfield police departments instead expanded into exploring the feasibility of creating a multitown public safety commission.

“If we’re successful with public safety, the rest will be a piece of cake,” said Rumford Selectman Jim Rinaldo about other costs-sharing possibilities.

Rumford police Chief Timothy Bourassa, who attended the meeting not as the chief but as a Mexico resident, said officials had only to look at the success that the town of Oxford had when it built a public safety building.

“They did it for $1.5 million and it can house everything, all of firetrucks and police cruisers that Rumford, Mexico and Dixfield has, and still have room left over,” Bourassa said.

Dixfield Town Manager Nanci Allard said she had applied for a $10,000 grant to hire professionals to look at the feasibility of merging Dixfield and Mexico police departments.

But rather than wait to see if she gets the grant, Mexico town manager assistant David Errington suggested that the group form a committee to work toward regionalization. Mexico Selectman Reggie Arsenault spoke strongly in favor of it.

“It’s a better sell to our citizens, and we’re going to have to do this if we want to survive in this valley,” Arsenault said.

“We need to bring back our young people. Now, they graduate from college and leave. We cannot survive on people on fixed incomes,” he said.

Allard, who, with Dixfield selectmen facilitated the gathering of about 30 people, said she was very pleased to see so many show up from the towns of Rumford, Mexico, Dixfield, Carthage, Byron, Canton and Peru.

“This is a wonderful start in the right direction,” she added.

The group is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15, in the Rumford Town Hall auditorium.