By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Those first baby steps always seem to be the hardest.

City Councils from Lewiston and Auburn took their first tentative steps Monday night toward more government cooperation, agreeing to ask the state for money. That would pay for a staff person, answering to both city councils, to guide future consolidation efforts.

The vote wasn’t unanimous for either city, and everyone admitted it was a small step.

“But we have to take baby steps first,” said Councilor Kelly Matzen. “These are just baby steps.”

But it was just what the Mayor’s Commission on Joint Services was looking for Monday. That group presented its report on ways to combine services and save money.

According to the report, both cities can save money by combining some services. It recommends they start by making building and fire codes match in both cities and also urges them to have identical computer systems within a year.

Looking longer term, the commission envisions combining many back office functions – such as accounting, human resources and tax assessing – over three years. The so-called “bread and butter services” of police, fire and public works could be combined over a longer term, five years or more, if both cities agreed.

One fundamental concern was making sure the effort carries forward. Donna Steckino, co-chair of the commission, urged councilors to appoint a six-person commission to guide consolidation efforts and report annually on how efforts are doing.

She also urged them to create a staff person to lead the effort, answerable to both cities.

“It’s unrealistic to expect the city staffs to do this,” Steckino said. “They’re working hard enough to do their jobs already, and they won’t have the time to do this job as well.”

She recommended the cities ask for a state grant, and both councils agreed. Auburn councilors voted 5-2 to ask for state money, with councilors Belinda Gerry and Donna Lyons Rowell voting against it.

Lewiston councilors voted 4-3 to ask for state aid, with Councilors Renee Bernier, Paul Samson and Normand Rousseau voting against it.

“It just seems to me that we are being put in a serious time crunch here,” Bernier said. “I don’t see where it’s crucial to vote on this right now.”

But Councilor Stavros Mendros said it was important to act quickly.

“Everyone is watching us now, to see if we’re going to follow through on this tonight or if we are going to sit back and let this opportunity pass,” Mendros said.

But nobody was sure Monday how much money the cities would request or what state fund it would come from. Lewiston City Administrator Jim Bennett said he expected his staff to begin working on that question this week.

But his next move will be comforting city employees, reassuring them that their jobs are not on the line. Although the report calls for combining departments in the two cities, it calls for doing it slowly and without firing any employees.

“There is a lot of good in this report, and I just want to make sure that our staff sees it for what it is, and not something that’s targeting them,” Bennett said. “These are the very people that the councils need to follow through on this. They’re not going to feel like cooperating if they think their jobs are on the line.”