By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Backers of combined Lewiston-Auburn city services will make their pitch to Gov. John Baldacci today.

The governor is scheduled to attend a joint meeting of the two city councils at Auburn Hall that night. The goal is to get state money to help pay for a coordinator to combine city services.

“He’s always had an interest in what we’re doing and has been helpful so far,” said Robert Clifford, co-chairman of the Mayors’ Commission on Joint Services. That group studied ways to combine services last year.

“He’s very interested in regionalization on large scale basis, and he’s said we are a good model for that,” Clifford said. “Now we’re trying to enlist his help moving forward.”

Clifford and co-chair Donna Steckino will present their report on joint services. They first presented that report to the city councils in February.

“This time, the presentation is really for him,” Clifford said. “Everyone else has heard it before, but it won’t hurt them to hear it again.”

Called together in 2004 by brothers and mayors Normand Guay of Auburn and Lionel Guay of Lewiston, the group’s job was to find savings from combined services.

The report calls for consolidation of the city’s bread-and-butter services – police and public works – over the next five years. It suggests eventual cooperation for Lewiston and Auburn fire departments and school systems.

Back office services, such as building codes and computer systems, would be the first things to be consolidated.

Clifford said the biggest step now is hiring one person to work with departments from both cities to look for savings.