A new group studying combined Twin City services just needs its Auburn names to move forward.

The Lewiston City Council named its five members to the new Citizens Commission on Lewiston Auburn Cooperation last week. Lewiston’s appointees include Anthony Ferguson, Ron Farris, Bette Swett-Thibeault, Mark Carrier and Ron Bissonnette.

Auburn City Manager Pat Finnigan said she expects Mayor John Jenkins to announce his picks for the committee shortly.

“He has received more than a dozen applications for these five positions,” she said.

The group’s first job will be sorting through a stack of resumes for a joint services coordinator job, according to City Administrator Jim Bennett.

“We have a stack of resumes for that job, and we’d like to have them sorting through them and screening them out,” Bennett said.

The commission’s job continues that of a joint services effort that began late in 2004.

The first commission was appointed by the mayors of both cities and tasked with finding ways to save money by combining services between the two cities.

They released a report in February calling or consolidation of the city’s bread-and-butter services – police and public works – over the next five years. The report also 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 combined.

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