Stephen Eldridge seems to have a penchant for the tough job.

Mere weeks after escaping the cauldron of Rumford politics, he’s plopped into the frying pan that’s the monstrous task of joint services coordinator for Lewiston and Auburn.

“This is the kind of stuff I like to do,” Eldridge said on Friday. “This will be fun.” We can’t think of a finer way to approach the Twin Cities’ most unenviable task.

Eldridge appears unafraid of difficult decisions with unpopular repercussions, a likely hallmark of his duty over the next 15 months.When fiscal discrepancies raised questions, as occurred in Rumford, he ordered an independent audit to sort the town’s books, even though it sparked an insurrection that cost him his job.

His soft landing into this critical position in L-A reflects the shortsighted doggedness of his critics in Rumford, a community – somewhat ironically – now desirous of somone offering consolidation services

Rumford is talking collaboration with Mexico, perhaps by starting with a merger study. The towns also held discussions, albeit quite preliminary and probably fruitless, about sharing an administrator.

On Wednesday, Mexico selectmen allowed Town Manager John Madigan to explore funding for the study; Rumford’s board was expected to do the same. Officials, such as Mexico chairwoman Barbara Laramee, feel failing to investigate consolidation would be irresponsible.

“Look at Lewiston/Auburn, Portland/South Portland,” Laramee said during a meeting of the Rumford/Mexico governing boards on March 5. “It’s an opportunity.”

Let’s take a step further: consolidation of services is more than opportunity, it’s necessity. We applaud Rumford and Mexico for starting this difficult dialog. The process is glacial, as L-A has shown, but critical to providing the relief demanded by taxpayers.

And it’s a mighty challenge that addresses everything from the unification of administration and police and fire services to, perhaps, issuance of a single L-A public library card (an idea suggested to us that seems easy to implement).

Nothing should be outside Eldridge’s purview, and his bosses – the triumvirate of Lewiston City Administrator Jim Bennett, the next city manager in Auburn, and Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council chief Lucien Gosselin – should give him free rein to explore every cost-saving avenue, however controversial.

The coordinator needs to be a butcher fond of sacred cows.

And he must be visionary, because many are watching to see what L-A can accomplish with this unique position, and Eldridge knows it carries high expectations, not just in the Twin Cities, but also in other towns across Maine interested in streamlining services, but needing a workable model.

Or, in other words, as coordinator, Eldridge is positioned again to influence Rumford policy. We pray the kind of controversy that followed the last time this happened fails to materialize.

It’s in everyone’s best interest that he succeeds.