LEWISTON – The Twin Cities might not be ready for Jim Bennett to act as top administrator for both Lewiston and Auburn, but it might be worth trying him out at the post.

Bennett, Lewiston’s city administrator, said he could act as the temporary city manager of Auburn while Auburn councilors look for a permanent replacement for Pat Finnigan.

The idea intrigued members of the Citizens Commission on Joint Lewiston-Auburn Cooperation who met Thursday.

“It’s a way to get a free, at-home trial of what this could look like,” co-chairman Peter Garcia said.

Members of the group voted to encourage both city councils to meet and hear from Bennett how he would do the job.

Finnigan is scheduled to leave as city manager on June 1. Auburn City Councilor Eric Samson said Assistant Manager Laurie Smith will fill in as interim manager.

“And we’re very comfortable with Laurie in that position,” Samson said Thursday. “But it is worthwhile to consider doing something else.”

It’s too good an opportunity to pass up, Garcia said. The commission has been studying ways to combine municipal services in the Twin Cities to boost efficiency and possibly save money.

“But we’ve been talking about combining arborists positions,” Garcia said. “Nobody planned on talking about combining top administrators this early in the process. But the opportunity just sort of dropped in our lap.”

The group is continuing work on a February 2006 report on joint services. That report said some city departments – mostly back office operations – could be combined quickly. Changes to police, fire and administration would take longer and require much more effort, however.

Bennett said Thursday he’s not sure he’d want to be the top administrator for combined Lewiston-Auburn.

“I don’t think it makes sense to appoint me manager of both cities at this time,” Bennett said. “It’s too bold a step, and I don’t think people are ready for that. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”

He would be willing to act as interim Auburn manager, however. He’d have to surrender some of his Lewiston responsibilities to Phil Nadeau, his current deputy city administrator. Laurie Smith would continue in her role as Auburn’s assistant city manager.

“I can’t see how anyone has anything to lose from doing it,” Bennett said. “We’d get to see how the combined position would work, and it would let us get the consolidation process moving forward. And in the end, if it doesn’t work for everybody, we can always stop.”

And Bennett said Auburn’s search for a permanent replacement must continue.

“I imagine that search would go on for quite some time,” he said. “In the meantime, everyone would get an opportunity to see how a combined administrator might work.”