AUBURN – Councilors were reassured Monday that a deal between Lewiston and Casella Solid Waste should not doom their trash incinerator.

Joe Kazar, executive director of Mid-Maine Waste Action Corp., said a potential Lewiston-Casella deal seems to keep a working relationship with the incinerator intact.

The deal also appears to keep municipal solid waste from flowing into the Lewiston landfill. The landfill could become a competitor to MMWAC otherwise.

“But could there be (municipal solid waste) there someday? Yes,” Kazar said. “Any contract can be changed later on, and that is our concern.”

MMWAC is owned and controlled by 12 neighboring communities, with Auburn having the largest share of control. Its electrical generating incinerator is on Goldthwaite Road in Auburn.

Lewiston and MMWAC have a 10-year contract trading services. MMWAC takes Lewiston’s trash collections and burns it in its Auburn incinerator. Lewiston takes MMWAC’s leftover ash and buries it in the city landfill.

The deal has been in place since 1997, but was renewed in 2001.

Lewiston city councilors are scheduled to vote tonight on whether to send a management deal with Casella to the voters.

If the issue makes the ballot and voters agree, Casella would pay the city the city up to $2.5 million the first year, plus a minimum of $800,000 per year in monitoring and host fees. Casella would also take over the KTI Biofuels facility off Plourde Parkway and convert it to a sorting facility for construction and demolition debris within four years.

“My only concern would be whether Casella has to honor the deal with MMWAC or not,” Councilor Eric Samson said. “I would have little faith in that happening until they actually sign on the bottom line.”

But Kazar said he was confident Lewiston and MMWAC’s ash-for-trash deal would be preserved for at least 10 years whether Lewiston contracts with Casella or not.

Councilors said that was good news.

“But we still have concerns about the rest of the matter,” said City Councilor Bob Hayes. Those were outlined in a Aug. 31 letter to the Lewiston council. It urges Lewiston to not put the referendum on the ballot until the two councils can meet to discuss environmental and other concerns. The next joint meeting is scheduled Sept. 25.