LEWISTON – Sharing government can mean better services even if it doesn’t mean immediate savings, according to two regional government officials from British Columbia.

“The primary motivation for British Columbia was not saving money,” said Brian Walisser, executive director for the Caucus of Senior Policy Officials for the province. “There was more of an emphasis on quality of services. What they expected at the time was having savings long term, but improving services in the short term to the point that people might be more willing to pay for them.”

Walisser and Gary Paget, executive director of governance and structure for the provincial Ministry of Community Services, gave the keynote speech at a regional partnership conference in Lewiston. Business and government officials from across the state gathered in the Ramada Inn on Wednesday to get some tips on regionalization.

“We would never be so arrogant to tell you we have the answers for Lewiston and Auburn,” Paget said. “All we can do is say that from our vantage point, these are some things we’ve learned.”

But Gov. John Baldacci said regional government is key to Maine’s future.

“We’ve got to look at everything,” Baldacci said. “I’ll tell you right now – we can’t raise taxes, we can’t raise fees and we can’t raise tolls. The people of Maine are very clear that we have to be smart about our resources. This conference will be leading that way.”

Walisser said the regional effort began in the late 1960s, as way to bring services to cities, towns and rural areas without handing too much control over to the provincial government itself.

Leaders created a loose regional government template that lets the members decide just how much they want. Some manage utilities, others public safety and some are designed to handle parks and recreation.

The regional governments are managed by a board of directors. City councils appoint members, and residents of unincorporated rural areas elect others. The number and influence of each member is determined by the number of people they represent.

“You can have some cities with several board members, and each one has multiple votes,” he said. “They can be a sizable voting block.”

Paget detailed the history of one of British Columbia’s 27 regional governments, the Regional District of Nanaimo, along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island.

The region’s namesake city is a very urban city, and home to bulk of the residents. Most live in Nanaimo or one of three smaller cities. About 26 percent live in 13 unincorporated areas.

“It used to be the basket case of our regions,” Paget said. “They had the most fractious wards, with the municipalities fighting with the rural areas and everybody fighting with the city of Nanaimo. But at the moment it is one of the high performance regions.”

Success came from recognizing what all the residents had to gain, and then letting them take it from there. Most of the communities feared losing their individual identities.

“The municipalities didn’t want to lose local control, but they realized that they couldn’t do sewage treatment or solid waste on their own,” he said. “So it is a symbiotic relationship there.”

Successful regional districts have some things in common, he said. The districts have strong leaders championing the idea of shared services, but are built from the ground up. British Columbia has created an adaptable template for regional governments that can be customized by each regional group depending on what residents want.

“Good leadership can triumph over bad institutions,” he said. “Conversely, even when you have a good regional framework. But if you don’t have good leaders, I don’t think you’re going to accomplish very much.”