AUBURN – Mayors from Maine’s largest cities will meet next week to look for savings and efficiencies.

Auburn Mayor John Jenkins will host mayors from Maine’s service center communities at 11 a.m. Feb. 26 in Auburn Hall. He’ll be joined by Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert, Portland Mayor Ed Suslovic and South Portland Mayor James Soule as sponsors of the meeting.

“When your regional service centers are doing well, the economy of Maine is doing well,” Jenkins said. “As service centers, we are in a unique position because we have a regional effect. And by pooling our resources and thinking of ourselves as similar, we can impact the entire state.”

Service centers are regional hubs, providing jobs, health care, shopping, services and cultural events for surrounding communities. Services and infrastructure come at a cost, and people regionally may use service center roads and services without paying for them.

In a largely rural state like Maine, the bulk of those services and infrastructure are clustered in a handful of cities.

“Cities like Presque Isle, Bangor and Brewer, Augusta and Waterville, all have the same things in common,” Jenkins said. “All of them have been invited to talk and listen.”

“The idea is that Maine’s economy is really a linked economy,” Jenkins said. “If we do something good, it ripples through the rest of the state.”

Jenkins said discussion will focus on problems all of Maine’s service centers face and possible solutions. Those could include banding together to buy supplies or working together to lobby legislators.

The final part will be deciding on the next steps – whether the mayors should continue meeting and working on regional solutions.

“We can’t wait for someone to come along and solve this thing for us,” Jenkins said. “We have to help ourselves.”