LEWISTON – High oil prices will mean more than just empty heating tanks this winter, according to Lewiston councilors.

“We have to look at the bigger picture,” Councilor Robert Reed said. “It goes beyond the financial consequences, the overall cost of heating oil. What happens to fire prevention, if more and more people rely on wood-burning stoves? What happens to apartment buildings if their owners can’t afford to heat them?”

Councilors are scheduled Tuesday to begin discussing those topics at a 6 p.m. workshop meeting. Topics are expected to range from social services to fire safety and transportation.

“I have ideas,” Reed said. “We all do. We just want a chance to get all those ideas on the table, and then we can go back and figure out our next steps.”

Reed was critical of Auburn’s attempt to include citizens in the municipal oil bid. Auburn’s plan drew plenty of interest. Oil dealers were cold to the plan, however, and only one dealer submitted a bid.

Reed said he supports helping to organize smaller neighborhood cooperatives.

“The reason cities get a better deal is that they have the big tanks,” he said. “If neighbors on the same street can work together, they might be able to do the same thing.”

High oil prices are driving up demand for heating alternatives, including wood, wood pellets and natural gas.

“I think it’s a given that we will see more problems with those this winter,” he said. He expects to see more structure fires and possibly complaints about smoky air.

“And we’ll be expected to deal with that,” he said.

On the other hand, he expects more demand for social services as it gets harder for people to afford to fill their tanks. It was a problem for apartment landlords last winter, and a handful chose to walk away from their buildings rather than pay to fill the fuel tanks.

“What happens if the price of oil goes up another $2 per gallon?” he said. “We need to plan for those kinds of problems now, while we can.”