In 2006, for Lewiston-Auburn’s current iteration of collaboration and consolidation, a poll of residents found the services most favorable to unite were the ones they couldn’t see.

Seventy percent said back office systems should be consolidated, more than those who favored police, fire, or economic development. We’ve vigorously endorsed the aggressive latter actions, such as having one city manager, or marrying each city’s school district into one.

Our intent was to prod those designing a streamlined L-A – the Lewiston-Auburn Citizens Commission on Joint Services – to think bigger, beyond sharing, say, arborists or animal control officers.

We felt sacred cows couldn’t graze in either city. To everyone who questioned why consolidation or collaboration should occur, we thought the commission should respond, “Well, why not?”

Skeletons of failed collaborative models litter the history of Maine government, including some failures in Lewiston-Auburn. The cities’ ad hoc successes still make L-A the model for the rest of the state, but we wanted more.

We wanted Lewiston-Auburn to be the archetype of a new era of governance.

Like all grand expectations, though, ours are now tempered. After receiving our first “A” in its last report card, the consolidation/collaboration has undergone a shift.

Gone is Steve Eldridge, the joint services coordinator, replaced by Kay Rand, the former chief of staff under Gov. Angus King. Arrived are numerous political faces, stemming from the Lewiston City Council shakeup last fall.

This upheaval, more than anything, caused the joint services commission to re-chart its course. Although Eldridge’s work said $2.6 million could be saved from consolidation, the lure of savings isn’t enough to make the effort work.

Only political will – four yea votes on each riverside – can. Getting this, until recently, was uncertain. It still is. But enough support for collaboration and consolidation exists among councilors in both cities to make progress.

The joint services commission is now working on combining L-A’s assessing departments and computer systems, two “back office” services. It is a return to its roots, and the sentiments of that initial polling.

If assessing, a duty almost wholly prescribed in statute, cannot be combined, hopes for other departments dim. A single computer system, as well, is the foundation for collaboration down the line.

Androscoggin County, as assessing agent for all towns, is also being considered, but should be dismissed. (And not just because we don’t trust county government to count change, much less assess property.)

No, more so because this is an L-A effort. The $150,000 grant for joint services work was given to Lewiston and Auburn. Broadening discussions into a regional initiative is a distraction.

The joint services grant expires in December. By then, plans for integrating assessing and computer systems should be before city councils that understand they are proposals for creating a better government.

For this report card, consolidation earns a B. The mark is fitting, because the joint services commission and city councilors deserve credit for focusing this effort onto two important tasks.

But a B is not an A. There’s more work ahead.