LEWISTON – The time for talk about joint services in the Twin Cities is over, according to two Lewiston councilors.

“I think it’s time for us to stop worrying about that and start going it alone,” City Councilor Denis Theriault said Tuesday. “We’ve had a hard time reaching some common dream. Now, I think it’s time for the people of Lewiston to pursue their own dream.”

The comments came during a council discussion about a proposed development moratorium along the city’s riverfront. Councilors said they wanted to enact a moratorium to make sure development in that area, from the river east to Kennedy Park and from Central Maine Medical Center south to Adams Avenue, meets standards that have yet to be defined.

They’ll take the matter up at a public hearing next month.

Councilors face a host of decisions about development in that area – a new hotel and parking garage, the Bates Mill No. 5 building and promoting development of the rest of the Bates Mill complex.

“The chance we have is almost breathtaking, but we need to make sure we have a greater vision for the area,” Councilor Tom Peters said.

Theriault said councilors need to decide that vision themselves, and quickly. He favors deciding Mill No. 5’s fate before Christmas and doesn’t think there’s a need for any more committees. That includes a Joint Downtown Master Plan group just beginning its work.

“We can ‘committee’ this whole thing to death,” Peters said.

If that’s the case, Mayor Larry Gilbert said, councilors should simply disband the master plan committee.

“If we’re going to disregard what the volunteers say, why are we wasting their time?” Gilbert said. “These are groups that we’ve asked to do these jobs, to involve the public in city decisions. If we are not going to listen, we should let them go.”

Theriault and Peters jumped at that idea, moving to disband the master plan committee immediately. City Administrator James Bennett suggested they wait until the Oct. 7 meeting, and they agreed.

The councilors’ comments echoed those of Auburn city councilors Monday night. They panned the idea of sharing an assessing service with Lewiston, with Auburn Councilor Dan Herrick saying it was time to put an end to joint services discussions.

Gilbert said Tuesday he was frustrated that the two cities seemed unable to find a way to share operations. He served on both the Mayor’s Commission on Joint Services in 2004 and the L-A Together effort in 1996.

“If we never intended to follow up and do what these groups suggested, we shouldn’t have wasted all this time talking about it,” Gilbert said. “I want to see consolidation. I know there are savings we could realize, and I think it’s a shame we cannot find a way to proceed.”