This is in response to the guest column by Peter Garcia and Bette Swett-Thibeault. (Oct. 12.)

I’ve grown weary of being taken to task by those who support the work of the Citizens Commission on Lewiston-Auburn Cooperation.

Each time I raise my hand to question the findings or point out any flaw or inaccuracy, I am met with promises to review the material and revise, but each revision only makes the total savings look that much greater. While there are savings to be had, they are not the $2.7 million currently stated by the commission.

The $2.7 million (from the Farris Report) is comprised of six overarching items: savings by consolidating department heads ($1.2 million) and consolidating administration ($90,000); and savings in police ($453,000), public works personnel ($700,000), equipment purchases ($70,000) and public works efficiencies ($175,000).

One major problem with the report as presented to me was the police and public works personnel totals were accumulated over the first five years, while other numbers are for a given year, assuming the changes are made.

They cannot state the number is $2.7 million in any given year if that is true. The actual savings are $90,000 per year for police and $140,000 per year for public works. The total savings in any given year, assuming all the changes, can be no greater than $1.77 million, not the $2.7 million stated publicly.

Until anyone shows I am wrong, or corrects the figures to reflect this error, I cannot accept the report as accurate or informative.

I have other problems with the report.

In making both cities share a department head, I can only assume that either someone would later request an assistant to cover duties no longer done (when two positions became one), or the opposite position, which is we do not currently need full-time department heads, only part-time.

In fact, I have been told that several department heads actually advocated for additional staffing, indicating they were understaffed at present and need more help, not less. But that information was not contained or indicated in the original reporting last year.

I do agree with Garcia that there are savings to be achieved, particularly in consolidation of our schools. If we started with one consolidated school department, we would keep both cities with individual identities and have an opportunity for significant savings in administration to be saved by both cities.

Let’s start there and move forward. I call for a referendum of the people of both Lewiston-Auburn to find if there is support for such a proposal.

Robert Reed, Lewiston

City Councilor, Ward 7