LEWISTON — A swine flu outbreak in the Twin Cities could sideline 25 percent of municipal employees, but officials are working on plans to keep both cities operating.

Laurie Smith, assistant city manager of Auburn, said the cities are looking at cross training employees, diverting workers to emergency services and considering which employees can be allowed to work at home in case the flu sidelines city workers.

“We’ve been looking at what services are mandatory, the ones that need to keep running no matter what, and what we can divert,” she said.

Phil Nadeau, acting city administrator in Lewiston, said Lewiston is using Auburn’s plan as a template.

Nadeau and Smith briefed councilors from Lewiston and Auburn at a special joint meeting Thursday. The two cities are planning a table-top swine flu exercise to test their preparedness on Oct. 30, Nadeau said.

Smith said the preparations so far have included checking personnel policies. The cities could also move to close some services entirely if the H1N1 virus begins spreading. Those could include the public libraries and recreation department programs, she said.

The cities are also checking with subcontractors to  make sure they have flu-outbreak plans in place.

“We contract out for our trash collections, for example,” she said. “So we want to make sure that service continues, no matter what.”

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