Auburn’s delay applying for Gov. Paul LePage’s business friendly certification last May paid off for both Twin Cities on Monday, according to local economic development officials.

Lewiston and Auburn were certified as business friendly by the state Department of Community & Economic Development, part of the governor’s Open For Business program.

The Twin Cities were named in the certification’s second round along with Westbrook, Pittsfield and Cumberland.

Auburn city councilors voted in April to apply to be one of the first to receive the certification. Then-acting City Manager Don Gerrish decided to delay the application to give Lewiston officials time to write its application. That would allow the two applications to be submitted together.

It was the right choice, according to Chip Morrison, president of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce.

“I learned long ago that when the cities do things together, businesses look more favorably on them,” Morrison said. “Businesses don’t like to see the cities fighting with one another. So, both being certified as being business friendly and being the first joint application, I think it’s an important symbol.”

The program creates incentives for towns to keep their regulations in line with the state. In exchange, those communities get a two-year certification, the right to use a Maine “Open for Business” logo and special promotions on the Maine Department of Community & Economic Development website.

The deadline for the first group of submissions was April 6. The nine winning communities were announced in June: Augusta, Bath, Biddeford, Brewer, Bucksport, Guilford, Lincoln, Saco and Sanford.

The second round of applications were filed July 6.

Auburn Economic Development Director Roland Miller said the joint application better represented what the community tries to do.

“We showed we have a very business friendly process and a business friendly environment,” Miller said.

Miller said having the designation is valuable, just by itself.

“Any recognition like that is good for our area,” Miller said. “We want to be on websites, we want to be visible to the public and we want people to learn about the opportunities that are so prevalent here in Auburn and Lewiston. This is just one more way to get that message across.”

Lincoln Jeffers, Lewiston’s interim director of Economic and Community Development, agreed.

“We’ve had the developers we’ve worked with say we have an easy process,” Jeffers said. “It’s nice to get that noticed and made public, to tell the people we haven’t had a chance to work with yet.”

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