AUBURN — A plan to share Health Officer Cristy Bourget with the town of Lisbon could save the communities some money.

City councilors are scheduled to ratify a deal letting Bourget work occasionally in Lisbon, where she lives. In exchange, Lisbon will pay Auburn $10,000 per year.

Lisbon Town Manager Stephen Eldridge said his town’s longtime health officer, Jan Stenberg, retired at the end of June.

Eldridge said the job required about 40 hours of work each year reviewing health conditions at town restaurants, festivals and special events. Changes in state health inspector rules would have required her to get additional education.

“She didn’t want to have to go through all that new training, so she decided to retire,” Eldridge said. “We wanted to maintain the position but instead of trying to find another person that could do the job part time, we decided to talk to other communities in the area.”

Eldridge said Bourget began working for the town unofficially in July, inspecting booths for the annual Moxie Fest.

Tuesday’s City Council vote formalizes the agreement.

According to the agreement approved by the Lisbon Town Council on July 17, Lisbon will pay Auburn $10,000 per year for Bourget’s services. She’ll continue her job in Auburn but will perform inspections in Lisbon as often as necessary. The agreement says she’ll be available for between 30 and 50 hours per year, but no more than 100 hours.

Eldridge said the deal gives the town a professional and trained health inspector and saves $500 per year.

According to the agreement, Auburn councilors will review the arrangement in February and decide if it’s worth continuing.

“Regional cooperating is what the future is all about in municipal government,” Auburn City Manager Clinton Deschene said. “If we don’t take some risks like this, we’ll never know if it can actually work.”

[email protected]