For joint services supporters in Lewiston-Auburn, the doors to each city council chamber should be, metaphorically speaking, framed by stone arches on which “Abandon Hope, Ye Who Enter Here” is inscribed.

The L-A councils have, for two decades, been the last obstacle for weary travelers bringing plans for joint services. None has succeeded; each time, political unwillingness squelched proposals for collaboration or consolidation, regardless of merit.

Now, the latest effort – the citizens commission on joint services – is at the archways. After two years of study, the commission has two “shovel-ready” recommendations: Combine L-A’s municipal assessing departments and back-office computer systems.

The former could save $140,000 total, without altering the makeup of the departments. The latter is the foundation on which future collaboration is built; technical incompatibility is often cited as a hurdle (or an excuse) for failing to execute joint service plans.

The commission has penned two resolutions for the councils to consider, to express support for the collaboration. By the end of the month, councilors should air them in public, as further study, deliberation or debate is unnecessary. The matter is painfully clear.

Here are ways for L-A to save money, by working together. Do you do them or not?

It’s the same question that paralyzed previous councils. It’s the same question that has been discussed in the community, on these pages, and in the council chambers for months.

Eventually, councilors were going to have to choose. It should come as no surprise.

Therefore, it’s time for them to decide. The councils should support these resolutions without delay. Taxpayers don’t deserve to have collaboration sidetracked anew. These ideas are good, solid and practical, and can save money.

More than assessing or operating systems stand in the balance.

Lewiston-Auburn has a reputation for collaboration, but the simpler kind. Historically, the two cities have walked under a third umbrella – for public transit or the airport – instead of sharing one of their own. Creating more government to share services isn’t streamlining.

The recommendations for assessing and IT are different. They are truly shared services that save money and make government more efficient, without undue change or havoc on government operations or citizen expectations.

If done right, these initiatives would be implemented and few would notice, except in lower tax bills. How, then, are they losing propositions? Easy – they aren’t.

And, if done right, L-A’s reputation could change. Instead of being cities that work together, they could be cities that save together – a new model of collaborative governance that could (in days of tight municipal budgets) become the envy of Maine and perhaps beyond.

It sounds terrific. But nothing will occur if history repeats itself, and councils in Lewiston and Auburn fail to display the leadership necessary to pursue them.

From where we sit, this is an easy choice. Obviously, councilors have a greater constituency to serve and individual consciences to consider. Yet the benefits of what’s been proposed by the joint service commission are too crystalline to dispute.

So there are two paths ahead. Supporting joint services would usher L-A into a new era and redefine the cooperative relationship of the cities. Stopping it, though, would cement the reality that this process is futile, and with it, the savings to taxpayers.

Then it will really be time to build those archways.