PARIS – Increasing or implementing shared services among Norway, Paris and Oxford could save money but also hurt feelings and bruise egos, representatives of each town agreed Tuesday.

That’s why the communities will approach a proposal for more regional services with caution.

The suggestion was put forth by Norway Selectman Bob Walker, who asked the town managers and Boards of Selectmen to meet Tuesday. The group gathered at the Paris Fire Department with no agenda.

“This is a great assembly by three towns that happen to be divided by two traffic lights, and that’s the only difference between the three,” Walker began.

Fire, police, recreation and waste services are just a few of the areas where the towns could work more closely, he said.

“The three towns, we need to be talking more,” Walker said. Although the idea may be naive, he said, “My feeling is the only way we’re ever going to know if any of these things make sense to pursue is if we sit down and talk about it.”

Some selectmen expressed reservations about the idea of consolidated services. Others were extremely supportive.

Selectman Mike Thompson of Oxford admitted he may be going out on a limb, but said police services from the towns will eventually need to be combined into a single department.

There was little response to this proposal, and with no agenda discussion became scattered. Conversation about police services turned to fire and highway services and then to recreation.

But one example of how the towns might work together, Walker said, was each could be responsible for hiring five members of a regional fire department as pressure is put on towns to do away with volunteer fire services. That would be far cheaper, Walker said, than each town hiring 15 professional firefighters.

Shared sand and gravel resources and even shared grant writing were discussed as well.

After meeting for just over an hour the group decided to reconvene in September to discuss what services or equipment their highway departments might share or purchase together.

Interim Oxford Town Manager Sharon Jackson warned the towns to be careful while discussing service consolidation with employees.

“Every time discussions are about combining services, defenses come up and territorial issues come up between departments and employees,” she warned.

Town departments would not necessarily be consolidated, those present agreed. Instead, efforts would be made to help the various departments with sharing of things such as additional manpower or equipment.

The next joint meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Paris Fire Department.