It’s time for Lewiston and Auburn city councils to decide if combining services has a future, says Peter Garcia, co-chairman of the Citizens Commission on Joint Lewiston Auburn Cooperation.

“The idea of joining services in the Twin Cities has never had a fair public hearing at the city council level,” Garcia said Tuesday. Work has been farmed out to a series of committees and commissions, but elected officials have never voted on it.

“It’s been on plenty of agendas for plenty of groups,” Garcia said. “But there really is only one agenda that matters – the city council agenda. And unless they vote on it, it doesn’t exist.”

Garcia and members of the commission presented a progress report to a joint meeting of the Lewiston and Auburn city councils Monday night. Their study so far predicts the cities could save $1.86 million over the next five years by combining government services, including sharing a city manager.

Councilors agreed to continue discussions at their individual workshops in the next few weeks.

Garcia’s group began meeting in March 2007. It used previous studies of joint services as well as input from city department heads to write a feasibility study of the concept.

“It’s obvious at this point that there are efficiencies from combining services, and those efficiencies amount to real dollars,” Garcia said. “We have estimates. We do not have them fully measured, and they may not be fully measured until someone actually tries them. But the report says that savings are feasible.”

The report estimates that $1.2 million could be saved by sharing department heads and deputy department heads. He said the cities could save another $90,000 by sharing a city manager or city administrator and an estimated $700,000 savings from staffing reductions.

It also suggests the Twin Cities’ public works departments could save $70,000 by sharing vehicles and another $175,000 by consolidating garages and through other efficiencies.

The report identifies one-time costs, as well. The cities could pay $150,000 to make sure departments in both cities are using identical computer software and another $600,000 to make sure union contracts match. Both are estimates, and the commission has agreed to hire a computer consultant to firm up those costs.