LEWISTON – Talk of sharing one top manager between the Twin Cities is hurting other efforts to consolidate services, according to Auburn’s mayor.

“I’ll just be straight with you,” Mayor John Jenkins told members of the Citizens Commission on Joint Services on Thursday night. “You’re picking a fight that need not be picked.”

Jenkins addressed members of the commission during the group’s June meeting. The group, appointed by councilors in both cities, suggested in May that both city councils meet to discuss sharing a city manager in the wake of then Auburn Manager Pat Finnigan’s resignation.

The idea has created a buzz among Auburn’s residents, Jenkins said. They’re afraid that Lewiston’s government is attempting to take over Auburn’s.

“There is a perception in the community that this is a slam dunk, something that we are going to do,” Jenkins said. “But this is not something we’ve explained to the citizens as part of your job. It challenges the citizens’ trust in us and in our process, and it’s caused a lot of anxiety.”

Auburn is interviewing executive placement firms to help find a new city manager and the council has appointed Laurie Smith as interim. Smith was Finnigan’s assistant.

“We have a process for handling this; it’s outlined in the charter and I’m asking you to respect our process,” Jenkins said.

But commission members said they didn’t do anything that wasn’t part of the job they were appointed to do – find potential savings in city government.

“All we have done is recommend the two councils talk,” said Co-chairman Peter Garcia. “That’s all we can do. We can make recommendations, and so far that was the only recommendation that we’ve made.”

Councilors from both cities are scheduled to meet in August to discuss department consolidation and sharing services. Lewiston City Administrator Jim Bennett said he’s recommending that discussions steer clear of sharing managers and focus on sharing other departments. Discussions so far have centered on sharing computer services, getting similar building and electrical codes for both cities and sharing an arborist staff.

“These are concrete things that we will need direction on, and I think they can actually be accomplished,” Bennett said. “I think we should work on them.”

The commission is scheduled to meet again at 7:30 a.m. July 26 in the Business Service Center at KeyBank Plaza, 415 Lisbon St. The group meets on the fourth Thursday of every month in the business center’s offices. Meeting times alternate between early morning and evening.