Second attempt to merge Lewiston, Auburn underway
A proposal to merge Lewiston and Auburn into one city is back on the table after the Twin Cities formed a new citizens commission that is expected to start meeting today.
The Portland Press Herald reported that the proposal, which would create several cost-savings measures for the Twin Cities by consolidating municipal services and local control, has its fair share of proponents and dissenters. The first attempt to merge Lewiston and Auburn, 50 years ago, passed in Lewiston but failed by seven votes in Auburn.
Lucien Gosselin, a former director of the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council and a former city administrator for Lewiston, told the newspaper that the proposal makes economic sense for the two cash-strapped cities, which have worked together for 140 years.
Skeptics of the proposal, like Auburn Mayor Jonathan Labonte, told the Press Herald that it will not help the Twin Cities save enough money on operations to justify the merger.
Once the Citizens Commission on Lewiston-Auburn Cooperation finishes drafting a charter for the proposed new city, which would nearly mirror Portland in population, the proposal to merge Lewiston and Auburn would have to go to a voter referendum.
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