AUBURN – A Twin Cities cooperation coordinator could answer to city management and the Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council, according to Auburn City Manager Pat Finnigan.

Finnigan said more information about the coordinator’s job and efforts to combine city services are in a 12-page application for a state cooperative government grant. The grant application could be made public after it has been filed with the state’s Administrative and Financial Services department.

Applications for the grant are due to be filed in the Augusta office at 2 p.m. Monday.

“We are at a pretty finalized point right now, and we’re making sure everyone has a chance to read it over,” Finnigan said.

Chain of command is still being discussed, Finnigan said.

“I know that the mayors want that person to answer to their joint commission,” Finnigan said. “But realistically, that is a group of citizens that have many other claims on their time. Being practical, that person may end up answering to the Lewiston city administrator, the Auburn city manager and the president of the growth council.”

Auburn and Lewiston are asking for $200,000 from the state’s Fund for Local and Regional Efficiency to pay for the coordinator to lead efforts to combine services in Lewiston and Auburn.

“We hope the grant would pay for that person’s salary, and also for materials,” Finnigan said. “We’re also assuming they’ll need some legal assistance, so there is funding built into our application for that – and for regular meetings with our citizens.”

The state Legislature has set aside $500,000 to pay for combined and cooperative government efforts for the next 18 months, according to Jeremy Caron, grant administrator. He expects the grant money to be awarded after Oct. 9.

The state offered a similar grant last year, awarding 121 grants to cities, towns and counties across Maine. Lewiston and Auburn received some of that, winning $45,000 to pay for a report on combining services.

The report was released in February. It calls for combining back office services, such as building codes and computer systems. It also called for consolidating the bread-and-butter services – police and public works – over the next five years and urged the cities to hire a staff person.

Councilors from both cities voted to ask the state for help hiring the coordinator in February.

“But there wasn’t anything we could do until the Legislature came up with the rules for the grant application,” Finnigan said. Those rules were released last month.

Grants will be judged on a points system, according to the state’s Web site. Applicants will get points based on property tax savings, likelihood of success, the amount of cooperation between cities, whether or not a project can be repeated in other areas and how innovative the idea is.