AUBURN — Expect existing public health groups such as Healthy Androscoggin to pick up where a defunct Auburn-Lewiston public health group left off, Auburn City Manager Howard Kroll said Monday.

“With (the Lewiston-Auburn Public Health Committee) gone, it does not mean public health in the area will go without attention,” Kroll said. “There are various organizations in this region that are very active in making sure that on both sides of the river, public health needs are met.”

City councilors Monday night voted to end the  committee, which focused on community health issues such as bedbugs, drug abuse and lead paint in the Twin Cities. Lewiston’s representatives last week called for canceling the agreement that created the group.

Lewiston councilors are scheduled to vote on it at their meeting Tuesday night. It begins at 7 p.m. in City Hall.

The cities created the committee in 2008 to discuss responses to public health concerns. It included representatives from both cities as well as St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center and Central Maine Medical Center, and groups such as Healthy Androscoggin.

According to a news release from Lewiston Deputy City Administrator Phil Nadeau last week, the group rewrote some of its bylaws last fall and submitted them to the city councils for review. Lewiston councilors approved the new bylaws in February. In Auburn, the matter was referred to the City Council’s Economic and Community Development subcommittee but it was never discussed. Nadeau said he checked on the group’s status several times but never heard from Auburn representatives.

He and City Council President Kristen Cloutier are scheduled to introduce a resolution creating a Lewiston-only group at Tuesday’s Lewiston council meeting.

Kroll said that would not be necessary for Auburn.

“Hopefully, these agencies will step up,” Kroll said. “They can cover what the public health committee has been doing, and I think they can do it pretty seamlessly.”

Councilors voted 6-1 to rescind the health committee’s interlocal agreement, with Councilor David Young, Auburn’s representative to the group, the sole no vote.

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