Norway selectmen praise cooperation with Paris

NORWAY — Norway and Paris are working together to look for creative ways to save money and the Norway Board of Selectmen is pleased.

At the February 17  meeting of the Board of Selectmen, a few selectmen and Town Manager David Holt highlighted the importance of recent efforts undertaken to cooperate with the town of Paris.

"I would like to thank you for working with Paris," said long-time selectman William Damon to Holt. "It's been a heck of a lot better for Paris and Norway to work together than to always oppose each other all the time."

Damon, for one, would like to see the towns look for savings by working together.

"I would like to see if they could possibly help each other with maintaining the roads. The money isn't available to do some of these things  [for the towns individually]."

Holt pointed to one instance of this in the past, referring to problems with the grater that takes care of Norway's unpaved roads. The vehicle was out of operation for six weeks last summer, making maintenance for the roads on the outskirts of town extremely difficult. To help alleviate the problem, Paris gave the town of Norway permission to use theirs.

Holt and Town Manager Phil Tarr of Paris have forged a strong working relationship that enables them to seek creative solutions to the two town's problems. They each point to their years of experience as the driving force behind their cooperation.

"Phil and I believe that sharing is an important part and a necessary part of our future and we talked about the possibility of sharing equipment and helping each other out down the road," said Holt. "Whether or not we pull it together and it works out I don't know; it's just something we're discussing."

"Neither one of us feels at our age we have to prove that we're smarter than the other one, so it makes it easier for us because we don't have to worry about our egos."

When reached at a later date, Tarr agreed with Holt's sentiment.

"David and I think somewhat alike," said Tarr. "We both like to see efficiencies and improvements and we look for new ideas that benefit our communities. If the boards of selectmen and communities come together in a common goal to reduce costs by sharing services, Dave and I can make it happen."

Nonetheless, Holt also urged caution, and to avoid looking at sharing as some sort of cure-all. He outlined a couple of problems, including the fact that, when working together before, there have been times when both towns needed the same piece of equipment.

"There is some equipment that it makes sense to share," said Holt before qualifying his statement. "Sometimes there were problems when we both needed to use the same thing at the same time."

In addition, Holt added, larger operations are not always better or more efficient. He warned against becoming too enthusiastic about cooperation. It could double the amount of responsibility for any given department and consequently reduce the amount of attention that is paid to individual issues.

"There are cases where sharing doesn't help. Sometimes, with a smaller operation, people oversee more closely," he said. "Sharing in and of itself is not always a good idea. Sharing should be done if you can save money or if you can provide a better service."