Ten years ago, almost to the day, The Sunday Post-Journal on the first Sunday in May featured three stories on the state Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness.

There was hope then that the report would be a roadmap that moved New York’s system of government from the age of the horse and buggy into something more modern and efficient. The commission’s report hasn’t been the game-changer we had hoped it would be, though that isn’t the fault of the commission or its chairperson, former Jamestown Mayor Stan Lundine. We stated 10 years ago, right here in this very space, that opposition had already begun to form against some of the more noteworthy recommendations. That opposition has kept the status quo in place, with the exception of some mergers of towns and villages.

Our maze of governments is based in the 1800s. Our problems are modern. Let us give credit, then, to local governments who have shown themselves capable of working together on the nuts and bolts of government — sharing equipment, mutual aid for first responders, helping each other with landfill credits to facilitate large-scale cleanups of buildings destroyed by fires. Jamestown and Ellicott police officers work well together on the Metro Drug Task Force. Celoron and the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities came together last year to find a way to secure water service to Celoron homes that didn’t have usable water. These type of shared services and more happen behind the scenes on a regular basis. We’re glad to see them being handled.

At the same time, our elected officials find themselves less capable of working together on big issues.

An agreement between the Jamestown Police Department and the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department has been talked about for more than 10 years, but one wonders if it would have made more sense to include the Lakewood-Busti police in the mix as well to create a true metro police force in the south county. Jamestown angered its neighbors in Falconer and Ellicott by trying to annex BPU-owned property. A water service agreement between Ellicott and the BPU has stalled, hopefully temporarily, after Ellicott officials thought the deal was done. What’s worse, we aren’t collectively discussing the real issues each of these municipalities faces — escalating costs, a harsh business climate for manufacturing and big-box stores that drive taxable assessment,

These disagreements are counterproductive and need to come to an end. We think the way to end these disagreements is to embrace our shared past. There was a time, not long ago, when members of the Jamestown, Falconer, Celoron, Ellicott, Lakewood and Busti governments met on a regular basis to work on regional issues through the Metro 6 group. Some of Metro 6’s discussions didn’t go anywhere. Others are here, just not in the form in which they were originally discussed. It doesn’t matter, frankly, that the meetings didn’t change the world. It matters that officials from those six governments who depend so much on each other were talking regularly. It matters that hard feelings didn’t have time to fester over months or years. It matters that six bright people were in a room where ideas could be shared.

It’s time for Metro 6 to be revived. It’s time for the mayors of Jamestown, Falconer, Lakewood and Celoron and the town supervisors of Ellicott and Busti to be in the same room again. It’s time for open communication. It’s time for ideas that benefit the south county. Most importantly, it’s time to bury the hatchet.