Nearly a decade later, and they’re still finger-pointing and blaming instead of talking productively.

Two-and-a-half years after announcing they’d begun negotiations toward the formation of a water-sewer authority to end a court battle begun in 2014, talks between Alpena and Alpena Township apparently broke down last week.

Alpena Mayor Matt Waligora and Alpena Township Supervisor Nathan Skibbe each sent letters to the community blaming the other side. Waligora says the township won’t agree to use city staff to work on the authority, which Waligora called a “deal-breaker.” Skibbe says the city wants to charge the township double what a consultant recommended for providing administrative services.

It’s hard to know who’s right or if neither of them are right, since the talks — as allowed by the Michigan Open Meetings Act — happen behind closed doors.

We say it doesn’t matter who’s right.

The two sides need to stay at the bargaining table and find a way to make this work. Or a judge or jury needs to intervene and order some sort of resolution.

This has gone on long enough.

Here’s the issue: The township buys water and sewer services from the city and then offers those services to many of its residents. In 2014, when the city raised rates on the township, the township balked, saying it should be treated as a wholesale customer. The city sued, and the two have been in court battles ever since.

The fight is costing taxpayers. Combined, the two sides have spent $2.5 million on attorney and consultant fees. The city also claims the township is $23.25 million behind on its water bills, though the township says it doesn’t owe that because the city’s rates are unjust.

The fight also casts a pall over two communities that ought to be working together on other issues for the betterment of both communities. And it leaves both city and township water and sewer ratepayers in the dark about the future of those services and what they’ll be forced to pay for it.

We’ve said this for months, but it’s time to end this fiasco.

We urge city and township officials to stay at the bargaining table and realize that, in any negotiation, both sides need to give up something to gain something for the betterment of all.

And to realize that finger-pointing and blaming only holds back progress.