From the time brothers John and Tim Smith began reading meters for the City of Vicksburg when they were teenagers, working together feels like home.

John Smith, 53, and the oldest of eight children of the late Warfield and Corean Pinkston Smith, is the Warren County administrator, and Tim Smith, 50, and the fourth child, is the city’s purchasing director.

Now, after years of working apart, the brothers are together again, but on different sides.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the Warren County Supervisors last week took up discussions to negotiate a joint contract for garbage collection fees, and the brothers — John handles the money for the county, and Tim is the go-to person for all of the city’s purchasing and contract needs — are the project leaders representing each party.

Long before their government positions, the two, along with their brothers, worked at their father’s mechanic’s shop, Warfield’s Service Center, sweeping floors and doing other odd jobs. When they were old enough to be hired elsewhere, John, his twin brother James, and Tim began working as gas and water meter-readers for the city.

“I’ve been to every house in Vicksburg,” Tim Smith said. “I was the fastest meter-reader there was.”

Tim Smith joined the city’s workforce in 1976, and John was hired as the city’s accountant in 1986. John Smith moved to the county in 2005.

“The garbage is really the first endeavor we’ve worked on together,” John Smith said, and both say they remain professional when working.

“It’s the meeting of the minds when we’re discussing these options,” John Smith said. “He represents the city and we (the county) have our own interests on so many options.”

Jokes from colleagues are plentiful.

“They’re brothers, there’s a natural rivalry between them,” said South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman, who has known the two since he was elected in 2001.

The brothers say there’s no sibling rivalry, except maybe in their college choices. John studied accounting at Ole Miss and Tim Smith studied business administration at Mississippi State.

They say they like to leave work at work and do not discuss it over anyone’s dinner table.

“We have a big family,” John Smith said. “We’re very close-knit. We’re always celebrating someone’s birthday, anniversary or christening.”

John Smith and his wife, Nancy, have three children — Torri, 34, Morgan, 20, and Lauren, 17 — and three grandchildren.

In addition to John’s twin, James, who lives in Shreveport, the Smith siblings are Carl, 51, and David, 34, both of Vicksburg, and Susan, 49, Corean, 47, and Steve, 40, all of Jackson.

“My brothers tell me now that I’m the smartest one of all,” said Tim, who is not married.

Middle brother Carl Smith, who took over their father’s shop, said the two are opposites.

“John and Tim are nothing alike,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they butt heads. They both know what they’re doing, but they are different ends of the spectrum.”