AUBURN – The Maine Attorney General’s office is looking into whether Androscoggin County Commissioner Helen Poulin may legally remain in her post even though she has moved out of her district.

Poulin, who represents Lewiston on the three-member commission, has moved to Auburn.

“It doesn’t change a thing,” said Poulin, who answered the door Wednesday afternoon at her new home at 100 Vickery Road in Auburn. “It only matters if I run for re-election.”

Maybe not.

The state Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions is unsure what, if anything, ought to be done.

“Commissioners do have to be a resident of their district,” said Melissa Packard, the bureau’s director of elections.

Poulin isn’t.

The former county treasurer was elected in 2006 to a four-year term on the commission, representing District 2. That district, as defined by state law in 2003, follows the same boundaries as the city of Lewiston.

At the time, Poulin lived at 170 Ferry Road with her husband, Robert, the current county treasurer and a part-time bail commissioner.

The couple sold that home and purchased the Auburn home. Papers on both properties were signed earlier this month and filed with the county register of deeds.

The Sun Journal was unable to reach Elmer Berry, the chairman of the Androscoggin County Commission, for his thoughts.

Robert Howe, the executive director of the Maine County Commissioners Association, said it’s not unusual for a commissioner or a state representative to move out of their respective districts.

However, most resign, he said.

“I’ve represented commissions for a long time and I’ve never seen this,” Howe said.

Elections Director Packard said she, too, was surprised by the question. The law seems fairly clear, she said.

“Members of each board of commissioners must be residents of the commissioner districts which they represent and shall be elected by the voters of that district,” reads Maine law.

Packard said she plans to decide what to do after she talks with the Attorney General’s Office.

“I’m not sure what we’re going to do,” she said.