AUBURN – The state’s examination of Androscoggin County Commissioner Helen Poulin continues.

Six weeks after Gov. John Baldacci requested an official ruling on Poulin’s residency – she contends she can represent Lewiston on the commission though she moved to Auburn – Attorney General Steven Rowe has yet to answer.

“We continue to work on it,” Rowe’s special assistant David Loughran said Friday. “It’s one of many issues being worked on.”

The matter has been debated for months.

In early August, Poulin and her husband, county Treasurer Robert Poulin, sold their home at 170 Ferry Road in Lewiston and moved to 100 Vickery Road in Auburn.

When Poulin left Lewiston, she also left the county district that elected her.

“It’s a serious situation,” said David Farmer, Baldacci’s deputy chief of staff. “The issues are representative democracy and the disenfranchisement of voters.”

Depending on the shape of Rowe’s findings, Baldacci could declare a vacancy in the Lewiston seat and begin the process of appointing a replacement.

Or he could do nothing.

If she maintains her seat on the board, she will be the senior member.

On Nov. 4, voters in Auburn, Poland, Mechanic Falls and Minot elected Jonathan LaBonte to represent them, taking the seat long-held by Constance Cote, who chose not to run for re-election.

In nine other towns – Durham, Greene, Leeds, Lisbon, Livermore, Livermore Falls, Sabattus, Turner and Wales – voters chose Randall Greenwood over incumbent Elmer Berry.

Poulin has two years left on her term as Lewiston’s representative.

Since she moved out of the city, she has insisted that she has the right to serve.

To many, the move raised the question of whether she violated state law, particularly the provision of Title 30-A that reads, “commissioners must be residents of the commissioner district which they represent.”

Poulin argued that the move was not a problem because she never left the county.

The offices of the Attorney General and the Secretary of State both looked into the case.

On Sept. 8, Baldacci’s office joined in, requesting that Poulin verify her address. Poulin hired lawyer Bryan Dench, who refused to verify it.

Three days later, the governor’s office asked again.

In a second response dated Sept. 22, Poulin said she had moved to Auburn but it was merely temporary.

In a sworn statement, she said that she and her husband had been preparing to buy another home in Lewiston when the sale fell apart. Since they had already sold the place on Ferry Road, they needed to find somewhere to get them by.

So, they bought and moved into the Auburn home. They put it up for sale, too.

On Friday morning, there was no for sale sign outside the house. However, a representative for Realtor Brenda Fontaine said Friday that the home remains for sale.

The Realtor’s Internet site listed the home’s price at $425,000. The site described a 3,900-square-foot home sitting on a 4-acre site with a 3-car garage and 11 rooms.