AUBURN — A bill before lawmakers seeks to make the office of county sheriff in Maine an appointed position.

The proposed legislation calls for amending the Maine Constitution, which would require a statewide election, to end elections for sheriffs in counties where charters have already detailed the counties’ rules. The bill also would mandate appointments of registers of probate and judges of probate.

As proposed, county commissioners would hire sheriffs, probate judges and registers of probate to four-year terms and, if needed, do the firing too.

People in those positions now answer to voters every four years, according to the Maine Constitution. If they fail at their jobs, only the governor can remove them from office.

“It does concern me,” said Androscoggin County Sheriff Guy Desjardins, who was elected to a second four-year term in 2010. “Any time you take away people’s right to vote, it bears asking the question, ‘Why?'”

Wendy Sanborn, elected in November as Androscoggin County’s register of probate, also wanted to know why the change was being suggested.

She sees both sides of the issue, she said.

On one hand, she understands the belief that people ought to be hired on the strength of their qualifications, she said.

“It shouldn’t be a popularity contest,” she said. On the other hand, an appointment by a county commission is little more than an election with fewer voters.

“The commission could make it a popularity contest, too,” she said.

The bill was requested by Cumberland County’s manager and commissioners, said Robert Howe, executive director of the Maine County Commissioners Association.

Leaders there wanted to make their sheriff and probate officials appointed but were prohibited by the Maine Constitution, he said.

Rep. Meredith Strang Burgess, R-Cumberland, who served on her county’s Charter Committee, introduced the bill.

The Sun Journal was unsuccessful in attempts to reach Strang Burgess.

So far, groups haven’t lined up on either side of the measure.

The Maine County Commissioners Association was scheduled to meet via conference call on Friday and would likely discuss the issue then, Howe said.

Similarly, the Maine Sheriffs’ Association has yet to discuss it, said Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross, president of the organization.

However, he suspects the state’s sheriffs will strongly oppose the change.

“Sheriffs are the only elected law enforcement officers in the state and they answer directly to the people,” Ross said.

People who equate the role of sheriff with that of appointed police chief are missing something, said Desjardins, who served as police chief in Sabattus before working for the county.

“I’ve been both,” he said. “It’s a totally different animal.”

In a town like Sabattus, the connection with the community is maintained at town meeting and other events, he said. The need to campaign is what keeps that connection when you expand the area to include 14 towns, he said.

“I feel that if I don’t do a good job, voters will throw me out, anyway,” he said.

Of course, the proposal would only affect those counties that have charters.

This fall, Cumberland became the fourth county in Maine to pass a charter. The others are Aroostook, Knox and Somerset.

Androscoggin County has formed a Charter Commission and is working on a proposal. Leaders in Oxford County also have discussed the concept.

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