When David Marshall assumes the role of chair of the Penobscot County Commissioners this week, he’ll do so having received just two votes: Commissioner Andre Cushing and himself.
The third commissioner, Dan Tremble, voted against appointing Marshall as chair. But it didn’t matter.
Penobscot County is represented by just three commissioners, the minimum required by state law. Four counties have five commissioners, while one has seven.
That means only two members need to agree in order to make major decisions that will affect the 150,000 people who live here.
The commissioners have the power to expand their ranks with voter approval, and adding more members wouldn’t necessarily change the outcomes of any votes. But it would allow more people to weigh in on crucial decisions at a time when Penobscot County leadership has created a $7 million budget crisis that raised towns’ taxes by an average of 16% for the coming fiscal year.
Penobscot County is an outlier, as it’s the most populated county to use just three commissioners. Its members say they represent their constituents well, and they have nearly always voted unanimously this year.
But commissioners on Maine’s most newly expanded board say that having more members gives better representation to municipalities, inspires more ideas and minimizes opportunities for unintended meeting law violations.
Penobscot County’s commissioners — Tremble, a Democrat, and Cushing and Marshall, both Republicans — are tasked with representing residents from Orrington to north of Katahdin. Tremble’s district includes Bangor and the towns immediately east of it, Cushing’s includes communities west of Bangor, and Marshall’s stretches from Veazie to the unorganized territory bordering Piscataquis and Aroostook counties. Each district includes about 50,000 people.
Androscoggin, meanwhile, has seven commissioners for its 116,000 residents. Cumberland, Franklin, Somerset and York counties each have five. Only Cumberland and York have larger populations than Penobscot County.
The most recent change came in 2024, when Franklin County changed its charter to expand its commission from three to five. The expansion, which can be initiated by the commissioners or by a voter petition before going to a referendum vote, was brought forward because of the county’s growing population and changing needs.
Having three commissioners may force officials to represent residents who have differing needs if they cover a large area, said Franklin County Commissioners Bob Carlton, a Republican, and Tom Saviello, an independent.
Franklin County’s five largest communities — Farmington, Jay, Rangeley, Wilton and Carrabassett Valley — serve as district seats to ensure each one has a representative, Saviello said.
Carlton, who served on both the three- and five-member boards, said the expansion achieved its goal. The county’s 29,000 residents are better represented now than before, he said.
“We’re not necessarily a large county, but we’re spread out. We go from the Canadian border all the way down to Jay, and the needs from the northern part of the county to the southern part of the county are very different,” Carlton said.
The expansion has brought in more ideas from the community, Carlton and Saviello said. This has slowed down meetings, but has made the commissioners more well-rounded, Saviello said.
More consequentially, expanding the group prevents just two people from controlling its votes and decisions.
In a three-person board, two votes can pass any issue brought forward. With commissioners being partisan, votes could be controlled by one party. In Penobscot County, Marshall and Cushing are Republicans and outweigh Tremble’s vote.
This hasn’t been an issue because the commissioners are voting for what they think is best for the county, Tremble, Marshall and Cushing said. Since January 2025, just four of their votes have not been unanimous.
“When it comes to the dynamics of discussing or approving policies, it really is more about the issue than the partisan divides that you see in Augusta or Washington,” Cushing said.
Residents haven’t complained about their representation or asked for additional commissioners, Tremble said. A change to add more commissioners has not been brought forward.
A block of partisan commissioners controlling an issue is still possible with five people, but it’s less common, Saviello said. There are still Democratic and Republican commissioners who vote together nearly every time, but one vote regularly swings depending on the issue, leading to 3-2 votes, Saviello said.
Another barrier that three commissioners may encounter is not being able to talk to each other outside of meetings without violating state law, Carlton and Saviello said. If more than one commissioner is in the same place or even emailing the other, it is considered an open meeting and must either be announced beforehand or avoided altogether.
Accidentally having a quorum — or a majority of the governing body — was the most common problem with three commissioners, Carlton and Saviello said. Now, two commissioners can talk to each other without breaking the law.
“We joked about it. We all know the same people here in Franklin County. We all go to the same birthday party, and holy mackerel, one of us has got to leave, because we now have a quorum there,” Saviello said.
Records show there have been quorums among the Penobscot County commissioners without a meeting called.
For example, two or more attended Maine County Commissioner Association meetings in January, March, April and May without acknowledging it as a meeting.
When asked if they had concerns about inadvertently having quorums, Tremble said it has created “awkward situations” when commissioners end up in the same place, but that one commissioner leaves so it doesn’t become a meeting. Marshall said the commissioners simply don’t talk about county business in such scenarios. Cushing did not respond.
There are downsides to adding commissioners.
Meetings take longer because every commissioner wants to speak or share their ideas, Saviello said, and it’s more expensive because each representative is being paid, Carlton said. It also requires establishing new districts and holding a county-wide election to elect a new slate of commissioners.
But both agreed having more representation has been better for the county.
“Absolutely five commissioners are better,” Saviello said.