AUGUSTA – An executive order signed Thursday by Gov. John Baldacci formally establishes a six-member Homeland Security Advisory Council that will continue to report directly to Baldacci and also defines state agency roles in homeland security.The order “formalizes an existing system” to continue addressing homeland security at the state level, the Governor’s Office said Thursday.

“The advisory council established ensures that I receive timely and sound advice on homeland security matters, that state agency activities with regard to homeland security are well coordinated and that federal homeland security funds are well spent,” Bal-dacci said in a statement.

The council has been in place since shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, but the order outlines the council’s specific structure and make-up, the Governor’s Office said Friday.

Dr. Dora Anne Mills, a council member and director of the Maine Bureau of Health, called the order an “excellent idea.”

“We’ve been meeting once a month, but we’ve never been formalized,” Mills said Friday. “[The council] receives confidential security information from the government, so we are able to share info with each other and meet with [Baldacci] on policy decisions.”

Mills said Maine also has an emergency response team, composed of staff from all state agencies, to deal with potential homeland security issues, but that the ERT is too large to provide consultation to the governor.

“At the state and local level, health, public safety and emergency management need to be coordinated and integrated,” she said.

Joining Mills on the Homeland Security Advisory Council are Maine Emergency Management Agency Director Art Cleaves; Public Safety Commissioner Michael P. Cantara; Col. Craig A. Poulin, the Maine State Police chief; and Brig. Gen. Bill Libby, the Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management commissioner.

Baldacci also has appointed policy adviser Lance Boucher to represent his office on the council.

Cleaves recently expressed concerns about reduced state funding from the federal Department of Homeland Security, but he said Friday that the formalizing of the council is a step in the right direction for Maine.

“When you roll this into the council level, you’ve put the right horsepower behind it,” Cleaves said. “The council is broader than one individual; it’s a good body to bring the issues before.”

Mills also criticized U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson for redirecting state funding – money that was supposed to be used to fight potential terrorist attacks – to several of the nation’s larger cities.

“We have been told it’s a fait accompli by the federal government,” Mills said of the redirected funding. “The concern we have is that these funds are supposed to be used for public health emergencies, which are not unique to cities.”

Maine receives about $10 million to $11 million in federal funding for homeland security each year, but Mills said Friday that her office was told it was going to lose about 14 percent of its federal grant.

“It costs a lot more to prepare a rural area for a public health emergency than it does an urban area,” Mills pointed out.

Cleaves lauded efforts by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to make sure states such as Maine weren’t lost in the shuffle when it comes to federal homeland security funding.

“Senator Collins has really been working hard to assure we get the same level of funding as urban areas,” he said.