Regional council evolves to help Greater Portland communities meet bigger challenges The Greater Portland Council of Governments has become a more dynamic organization under new leadership and in a changing landscape that demands more cooperation among cities and towns on issues ranging from the opioid crisis to COVID-19 and from racial injustice to homelessness. Share In early March, when municipal leaders across southern Maine were scrambling to plan their response to the looming COVID-19 pandemic, the staff of the Greater Portland Council of Governments organized a panel of experts to answer their questions. A few weeks later, just before Gov. Janet Mills issued a stay-home order, city and town managers were hungry for more guidance. The regional council arranged a Zoom meeting with Mills and the managers, started holding weekly online meetings for municipal officials and created an interactive web page so they could get and share the latest information.