At the start of the Council meeting, Libbey presented a check in the amount of $10,000 to Little Sebago Lake Association President Carol Ann Doucette to help the association in its fight against invasive milfoil.

Association member Pam Wilkinson announced that about 650 bags of milfoil have been removed this year from the lower end of the lake, while about 310 bags have been removed from the upper ends of the lake. Each bag holds about 50 pounds of wet milfoil which dries to about half that weight, for a total of about 24,000 pounds or 12 tons.

The association uses a custom-built suction mechanism mounted atop a pontoon boat to vacuum milfoil from the lakebed through a long hose. Hired divers wearing SCUBA gear guide the end of the hose. Milfoil is dumped into a chute and collected in porous bags.

Lease Approved

Dr. Alan Rich, MSAD 15 Board President, asked the Council to finalize a proposed lease of the town's library building on Hancock Street from the Pennell Trust. The school board, acting as trustee, has proposed to swap the Pennell Institute building and land on Main Street for the library building. The town would then lease back the library building for a guaranteed $1 a year for up to 100 years.

However, once the transfer takes place and the lease is signed, the school board could then consider transferring control of the trust directly to the town, Dr. Rich said. The trust must be used for educational purposes and the library building meets that requirement.

Upham asked the council to add order 029-08 to the agenda to approve the proposed lease of the town library building from the Pennell Trust. His request was supported by other council members who passed the order without comment. Under the order, Town Manager Deborah Cabana was directed to finalize the property swap and the lease.

The council had previously approved the swap but raised questions about the leaseback arrangement at a meeting two weeks ago.

Public Works Construction

Cabana said she will present engineering bids at the September 18 council meeting for the replacement of the Public Works building. Voters approved paying for a new building in the June election. Cabana said she expects proposals from the two engineering firms chosen by the town, and will ask councilors to compare costs and proposed work.