WAYNE -- With little debate, residents Tuesday night signed off on spending $6,100 to begin rehabbing a town office besieged by a mold infestation.

Wayne's town office has operated out of a classroom at Wayne Elementary School since early September, when town employees were forced out of their Lovejoy Pond Road office after discovering mold spores.

At a special town meeting Tuesday, residents agreed to spend $2,600 to have a local contractor remove mold from the infested office and take steps toward putting the rest of the rehab job out to bid.

Town officials won't know the scope of the work they'll need to undertake until the contractor dehumidifies the office and removes paneling, drywall and insulation from the office walls, exposing the true extent of the mold infestation.

Selectmen will call another special town meeting to seek money for the remainder of the job, which will come out of a reserve account meant to cover land and building costs.

Residents on Tuesday also retroactively approved a $3,500 expenditure to cover the costs of temporarily moving town operations to Wayne Elementary School. Those costs included hiring a mover to transport safes and filing cabinets, setting up a new computer network, performing a mold test on the Lovejoy Pond Road office and setting up new locks at the school.

Some residents Tuesday questioned why town operations even needed to leave Wayne Elementary School.

"I want to see us keep our school," said Jean Vautour. "I just think it's worth looking into."

With the Wayne school's enrollment declining, residents spent much of the 2008-09 school year seeking a use for extra space at the school. The school could benefit if the town office remained there, said Peggy Bornstein, and residents might not have to pay as much to rehab the permanent town office.

"In the spirit of consolidation, it would be worth investigating, what's the cost to have it like that," Bornstein said.

But Wayne's town office is worth preserving in its own right, selectmen said. It's the last remaining structure from a mill complex in North Wayne.

"The town office is a historic building," said Ray Giglio. "The best way to keep it intact is to have it serve a function."

Plus, said Selectman David Criss, the town can't legally serve residents who are registered sex offenders at the school.

The town office mold built up during the summer months as air conditioners dripped condensation down wall panels onto carpeted floors. The situation was compounded by the wet summer weather.

An inspection by a Brunswick company showed the proliferation of at least five different sorts of mold spores in the office. The inspection recommended that a remodeled office have a drain that directs air conditioner condensation away from the building walls.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com