BUCKFIELD — Selectmen voted recently to take the issue of an unpermitted junkyard to court, after Town Manager Cindy Dunn advised them the resident missed the Oct. 31 cleanup deadline.

The property in question is 17 Depot St., where current resident and former owner Roger Bennett lives. His son, Dale J. Bennett, owns the property after Roger signed the deed to Dale in July 2005, but it was not recorded in the Registry of Deeds until June 2011, Dunn wrote in an email.

In 2004, voters appropriated $10,000 for legal fees to take Roger Bennett, James Bishop of 10 Depot St. and Allen Young of 18 Shed Hollow Road to court for unpermitted junkyards, according to Sun Media archives.

“We spent a lot of money (and) the judge ruled in the town’s favor,” Dunn told selectmen at their Nov. 1 meeting. “The property was cleaned up. However, as time elapsed the accumulation of junk started all over again and actually became worse than it was last time.”

The initial junkyard and automobile graveyard complaint was filed in court in September 2004, Dunn said in an email. The judge ruled in the town’s favor in December 2009 and during that five-year period, Buckfield spent roughly $27,363 on automobile/junkyard-related issues, not just for Bennett’s case.

Dunn told selectmen, “In my opinion, it’s still in violation. Not much progress has been made since we last talked about it.”

Board of Selectmen Chairman Warren Wright asked for her recommendation.

“As I’ve mentioned before, I have tried to take the neighborly approach with the owner and the tenant over the past two years … to get the property cleaned up,” Dunn said. “Yes, progress has been made — my concern being that if more time is granted, we’re getting into the winter months. It’s getting colder, it’s going to snow, it’s hard to see everything that you need to remove.”

She previously recommended the town go back to court if another cleanup deadline was missed.

Bennett attended the recent board meeting.

“The property is a hell of a lot better,” he said. “If you guys want to go to court, let’s go to court.”

“The owner remains the son and we’re in the same dilemma we were before with a property that has an awful lot of junk on it,” Selectman Maida DeMers-Dobson said.

“Nope; it isn’t junk,” Bennett said.

Resident Penny Horsfall wanted to know what the violation is.

Dunn said it’s state junkyard laws.

“But there are also other homes right across the street from him that are in just as bad condition,” Horsfall said. “Are they all on the chopping block or just his?”

Dunn said the assumed violation for the neighboring property on Depot Street would involve automobiles.

“One of the conditions to have an automobile graveyard is that the vehicles are not registered and inspected,” she said. “Across the street, every one of those vehicles are registered and inspected. You’re welcome to come into the Town Office and see the official record.”

DeMers-Dobson made a motion that the town go to court over the matter and did not specify about either Bennett in her motion. The vote passed with DeMers-Dobson and Selectman Mike Iveson voting for and Wright abstaining because he knows Roger Bennett.

“I got a few other things I want to tell the judge, too,” Roger Bennett said. “I am done with you people.”

Resident Vivian Wadas asked if the town manager and selectmen would approach other residents regarding violations of junkyard and automobile graveyard laws.

“No, no,” Wright said.

“I would like, ‘yes’,” Dunn said.

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