EAST MILLINOCKET – Neither sleet nor snow nor chill of wind will curb the town’s efforts to clean up illegal junkyards, town officials said Wednesday.

Following an earlier success with a home-based automotive shop on Western Avenue, Code Enforcement Officer Mike Noble is continuing enforcement efforts against two other sites that officials say are in violation of the town’s junkyard ordinance, town Administrative Assistant Shirley Tapley said.

“There was only a question of whether he should proceed now or wait until the spring,” Tapley said.

The board of selectmen, after some discussion, told Noble to proceed. Board members felt that waiting would send the wrong message.

Also, some residents have complained about blighted properties, Chairman John Rouleau said earlier this week. He and other town officials had promised to step up enforcement efforts.

Enforcement would likely take at least 120 days. Noble has already mailed notices to the two properties, which town officials declined to identify, and property owners have 30 days to respond.

After that, it takes at least three months to set a court date, if that proves necessary.

“As of now, he has sent the letters out,” Tapley said.

The Western Avenue matter went to court, with the shop owner cleaning up the property. But the town agreed to drop his $1,000 fine and the $1,200 in legal fees the town accumulated in pursuing him. Instead, taxpayers will pay for attorney Dean A. Beaupain’s efforts from a line item in the town’s budget, Tapley said.

Town officials had been working with the shop owner since the summer to get him to clean up his property. He had not denied that the property, his home-based mechanic shop, was messy, but denied that it was a junkyard.

In other town news:

. Selectman Rick Nicholson has joined the board of the Millinocket Area Growth and Investment Council, representing the town. The selectmen, who approved the idea, said Nicholson’s interest in economic development would make him a good fit for MAGIC.

MAGIC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to drawing business to Millinocket, Medway and East Millinocket and improving the area’s business climate.