HARRISON – Three residents have less than a month to get their property to conform with state junkyard statutes or face a lawsuit.

Selectmen learned Tuesday that town attorney Thomas F. Smith sent letters telling three residents that they have until May 1 to remove automobiles and/or junk from their yards.

Receiving letters were Teri Arsenault, Gail Wormwood and Christine Farrar, as representative of the estate of Leman Farrar.

Code Enforcement Officer Robbie Baker said the properties headed a list of about 48 sites with violations.

Last summer letters were sent to all violators.

“In the next few weeks we’ll be checking on the others cited last May and if their property is not clean, they will be getting more attention,” Town Manager Michael Thorne said. “We’ll continue taking two or three to court every year to get them cleaned up.

“I hope violators realize that we’re serious about this and start complying,” he said.

Baker said he had a lot of complaints last year and so far this spring, two or three.

“Many of the 48 have cleaned up or on their way to clean up, but with these three there is no cooperation at all,” Baker said. “We have about 2,100 parcels of land in Harrison.”

Baker said some are following the letter, but not the spirit of the law.

“A few people who had four cars on their property and were in violation, just moved two to property they owned across the street and it’s perfectly legal,” Baker said.

He said he’s also noticed that some who had cleaned up have hauled new vehicles in.

Selectmen voted to hold a special town meeting on April 20 to present two warrant articles to the public dealing with decorative lighting downtown.

Thorne said that a decision must be made before the Department of Transportation awards a contract for construction work on Route 117 that passes through town.

He said he did not have a firm price yet on purchasing the lights, but estimated that cost to be from $150,000 to $200,000. He said renting the same lights would cost about $36,000 per year.

Voters can agree to buy or rent new lights, or keep the lighting as it is now.

He said there was enough in the undesignated fund balance to pay for lighting.

The special town meeting will start at 7 p.m. and be followed by the regular selectman’s meeting.

Selectmen also awarded a cemetery mowing and maintenance contract to Public Works Department employee Jim Bennett for $3,700.

According to Thorne, the mowing contract was for $2,400 last year.

He said Bennett will be doing more than mowing, such as repairing fencing, doing some painting and tree removal as needed.

“His bid was a little higher than some of the others, but they were just for mowing,” Thorne said. “He gave us two quotes, $3,000 for mowing and then added $700 for more services.”

The town received eight bids.

Selectmen also approved David Morton of Casco as the representative to the board of directors of Regional Waste Systems.

He will represent Casco, Harrison and Bridgton.

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