NATCHEZ — Historic Arlington owner Thomas Vaughn is trying to sell the neglected property to get away from court pressures to improve the house, a municipal court judge said.

Monday afternoon Vaughn went in front of Municipal Court Judge Pro Tem Anthony Heidelberg to give the court an update on the upkeep of the property.

Vaughn went to court in 2012 for not keeping the Arlington property up to code. In the last two years, Vaughn has been receiving fines, and Heidelberg wants to see results.

“We let him go on the grass,” Heidelberg said. “And he is doing a good job on that.”

Heidelberg said the focus of any court action would now be on getting the Arlington house up to code, and not the property surrounding the house.

Vaughn’s next step is selling or auctioning off the fire-damaged house, Heidelberg said.

“We discussed this summer what he was going to do with the property,” Heidelberg said. “Obviously, he doesn’t want to put the money into it.”

If Vaughn does not show he has made progress in putting the property up for auction or has potential buyers by Sept. 15, weekly $1,000 fines will be levied against Vaughn.

“I’m not in the business of just taxing him, but I’m basically tired of the talk,” Heidelberg said.

“We put some deadlines on that. If he does those things and moves forward, we won’t keep taxing him with fines and penalties.”

Vaughn has been given a variety of fines over two years, but Heidelberg said he is willing to levy more fines in hopes of speeding up the process.

“Given the nature of the property and the value of the property, these citations will be enough to get him on board,” he said. “And each citation carries six months in jail.”

Vaughan went to court in June 2013 for violating city code regarding the overgrown property and the damaged house.

Heidelberg said he is just interested in seeing the property back up to city standards, no matter the method.

“We’ll be more than happy to work with (buyers),” Heidelberg said. “Even on a quarterly process is showing improvement. That’s good for the city.”

Arlington suffered severe fire damage, which destroyed the roof and the second floor in September 2002. A roof was installed in the house shortly after the fire, but no other work has been done to protect the house from weather or vandalism.

The house was named the second most endangered historic property in Mississippi by the Mississippi Heritage Trust in 2009. The Mississippi Heritage Trust has released a 10 most endangered place list since 1999.