diff --git a/scripts/crontab/task/crontab_task_processor.sh b/scripts/crontab/task/crontab_task_processor.sh
index 71bf9bc..c0713b1 100755
--- a/scripts/crontab/task/crontab_task_processor.sh
+++ b/scripts/crontab/task/crontab_task_processor.sh
@@ -143,8 +143,11 @@ setupTaskDir() {
   # it. Create-if-absent to keep a stable inode for flock across restarts.
   [[ -e "$LOCK_FILE" ]] || runFileOp install -m 666 /dev/null "$LOCK_FILE" 2>/dev/null
   runFileOp chmod 666 "$LOCK_FILE" 2>/dev/null
+  # Establish ownership with runSystem (root): the unprivileged dir owner can't
+  # reclaim files an earlier run left root/manager-owned (e.g. a root-owned
+  # task_processor.log), which would then block the daemon's log appends.
   if [[ -n "$docker_install_user" ]]; then
-    runFileOp chown -R "$docker_install_user":"$docker_install_user" "$TASK_DIR" 2>/dev/null
+    runSystem chown -R "$docker_install_user":"$docker_install_user" "$TASK_DIR" 2>/dev/null
   fi
 }