Reacting to community leader complaints that the city needs to toughen its exterior property maintenance codes, the city of Dearborn on Tuesday will have four additional ordinance officers patrolling the city, the Dearborn Press & Guide reports.

The changes were prompted in part by community leaders who said the city’s decision to be more “compassionate” with residents in relation to property maintenance codes, primarily overgrown grass, wasn’t working. For earlier story, click HERE.

The officers have been hired on a temporary basis and will help patrol the city for about seven weeks, stepping up enforcement of Dearborn’s overgrown grass ordinance, documenting problems and issuing citations, according to the paper.

“We believe this is consistent with our policy of keeping a lean staff and adding more during crunch times,” Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., tells the Press & Guide.

The temp officers, selected from a pool of applicants who applied for summer grounds keeping jobs with the city, will help provide stricter enforcement of the city’s grass ordinance. O’Reilly says homes that have been cited before for overgrown grass will now have one day to cut it.

O’Reilly tells the Press & Guide that the change isn’t intended to punish homeowners but, instead, change the way people think.

“This is about changing behavior,” he told the paper. “We don’t want to punish people who don’t deserve it.