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KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- Downtown Kirksville is getting spruced up thanks to community service workers who are participating in Adair County Drug Court.

Starting this week, participants who break the rules of that program are assigned community service hours where they're required to sweep, pick up trash and do other duties downtown.

"The sheriff graciously agreed to kind of supervise because we have to have somebody who checks the community service worker in, kind of monitors their performance and then checks them out and certifies that they did what they were suppose to do. And so, we thought it was a nice addition to our program," said Circuit Judge Russell Steele.

You'll see the community service workers wearing their reflective, bright yellow safety vests as they work around downtown Kirksville.

Those in charge of Drug Court came up with this idea as a way for the offenders to give something back to the community.

"I just thought that it would be good. I've had different business owners approach me and ask me about the downtown cleanup area, and so I felt that was a good opportunity to go ahead and have these folks address that situation and help clean up the downtown area,” said Adair County Sheriff Bob Hardwick.

Community service hours are usually assigned in increments of five or 10 hours, and they have to be completed within a week.

Adair County Drug Court is a program for drug-related offenders. Participants who successfully complete the program can avoid going to prison.

Steele said Drug Court includes intense court supervision, intensive treatment and a program of sanctions and incentives to try to promote behavior modification.

Steele said the goal is to modify participants behavior so they don’t end up back in the criminal justice system again.