Anderson has long used volunteers from the county's community justice center to help with special projects, but now the city sees the workers as a more permanent source of manpower.

The city is using nonviolent offenders from the Madison County Community Justice Center to do tasks such as hanging drywall or answering phones at the city building.

Dick Wiley, chairman of the Board of Public Safety, says the city needed help, but didn't have a budget for it.

Residents at the community justice center are required to find jobs or perform community service, and they pay rent to live at the work-release facility, which is an alternative to prison time.