Property owners thwart mowers: Officials: Deputies will accompany crews

Get off my property.

That’s what two property owners recently told contractors whom the county had hired to mow their lawns, because they let their grass grow more than 2 feet tall.

Johnson County has never run into that problem before, because typically no one lives in houses where the lawns are that unkempt, highway department director Luke Mastin said.

But a homeowner in Hunters Pointe subdivision in the Center Grove area and another homeowner on U.S. 31 south of Franklin both recently ran off the contractors the county hired to trim their grass, Mastin said.

County officials said they can’t allow that to happen, that Johnson County Sheriff’s Office deputies will accompany the mowing crews if necessary and that anyone who fails to cooperate could face criminal charges. County Prosecutor Brad Cooper told county attorney Kathleen Hash that he’d be willing to consider filing charges such as disorderly conduct and intimidation in such cases.

Anyone who lives in Johnson County isn’t allowed to let grass or weeds on the property grow more than 2 feet tall or it’s declared a nuisance. The county sends two letters that the grass needs to be cut and then, if that doesn’t work, hires a contractor to mow it and later sends a bill to the property owner.

“All that’s required is the basics,” Hash said. “You don’t have to have a finely manicured lawn, just not 2 feet of weeds.”