STEUBENVILLE — If the Fort Steuben Mall’s owner has a professionally developed plan to bring it up to building and fire code standards, he’s not saying.

City Manager Mike Johnson told council Tuesday he hasn’t heard from the ownership group, Total Finance, in weeks.

“Our building inspectors are going out tomorrow to see if anything’s been done,” Johnson said. “(But) we haven’t heard from the mall owner or their representatives in weeks, and I think our next fire inspection is (around) June 30.”

Building inspectors had originally given the owner until May 27 to have the building assessed by professionals and a plan drawn up to correct serious health and safety violations found at the property, including mold, leaks, broken skylights, shifting floors and oversized potholes. That deadline was extended 30 days, however, after Total Finance hired McKinley & Associates to do a structural assessment and draw up the required plan for bringing the structure up to code. Johnson has warned the city will initiate condemnation proceedings if no action is taken.

Fire Chief Joe Ribar, meanwhile, said his inspectors will also be going to the mall in a matter of days to assess what, if anything, has been done to address 13 fire safety concerns noted in their initial biennial fire inspection in May, including illuminated exit signs in hallways leading to emergency exits that were malfunctioning due to water damage, a backup generator that had missed its annual servicing requirement, jeopardizing emergency exit lighting, missing ceiling tiles affecting the effectiveness and functionality of sprinkler systems, and electrical hazards in multiple places, including open junction boxes and wire splices.

Johnson said his last conversation with a Total Finance representative was “a couple weeks ago. I called the representative. He finally was working on it (and said) everybody in the mall would be able to see a contractor going through the mall and doing different things.”

“I don’t know if you saw a contractor out there doing different things,” Johnson asked an employee of The Ville who was at the meeting. “We don’t think they were out there doing anything but the building inspectors are going out tomorrow to see if they have, and we’re expecting a report on how they’re going to solve all the code violations–they’re supposed to give it to us on the 27th.”

“They’re supposed to give us some type of engineering report to show us how they’re going to solve this and a plan on how they’re going to solve the code violation topic,” he said, pointing out if there is no report, “then I meet with the building department on Monday and we decide our next course of action.”