OWENSVILLE —The city of Owensville is preparing for the next steps of two large projects with the search for a qualified building inspector for the dangerous buildings project and separately, an electrician for the First Street lighting project.

Both projects are overseen by City Administrator Randy Blaske who spoke with The Republican Friday on the two topics that have been discussed for several months at the city level.

The dangerous buildings project aims to make the area safer by addressing houses that are in bad shape and considered a liability.

“These are serious issues that we need to address as a community,” Blaske told the Board of Aldermen in a previous meeting. “We’re going to keep on top of it.”

According to Blaske, nine homes have been identified as needing attention. The city has attempted to contact all of the owners and some are already making the needed updates.

“We appreciate everything business and homeowners have been doing to clean up their properties and their effort in beautifying the town,” he said.

Other owners have been unresponsive. The city will next need to employ a qualified building inspector as the following steps of the process will insist on addressing the problematic properties through means of legal action.

Blaske informed The Republican that he reached out to several potential candidates to see if there was any interest in the role but was unable to locate anyone qualified and willing, leading to the advertisement for the role in this publication. The city is seeking resume submission for a part-time building inspector to enforce the city codes and Planning & Zoning regulations. The inspector will review all building permit applications and perform all building inspections for residential and commercial permits. Qualifications include a high school diploma or equivalent, status as a NCCA accredited licensed home inspector and one year of related experience or training.

City officials are expected to discuss applications for the building inspector role at the upcoming meeting of the Board of Aldermen at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Once hired, the city will be able to move forward in further addressing the issue.

The city is also moving forward with the Owensville First Street Lighting Project, seeking sealed-bid submissions for construction of 14 energy efficient street lights and related infrastructure along First Street from Highway 28 to just south of McFadden Avenue.

Covering the cost of the project will be a $500,000 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) obtained for the city by Blaske through the Department of Energy. There is no local matching funds requirement for the grant. However, city officials may decide to extend the project and provide partial funding if the final costs exceed the grant.

According to Blaske, Jerry Reinhold of Reinhold Electric of St. Louis believes that the grant amount should cover all the city wants to do — including installing lights from McFadden Avenue to Marvin Avenue.

The new infrastructure will be used instead of the existing lines. Those lines, in some areas, are up to 100 years old and in other areas have incurred damages over time due to road and utilities work in the city.

The lights that have been selected are cast-iron, acorn-style fixtures on concrete poles that will add a cozy feel to the downtown area.

A non-mandatory prebid conference will be held Wednesday, Jan. 21, with all bidders encouraged to attend.