Saskatoon judge approves Lighthouse receivership application

It was a deal that was literally agreed upon minutes before a Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench justice gave it her stamp of approval.

Lawyers representing the Lighthouse Supported Living Inc., and two former co-managers who filed a receivership application two weeks ago finalized a receivership agreement Friday morning, half an hour after a hearing was supposed to begin.

The agreement means the Lighthouse will go into receivership until April 13, when all parties — including lawyers representing Affinity Credit Union and tax and accounting firm MNP LLP — will again meet in court.

Travis Kusch said there were some minor changes to the initial receivership application filed by Twila Reddekopp and Jerome Hepfner.

“The order granted and consented to by the parties will reflect the order originally filed on Feb. 7 by our office,” Kusch said.

“The two main changes would be that MNP now has power to manage operations and they will also have the ability to list the three properties located in the municipality of North Battleford for sale. They will not have the power to sell it pending further court approval.”

Those properties include a homeless shelter and two houses. Blue Mountain Adventure Park, also owned by the Lighthouse, is not on the list.

Initially, Lighthouse lawyers Paul Fedoroff and Craig Frith argued that there should be meaningful restructuring to keep the charity afloat, and that the current board was prepared to step down.

Control would go back to the board members to hold an annual general meeting, to choose a new board of directors, and to gradually see a “rehabilitation” of the organization.

Tax and accounting firm MNP LLP will now have until April 13 to delve into the organization’s finances and operations and present a report on the findings.

According to an affidavit filed by Reddekopp, the Lighthouse owes nearly $2.4 million on a mortgage, and also has a $350,000 line of credit. Court heard earlier that line of credit only has $43,000 left.

Adeel Salman, a member of the board of directors and the finance committee, said the receivership decision will allow both sides of the board — now split into two groups — to work together.

“It’s a positive direction,” he said.

Salman said two adjournments over the last week helped the sides understand the goals they all wanted to address, including dealing with some of the debt and cash flow issues.

“(This) also allows us some time where we can also have a better understanding of what happens on the day when the receiver comes up with the report,” he added.

He said he’s confident MNP LLP has the expertise to do a thorough investigation.

“I believe that they have the necessary expertise to deal with this. My expectation (and) my hope is that with the court order in place, the goal would be to uncover and understand what went wrong and where,” said Salman.

He said everyone has to look away from the divisions and see how they can all work together, adding the most important people are the 150 or so residents still living at the downtown Saskatoon facility.

“Their interests (are) centre stage for the corporation, for the board of directors (and) for the membership,” Salman said. “We put them first.”