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Saskatoon's Lighthouse could be put in receivership by the end of the week

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Two board members of the Lighthouse are calling for the organization to be put in receivership, according to court filings obtained by CTV News.

The members are asking for the court to appoint a receiver because, they claim, the board is unable to make decisions in the best interest of the corporation, and the Ministry of Social Services is withholding payment of more than $100,000 pending mandatory financial reporting the Lighthouse is unable to provide.

An affidavit from now-former co-director Twila Redekopp, voted out of the Lighthouse late last month, pulls back the curtain on the inner workers of the organization since Don Windels was placed on leave from his executive director position last year.

The move followed a judge's ruling that Windels should be removed from his role after he was found to be using the non-profit’s money for personal loans. Windels’ appeal of the decision is still before the courts.

Redekopp and fellow board member Jerome Hepfner took over as co-managing directors and, as they argue in court documents, tried to untangle the Lighthouse’s financial records.

In court documents, Redekopp says she found large chunks of missing financial information, and nearly $92,000 missing from an investment account dating back to 2016 with no trace of the money.

The court filings say there won’t be enough money to last beyond March.

Redekopp learned Windels was back at the Lighthouse at the beginning of the month, where he was handing out layoff notices to nearly all staff for the first week of March.

Its primary lender Affinity Credit Union feels the Lighthouse is insolvent and intends to apply for liquidation.

The Lighthouse owes Affinity nearly $2.4 million.

On Thursday, a King’s Bench judge will either appoint MNP as receiver or deny the application outright.

Neither Redekopp, Hepfner nor Windels could be reached for comment.

-With files from Keenan Sorokan

Correction

A previous version of this story stated that Twila Redekopp and Jerome Hepfner were recently removed as board members of the Lighthouse.

They are still members of the board, but they were removed as co-directors of the organization. 

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