The rubble has been moved off the Jesus is Alive site, on orders from City Hall.
North Battleford council issued an ultimatum to owner Olaf Peterson and the Jesus is Alive Association. As part of a resolution passed by council April 9, it was ordered that all back taxes be paid up by the close of business Wednesday afternoon, or the City would move ahead with the cleanup work themselves.
Had the City received the outstanding $14,585 of back taxes, they would have allowed Jesus is Alive 10 more working days to clean up the property so its foundations could be inspected and assessed for a possible rebuild.
But the back taxes were not paid by Wednesday night, confirmed City Marketing and Communications Co-ordinator Mike Halstead on Thursday.
As a result, the City immediately contracted Ken and Terry's Construction to move ahead with the cleanup of the rubble. The Jesus is Alive building was destroyed by fire in early March.
Fire Chief Pat MacIsaac was given the authority to contract with the lowest bidder by a resolution passed at the previous council meeting. The contractors started work early Thursday morning with demolition work and with loading bricks, debris and wood onto trucks to be hauled away.
By afternoon, much headway had been made in removing most of the rubble that had stood on the site for a month.
The exact cost of the cleanup work is not yet known. Ken and Terry's had submitted a low bid of $31,104 to demolish what was left of the building and another $54,107.80 to fill and level the site, but there was some talk of negotiating the price downward.
In any event the final cost is to be added to the owners' back taxes, in addition to the outstanding amount that hasn't been paid.
Council decided to take action after four weeks of waiting for the bricks to all be cleared away.
The Jesus is Alive Association told council last Monday they were relying on volunteer labour in the cleanup effort. But the slow pace drew council's notice and they continued to voice concern about safety at the site.
Now there is speculation Jesus is Alive may never be able to pay their city tax bill, prompting the city to move to seize the property through tax enforcement.
Following last Monday's council meeting ,where council imposed the back-taxes-and-cleanup deadlines on the Jesus is Alive owners, Mayor Ian Hamilton was asked by reporters whether this was starting the city down the path towards possibly ending up owning the property.
"I can't assess that until I guess the close of work day Wednesday afternoon," he said at the time.
However, he did say there was a procedure for dealing with tax arrears, should it come to that.
"Legislation certainly allows us to add those additional costs to the tax roll, and at such time if they continue to be in arrears, then tax enforcement provisions would take place," said Hamilton. "Whatever happens would happen then."
The mayor also defended the City from claims they were being heavy-handed in their dealings with a charitable organization.
"We have a responsibility to act in the best interests of the citizens of North Battleford, and I believe what I heard in council tonight is that that's what we're doing."
