AUGUSTA — A proposal to declare a Mount Vernon Avenue building the city had torn down last month a dangerous structure retroactively goes to city councilors Thursday.

The designation would allow the city to move ahead with plans to seek to recoup some or all of the $12,500 cost of having the vacant building demolished from the owner, a representative of whom objected to the building being torn down. City officials and a structural engineer determined it was at risk of imminent collapse and had it removed May 13.

City Manager William Bridgeo said it appeared to officials the 58 Mount Vernon Ave. building was literally sliding off its foundation, and a structural engineer hired by the city said it could collapse within days if a tractor-trailer truck were to drive by on Mount Vernon Avenue, where a major construction project was going on and where the sidewalk was within 10 feet of the home.

City code officials and a structural engineer from Coffin Engineering determined, independently of each other, the building was at risk of imminent collapse. Ralph St. Pierre, who was acting city manager at the time the unstable building was reported on May 13, consulted with city attorney Stephen Langsdorf, declared the building to be a risk to public safety and hired a local contractor to demolish the structure. It was down by 5 p.m. that day and grass is now starting to grow on the vacant lot.

A representative of the owner, Bridgeo said, “objected to its demolition at the time, but we had to act.”

Bridgeo said evidence the home was unstable and had shifted off its foundation included the fact that a power line connecting it to a utility pole, which should have some slack in it, was taut. The line was not in use, as electricity was not in service at the home.

St. Pierre is the city’s finance director and assistant city manager but was acting city manager the day the building was discovered by city officials, because Bridgeo was out of town.

The owner’s representative, St. Pierre said, reported the building problem to city officials. He said the representative wanted time to shore up the building by making repairs. But St. Pierre said when Ben Murray, of Coffin Engineering, was asked if the building could be left until repairs could be made the following week, he said he couldn’t promise that if a tractor-trailer truck came by on Mount Vernon Avenue, the building wouldn’t collapse.

Bridgeo said city officials had no opinion on whether the road construction project on Mount Vernon Avenue, which has been taking place on and off for about two years next to the single-family home, was a factor in its unstable condition.

He said it appeared the home had been vacant and unheated for about three years.

The home was assessed by the city for tax purposes at $28,000 and was built in 1900.

City assessing records indicate the owner is Donata Sheehan, whose residence is listed as Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Sheehan could not be reached for comment and there is no phone number listed for that name in Portsmouth.

If city councilors agree to declare the building was unsafe and unstable and constituted a health or safety hazard or was otherwise dangerous to life or property, the city would be able to seek to recover the costs of the demolition from the owner. St. Pierre said the city would add a special tax assessment on it for the demolition costs.

Councilors are scheduled to consider doing so at their 7 p.m. meeting Thursday in the council chamber at Augusta City Center.

Councilors are also scheduled to:

• Consider whether to reaffirm their recent vote to authorize Bridgeo to apply for federal Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, funding to cover 75 percent of the salary and benefits of an entry-level officer for three years to focus on drug prevention in local schools. Bridgeo said police Chief Robert Gregoire, in filling out application materials, discovered the federal program has a cap of $125,000 on how much federal money could be provided through it, and it requires the municipality to commit to keeping the officer on, at city expense, for a fourth year. Bridgeo said the changes could add about $90,000 to the city’s cost, over four years, so councilors will have a chance to reconsider their previous vote;

• Consider declaring furniture, shelving and similar materials now in use at the temporary home of Lithgow Public Library, inside the Ballard Center, to be surplus city property, which would allow the city to sell items of value and to take others that don’t sell to Hatch Hill landfill when the library moves to its renovated and expanded home this summer; and

• Consider the first reading, of two required readings, of a proposal to change the zoning of part of a parcel of land along Civic Center Drive, which has been clear-cut in recent months and is owned by MJH LLC, from the Rural River District to the Civic Center District. The Planning Board recommends the change. A representative of the owner told the Planning Board his client plans to either sell or develop the property.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @kedwardskj

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