A $98,222.48 mechanic’s lien has been placed on the Montrose condo of John Drayman, a former Glendale City Councilmember and former president of the Montrose Shopping Park Association.
The lien cites unpaid bills for repairs and labor done to restore Drayman’s condo after water damage.
A lien is a hold on private property, which, if unpaid, can result in foreclosure or affect the sale of the property. The one on Drayman's property was served by National Fire Systems & Services, Inc., according to the Glendale News Press.
Steve Arezoomanian, the president of National Fire, claims that nearly $100,000 was due on January 17, 2011.
Drayman came under fire during his 2011 Glendale City Council campaign for contracting National Fire, because they previously worked as a subcontractor for Advanced Development & Investment, Inc. (ADI) while ADI was building affordable housing complexes in Glendale.
ADI is also under federal investigation for allegedly cheating taxpayers out of millions of dollars, submitting fake bills to Glendale and other cities, and failure to keep sufficient records of more than $650 million. Drayman claimed he had no knowledge that the contractors he hired were connected to ADI.
The Glendale News Press reports that National Fire did not have a residential remodel license until September 2010, which could affect the lien:
“But National Fire, whose president said the company had never done a residential remodel before Drayman's project, lacked a license to do such work until September, according to state records, which could hinder the company’s ability to enforce the lien.
State regulations also require that liens be filed within 90 days of either completing the work or the client signing off on the project.”
The Glendale News-Press also reports that Drayman said he had already paid for the majority of the condo repairs:
“In previous interviews, Drayman has acknowledged that he chose National Fire in part because the company had agreed to let him pay over a period of months. But he said in March that he had paid for the majority of the work, except for between $10,000 and $30,000 in disputed charges with one subcontractor.”
Drayman is currently being investigated for embezzlement, but police say that the investigation is unrelated to ADI and instead connected to an organization in which Drayman played a role.
Check out the official lien paperwork in the .pdf on the right, which was taken from the Glendale News Press story.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that National Fire worked as a subcontractor for ADI for the repairs on Drayman's home. Patch regrets the error.
