MOUNT Gambier Mayor Andrew Lee has become embroiled in civil litigation after failing to pay a large debt to a local building contractor who built two properties for the civic leader.
Following the completion of two units on George Street in 2014, Mr Lee avoided paying an outstanding sum of $68,278 to his contractor Roger Doody, despite the builder’s efforts to retrieve the money.
Mr Doody claims Mr Lee agreed the final bill was accurate, but told him he did not have sufficient funds to pay.
After almost two and a half years of Mr Lee refusing to respond to his requests for payment, Mr Doody decided to take legal action by filing a claim for the money on February 2 this year.
“I rang him numerous times and after the final call I left a message saying it was the last time I was ringing him and the next time it would be the lawyer,” Mr Doody said.
“I rang the lawyer and it has been in his hands ever since.”
The claim was filed by Mr Doody’s lawyer and served on Mr Lee, who was given 21 days to respond.
Mr Lee did not respond with any defence, allowing the plaintiff to apply for a judgement, which was entered.
The defendant can apply for the judgement to be set aside, however the mayor still did not act on the legal proceedings.
As a result, Mr Doody applied for a charging order, which was ordered by Magistrate Kennewell on June 1.
The charging order restricts Mr Lee from selling the properties until the debt, costs and interest, totalling $70,669, are paid in full.
The Border Watch understands Mr Lee has since tried to sell one of the units, however the transaction was unable to be settled due to the outstanding order.
“The lawyer has made sure we have holds on both the units, so he can’t settle anything or do anything until he has paid the money or further court action takes place,” Mr Doody said.
Particulars from the court documents state Mr Doody quoted an amount of $300,000 for the construction of both the units and an agreement was made with Mr Lee.
Mr Doody advised Mr Lee that any changes to the plans of the two units would incur more costs.
“When I told him how much the houses were going to cost, he said he could do it for that, but then when the plans came back they were completely different,” Mr Doody said.
The cost of the two constructions amounted to $298,278 plus a further $28,613.01 for extra materials from Banner Hardware due to the proposed plan changes.
Mr Lee made an agreement to pay for the extra materials directly to Banner Hardware using his American Express credit card so he could obtain award points for travel.
“He said I’ll pay it on my bank card, so he could travel where he wants and I saw nothing wrong with that,” Mr Doody said.
Mr Lee was approached with the final bill of $298,278 at the end of the construction process, however Mr Doody only received payments amounting to $230,000, leaving $68,278 outstanding.
The outstanding sum still has not been paid, despite Mr Doody trying to contact him on several occasions.
“He told us he didn’t have the money, but since then he’s got married and he’s building a brand new home, yet he doesn’t have the money to pay me,” he said.
“That money for those things has to come from somewhere.”
The financial dispute has had a significant affect on Mr Doody’s life as the construction of the units and the outstanding sum of money has essentially left him with no profit.
“I’ve ended up with nothing,” Mr Doody said.
“I paid everyone for the job, so the money he owes me, half of it is mine and the other half is for the materials I paid for.
“It knocks you around, it’s hard enough missing wages, let alone having to pay for materials for someone else.”
In his decades as a building contractor, Mr Doody said he had never been owed this much money for a job.
“Sometimes people are slow, sometimes I am slow too, that’s business, but I have never had anyone owe me this type of money,” Mr Doody said.
“It’s affecting me and my wife and if he can afford to go and do everything he is doing now, then he can simply afford to pay me.”
Mr Lee was contacted by The Border Watch numerous times yesterday and given the opportunity to respond, but declined to comment on the matter on advice from his lawyer.
