Lawsuits. Unpaid financial obligations. A federal tax lien. Public records from the several states Amara Andrews has called home over the last 15 years reveal financial and legal woes have followed her. 

In July 2006, a lien was filed against a property owned by Kahlil and Amara Andrews in Gilbert, AZ. The notice, filed by the Country Lane Community Association, was in response to the Andrews’ being “delinquent in the payment of assessments as provided for in the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions.” 

According to documents filed with the Maricopa County Recorder’s office, the Andrews’ owed $850 in assessments and additional fees to the Association. 

Fast forward three years later, to March 2009, a Notice of Trustee’s Sale for the Andrews’ home was filed with the Maricopa County Recorder’s office. The sale ended up getting canceled in December 2009 after the beneficiary/trustee filed the notice to “rescind, cancel and withdraw said Declaration of Default and Demand for Sale and said Notice of Breach and Election to Cause Sale.” Public records indicate that the Andrews’ ended up selling their Arizona home to a new owner on October 26, 2009. 

In 2014, the Andrews’, who had since moved to Illinois, were sued by an Illinois-based homebuilder. On July 23, 2018, a motion for default against the Andrews’ was granted by the Court, and judgment for $130,530 was entered on October 1, 2018, in favor of Unique Homes & Lumber Inc. 

The legal matter followed the Andrews’ to Cedar Rapids when an affidavit of filing foreign judgment was filed in Linn County by a local attorney on behalf of Unique Homes & Lumber, in an apparent effort to collect on the $130,530 judgment against the Andrews’. The issue was later dismissed after the Court found that it involved “the registration of a judgment originally entered in Illinois, which was subsequently vacated on jurisdictional grounds.” 

The IRS recently issued a Notice of Federal Tax Lien against Kahlil and Amara Andrews in September 2017. The lien listed unpaid income taxes for three consecutive tax years, from 2010 to 2012, totaling over $50,000. A Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien was issued by the IRS in August 2020, indicating that the Andrews’ have satisfied their tax debt to the federal government. 

While most of these issues seem to be resolved and, in many cases, years old, they directly contradict Amara’s campaign promoted image of a savvy businessperson. The records could raise an eyebrow with Cedar Rapids voters wary of handing over the keys to the city’s $140 million budget.

In addition to Andrews, there are three other candidates running for Cedar Rapids mayor, Myra Colby Bradwell, Current Mayor Brad Hart, and Tiffany O’Donnell.

Sources:

Linn County (IA) District Court documents; Champaign County (IL) Circuit Clerk, Case #2014L000145, Filed 22 August 2014.

Maricopa County Recorder, recorder.maricopa.gov, Recording Numbers 20090202805, 20061034945, 20091015211, and 20091174471

Linn County Recorder, Federal Tax Lien, Recorded 15 September 2017, Book 9930, Page 392 and Release of Federal Tax Lien, Recorded 8/18/2020, Book 9930, Page 392