Official may owe on home

More than $2.1 million is owed on a Newport Beach waterfront home owned by City Councilman Ed Selich that may go to a foreclosure auction.

The four-bedroom home on Bayside Drive was listed as “in default under a deed of trust,” according to a legal notice published in Thursday’s Daily Pilot.

Selich said Friday that the “matter has been resolved and the house is not going to sell.” He declined further comment.

Mayor Keith Curry said that he had spoken with Selich and that a report in another newspaper about the councilman’s current situation are false.

“It is to my understanding that Mr. Selich has satisfied the lien and that the issue has been resolved,” the mayor said. “He has been a great addition to the City Council, and I believe he will continue doing an excellent job in serving the city.”

Selich accumulated more than 30 tax liens totaling more than 2 million, which he subsequently paid, according to state and federal documents dating back to 1981 that were reviewed by the Pilot.

Selich is not the only prominent Newport official to have had money problems. City Atty. David Hunt filed for bankruptcy in 2006 before he was hired as the city’s top attorney in December 2008, court records show.

Under California law, the legal notice posting for Selich’s home must run three times before the property can be legally auctioned.

Supervisor Carl Palermo of Agency Sales and Posting, Recontrust Co., which posted the legal notice, was unable to reveal whether the posting will run again, but said: “Once we receive instructions to remove the legal notice, then we notify the paper.”

If the lien is not paid, the home will be auctioned July 1 at the Santa Ana Courthouse, according to the notice.