From: The ECHO-Association <m.tracy@echo-association.com>
Subject: GRAMA Appeal to Chief Administrative Officer (Water Lease Payments & Contracts)
Date: February 9, 2021 at 11:42:19 AM PST
To: mike@ecid.org
Cc: Eric Hawkes <eric@ECID.org>, Jennifer Hawkes <hawkes@ecmetro.org>, dave@ECID.org, brent@ECID.org, Jeremy Cook <JCOOK@ck.law>
Dear Emigration Improvement District Trustee Chairman Michael Scott Hughes,
The attached email correspondence below was received today from Utah Attorney Jeremy R. Cook (“Utah Attorney Cook”) of the Salt Lake City law firm Cohne Kinghorn P.C on behalf of Emigration Improvement District (aka Emigration Canyon Improvement District aka ECID) records officer Eric Hawkes (“Mr. Hawkes”) of the Simplifi Company regarding our request dated January 19, 2021 under the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act (“GRAMA”) to inspect water lease agreements and payments believed to document the possible misuse of public funds by the Simplifi Company and/or EID trustees.
We hereby appeal denial of the GRAMA request to the Chief Administrative Officer.
Please note the following for the purpose of this appeal:
Name: Mark Christopher Tracy dba Emigration Canyon Home Owners Association (“The ECHO-Association”)
Mailing Address: 1160 E. Buchnel Dr., Sandy, Utah 84094
Daytime Phone Number: 929-208-6010
Relief Sought / Grounds for Appeal: We have reason to believe that EID trustees and managers may be concealing the misuse of public funds for private profit.
Specifically, it appears that EID may have issued water letter for the construction of private residences in Emigration Canyon waiving collection fees and costs to friends, family members and associates of EID managers and trustee including EID Trustees David Bradford and Brett Tippets.
Under Utah Code Ann. sec. 63G-2-201(1)(a) “a person has the right to inspect a public record free of charge, and the right to take a copy of a public record during normal working hours” if the record is not privileged or confidential while the intentional refusal to disclose public records may be a criminal offense under Utah Code Ann. sec. 63G-2-801(3)(a).
Furthermore, please note that if a GRAMA request is submitted to an inappropriate office, under Utah Code Ann. § 63G-2-204(8)(a), it “shall” be promptly forwarded to appropriate office – if such an office does in fact exist separate from “Emigration Improvement District c/o Simplifi Company.”
As EID has contracted with the Simplifi Company to maintain all governmental records at the private residence of Emigration Canyon Deputy Mayor Hawkes and her spouse Mr. Hawkes at public expense, and Mr. Hawkes is registered with the Utah State Records Ombudsman as the EID certified records officer, the GRAMA request was properly addressed to “Emigration Improvement District c/o Simplifi Company” located at 271 Margarethe Ln., Salt Lake City, Utah 84107 contrary to Utah Attorney’s Cook’s questionable legal analysis.
We await the decision of the Chief Administrative Officer.
Kind Regards,
Mark Christopher Tracy
Emigration Canyon Home Owners Association
From: Jeremy Cook <jcook@ck.law>
Date: February 9, 2021 at 10:30:38 AM PST
To: mark.tracy72@gmail.com, The ECHO-Association <m.tracy@echo-association.com>
Cc: “Eric Hawkes (eric@ecid.org)” <eric@ecid.org>
Subject: GRAMA Request – Water Right Lease Payments & Water Letters
Mr. Tracy,
As I have indicated to you numerous times in the past, Emigration Improvement District will not respond to GRAMA requests that are submitted to the Simplifi Company or Jennifer Hawkes or that are submitted to EID c/o Simplifi Company. If you would like to amend your GRAMA request and submit it to Emigration Improvement District, without including Jennifer Hawkes or Simplifi Company in the request or the email, the District will respond.
Thanks,
Jeremy
Jeremy R. Cook
111 East Broadway, 11th Floor
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
Phone: 801.363.4300 (after hours ext. 133) | Cell: 801.580.8759
jcook@cohnekinghorn.com
From: The ECHO-Association <m.tracy@echo-association.com>
Date: January 19, 2021 at 11:16:46 AM MST
To: Jennifer Hawkes <hawkes@ecmetro.org>, Eric Hawkes <Eric@ecid.org>
Cc: mike@ecid.org, brent@ecid.org, dave@ecid.org
Subject: GRAMA Request – Water Right Lease Payments & Water Letters
Dear Emigration Canyon Deputy Mayor Jennifer Hawkes and EID Financial & General Manager Eric Hawkes of the Simplifi Company,
As operator of water system no. 18143, you have been contracted by Emigration Improvement District (“EID” aka Emigration Canyon Improvement District aka ECID) to maintain and control access to governmental records. (See “Brief of Appellant” at the website administered by the Emigration Canyon Home Owners Association available at https://echo-association.com/?page_id=7677).
During the 2021 EID budget hearing, you refused to clarify why projected revenue from water-right lease contracts had doubled for the current calendar year, despite the fact that the permanent changes to EID water right “57-7796” are currently pending before the Utah Third District Court and the Utah Court of Appeals, and you have consistently refused to acknowledge that all water sources currently in operation by the Simplifi Company are now expressly contingent upon court approval (see https://echo-association.com/?page_id=6054).
Moreover, it appears that you have both demanded and collected payments from 98 property owners unaware of both pending water litigation and documented groundwater mining of Emigration Canyon’s Freeze Creek Aquifer (see https://echo-association.com/?page_id=635 and https://echo-association.com/?page_id=3310).
As such, we submit the attached GRAMA request regarding water-right lease payments and water letters issued for new construction in Emigration Canyon.
Please note that failure to provide timely access to the requested governmental documents will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to include injunctive relief and/or recovery of attorney fees and costs under Utah Code Ann. §63G-2-802.
Kind Regards,
Mark Christopher Tracy
Emigration Canyon Home Owners Association