The ECHO-Association – GRAMA Appeal to Chief Administrative Officer

From: The ECHO-Association <m.tracy@echo-association.com>
Subject: GRAMA Appeal – Fire Flow Test Results
Date: March 24, 2021 at 10:41:23 AM MDT
To: Eric Hawkes <eric@ecid.org>
Cc: Jennifer Hawkes <hawkes@ecmetro.org>, mike <mike@ecid.org>, brent@ECID.org, dave@ECID.org

Dear Certified Public Records Officer Eric Hawkes of the Simplifi Company,

The attached email correspondence was received from Utah Attorney Jeremy R. Cook (“Utah Attorney Cook”) of the Salt Lake City law firm Cohne Kinghorn P.C. on behalf of the Simplifi Company regarding our request dated February 11, 2021 under the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act (“GRAMA”) to inspect fire flow test results believed to document possible falsification of government records in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 by the Simplifi Company, its shareholders, and/or trustees of Emigration Improvement District (“EID” aka Emigration Canyon Improvement District aka ECID”).

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 the Simplifi Company, its shareholders, and/or trustees of EID may have falsified government documents in possible violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974.

While we agree with Utah Attorney Cook that Simplifi Company and its sole shareholders Emigration Canyon Deputy Mayor Jennifer Hawkes (“Deputy Mayor Hawkes”) and EID General Manager / EID Financial Manager / EID Public Records Officer Eric Hawkes (“Mr. Hawkes”)(collectively “Simplifi Respondents”) are compensated with taxpayer funds as “EID’s Records Office,” and as such are subject to GRAMA provisions in their entirety, we note that the referenced judgement was not for fees associated with processing a request for public documents, but were rather awarded after the Utah State Third District Court had determined that Simplifi Respondents were not “EID’s Records Office” based upon false representations presented to the court by Simplifi Respondents.

A motion to vacate the decision based upon Utah Attorney Cook’s confirmation of Simplifi Respondents’ status as “EID’s Records Office” has been submitted to the court for further judicial review (see https://echo-association.com/?page_id=8195).

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 filed.

We await the decision of the Chief Administrative Officer.

Kind Regards,

Mark Christopher Tracy
Emigration Canyon Home Owners Association

 

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jeremy Cook <jcook@ck.law>
Subject: GRAMA Requests
Date: February 24, 2021 at 3:40:10 PM MST
To: “MARK.TRACY72@gmail.com” <MARK.TRACY72@gmail.com>, The ECHO-Association <m.tracy@echo-association.com>
Cc: “Eric Hawkes (eric@ecid.org)” <eric@ecid.org>

Mr. Tracy,

As you are aware, on February 10, 2021, Judge Kouris awarded fees against you and in favor of EID’s records office, Eric Hawkes, Simplifi Company and Jennifer Hawkes related to a previous GRAMA request that you submitted to EID. Judge Kouris found that the filing of a GRAMA appeal against Eric Hawkes, Jennifer Hawkes and Simplifi Company (all of which you have continued to include in your GRAMA request despite Judge Kouris’ decision) lacked merit and was filed in bad faith.

In accordance with Utah Code Ann. 63G-2-203(8)(a), a governmental entity may require payment of past fees and future estimated fees before beginning to process a request if: (ii) the requester has not paid fees from previous requests. Based on your request, the fees owed to Eric Hawkes, Jennifer Hawkes and Simplifi Company are clearly past due and owing fees related to the attached GRAMA requests. Accordingly, EID will not process to the attached GRAMA requests until the amount of $5,758.50 is paid in full (see attached Judgment).

Thanks,
Jeremy

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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

<Revised GRAMA- (Fire Flow Test Results).pdf>
<GRAMA (LEGAL INVOICES – Revised- version 4.0).pdf>
<GRAMA (LEGAL INVOICES) copy 2.pdf>
<GRAMA-Water LeaseWater Letters.pdf>
<00540785.PDF>