Construction Property management Development MSH Group 201 W, Richmond Avenue, Suite C Pt. Richmond CA 94801 510215 $124 office 510219 5169 fax January 26, 2011 Chief Daryl Louder Contra Costa Fire Protection District 2010 Geary Road Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, Re: Parcel Tax Survey Dear Mr. Louder: My name is Mark Howe and I own a 16.5 acre, 220,000 SF industrial park in the CCFPD in North Richmond. L agree that Fire Protection is an essential service and although I have never had a fire, I am sure that you provide first class service. I want to tell you about my experience with CCFPD inspectors that regularly inspect my site for fire code compliance. One of my inspectors S.A. (initials of inspector - currently retired) arrived one morning in his starched white uniform driving a white district labeled sedan to do his annual inspection. It wasn’t long before I noticed that the inspector had a “chip on his shoulder” so to speak. After some prying he disclosed to me that the district had recently denied him a promotion to Captain, which after 27 years of service was going to reduce the calculations used to determine his monthly pension amount and that he said, “ I am going to come out here to West County and make everybody's life a living hell until the district promotes me to captain.” He made good on his threat and enforced every last detail of the fire code and more. He forced “Giant Trade Center” to make $2.5M underground sprinkler upgrades which in turn forced the sale of the complex. He forced me: to spend $150,000 replacing all my sprinkler heads in 5 acres of buildings, fire sprinkler a loading dock, install tamper switches on all my risers & PIV's, replace the central station alarm and comply with building code issues. His attitude was one of vengeance and harm. He established deadlines that were unreasonable and made my life miserable for 12 months while complaining the whole time I was responding in bad faith to his requests.My current inspector from CCFPD, G.L. when I told him about my experience with inspector S.A. and how I thought 3%@50 caused the problem, went on the offense just as S.A. had done the prior year. This year I paid $25,000 to satisfy the demands of inspector G.L. Today I don’t personally talk to the CCFPD inspectors. I send my young attractive female general manager to interact with them. And she has been instructed not to mention the district's 3%@50 pension plan and say “yes sir” to every request. Bad blood and vindictive are the adjectives that come to mind when I think of the CCPFD not fire protection! Before I decide on how to respond to your survey, I need to see a listing of the current pay of all district employees and the type of defined benefit pension plans that they have. Ineed this information to see if the district is spending the taxes they already get wisely. Could you also explain why the districts’ salaries are not listed on the Contra Costa ‘Times’ website that lists government employee compensation? Once I receive this information I will respond to your survey that estimates my proposed annual parcel tax at $5,823.43. Sincerely, (Ue kh Mark Howe CC: John Gioia, District One Supervisor Contra Costa County Katrinka Ruk, Council of Industries Kris Hunt, contra Costa Taxpayer Association Daniel Borenstein, Contra Costa Times