Thrilled to hear that Chief Harold Schapelhouman's contract has been extended. He continues to be a great asset to Menlo Park and the surrounding communities as well as fire fighting in general. So pleased that we will continue to have him lead such a terrific department.

What happened to the comment in the story yesterday that he would not receive a pay raise at the meeting last night? Another hypocrisy in government and they continue to fleece the taxpayers.

This Board is absolutely out it’s mind. Up to 315K salary, a van, 2 months off per year and benefits with add another 100-150K in costs puts the Chief in the top paid public servants in the state. I guess this is how they are responsibly spending our tax dollar. Great quote Director Silano! Perhaps you could explain this abit more.

Absurd, this fire district is out of control. $300.000 to work in Menlo Park. This cities emergency’s and actual fire calls do not equate to making that much money Someone needs to do a house cleaning and stop this abuse of the tax payers. Talk about being on the gravy train

Anyone interested in actual facts can visit this site and find that over 200 Fire Chiefs in California are paid more than the MPFPD Chief:

Web Link

[This portion, and subsequent posts, have been removed for being off topic and misleading. Nowhere in the article is there a claim that the fire chief is making more than any other chief in the state.]

Some very local comparisons:


David Pucci DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF
Redwood City, 2017
$423,351.15

Eric Nickel Fire Chief
Palo Alto, 2017 $364,312.59

Schapelhouman is a great Chief. We're lucky to have a man of his experience leading the department. He's not the highest paid in the state, nor is he the highest paid in this area. His pay and compensation package are in line with his duties. He could have retired and collected a great pension and we would have lost that experience. I have no problem paying him what he's worth. The MPFPD is well funded and that is determined by the state. Those funds are being well managed. From what I've seen, compared to most if not all government agencies around, MPFPD is the best fiscally managed agency bar none.

I sense a lot of pay jealousy going on here. What do CEO's at equivalent sized organizations make around here?

Just identifying what other local cities pay Fire Chiefs seems incomplete unless you also compare how many firefighters those Chiefs manage, how many residents (and businesses) those Chiefs protect, and how large an area those Chiefs must protect. Menlo Park's population is about 32,000. Palo Alto's population is about 67,000. Redwood City's population is about 76,000. Menlo Park comprises 17.39 square miles. Palo Alto: 25.77 square miles. Redwood City: 34.67 square miles.

Determining the number of firefighters managed by each Chief is difficult. Menlo Park, perhaps around 88 but no clear data. Palo Alto seems to be about 118. Redwood City appears to be well over 100 but no precise number.

Using any of those metrics seems to show that Menlo Park's Chief got a good deal, maybe the City of Menlo Park taxpayers, not so much. There may be other factors that need to be considered, but the basic job is protecting the citizens and the businesses, so comparing the size of that task seems like a pretty good starting point.

LONGTIME RESIDENT does not seem to understand the the MPFPD, which was established before the City of Menlo Park, covers not only Menlo Park but also Atherton, East Palo Alto, SLAC and parts of the unincorporated portions of San mate County. This involves a residential population of over 90,000 and a day time population of over 120,000.