Comment from Freedom Holdings/Crown Granite and Marble

To Whom It May Concern; Let me start with my background. My name is Mike Conner and I started my business when I was fourteen years old doing landscaping and masonry. When I was 20 I met a gentleman that introduced me into the countertop installation business and I quickly morphed my business into that trade and grew it exponentially. By the time I was 25, I employed up to 20 people. By the time I was 30, I bought a countertop fabrication company. I’m currently 41 and I’ve so far lived the “American Dream” that we all strive for. I am married to an amazing wife, I have three amazing daughters, as well as own my home and business property. I grew up in a small northeast Ohio town (Wadsworth). I grew up not necessarily poor, but with nothing unnecessary. I watched my stepfather work 80 hours a week for us to make ends meet. I also watched my grandparents work through their ranks to be able to retire very early, purchase a house in Naples,Fl and enjoy their lives very comfortably. I can say the latter is what I strive for. My Grandmother taught me the value of money and also the value of an educated opinion. I myself am not a traditionally educated man. I did not have the luxury of being able to go to college and decide which career path to take, fate determined that for me. Moving forward, I am writing this letter to express my disdain for any such action regarding quartz slab imports. My countertop fabrication and separate installation businesses deal with approximately 70 percent imported quartz slabs and 30 percent natural imported slabs. I currently employ a meager 18 employees but a 70 percent decrease would be detrimental. Every employee has been with me for years. Most a decade! I pay my employees a wage that matches the top businesses in my industry so that I can retain them. (And they very much deserve). Currently we purchase quartz slabs for our inventory through local suppliers such as MSI, Mont Granite, and non local to Ohio such as Navarro Stone and Venezia Stone both from Maryland. Putting an additional tax on this material for us would be detrimental. As I stated before, I also own a countertop installation business installing through sub-contract work for many other countertop fabrication businesses in northeast Ohio. I feel as though I can represent them as well that any additional fees that we’d all incur would be detrimental to our businesses. Going back to my fabrication business, Crown Granite and Marble was established in 1952. I am the third owner (not through family, by purchase). My original business (Freedom Holdings), the countertop installation company, I managed through the recession of 2008, through the COVID pandemic, and through the tumultuous years following. Taking over Crown Granite in 2016 was invigorating for me. A new challenge, a (to me) new business, a new opportunity toward what we strive for, the American Dream. Four very short years later after doubling the business, the Government mandates I close my showroom, layoff my employees and close up. I’m not one to tuck tail, I closed our showroom, put the “distance” regulations in place, and kept my amazing employees working. We all found a way. My employees took care of our company, they took care of me and my family and I made sure that I took care of them. I now feel it is my duty, to continue to my greatest ability, to take care of them. If you so choose to impose an additional tax on imported quartz, know you will destroy not just 70 percent of my workforce, but tens of thousands of craftsmen across the entire United States. Creating this situation will empower ONE company to a point of a monopoly. The American Dream is to compete is it not? Imports have been our backbone since our original colonies were settled. Destroying thousands of domestic businesses for the sake of one domestic manufacturer doesn’t seem to follow what many of us have thought as an American Dream. If whomever were to so read this and wish for testimony, I’d very much oblige. Just let me know and I’ll be there. Very Respectfully, Mike Conner Freedom Holdings Crown Granite and Marble