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and Recreation Commissioner, she announced the Pet Parade which will be held behind Red Morton Park on Saturday, April 5. The pre- registration occurs at 11:30 a.m. and registration forms are available on the City website, City Hall and the Parks and Recreation Department. Patricia Moore, a resident of Redwood City and volunteer for "City Trees" stated that a tree planting of 38 trees occurred on Saturday with volunteers from two Rotary Clubs, the Girl Scouts, and Adelante School. The total trees planted to date is approximately 850 trees which is approaching the goal of planting 1,000 trees in 1,000 days. She further stated that the very good news is that the goal is more reachable due to very generous grants from two organizations. The National Tree Trust awarded $5,000.00 and $10,000.00 was contributed from the Oracle Giving Program in Redwood City. These grants will be toward tree planting and tree maintenance for the next year and contribute to the greening of Redwood City. She further encouraged anybody interested in volunteering to plant trees or distribute information on the organization to contact www.citvtrees.org Rudy Luca brought up a recent topic approving reduction of the City contract obligation to provide housing assistance to the City Attorney. He asked for clarification on the reduction from the original amount of $600,000.00 to $400,000.00., what the meaning of co -owner is and if it is a practice being applied to all employees. His next point was regarding salaries of the City Attorney, Police Chief, City Manager, City Clerk, Financial Services Director, and Public Works Director as recently published in a newspaper article. He asked that these employees evaluate the laying off of employees and elimination of services, suggesting that these employees might consider cutting their salaries to give back to lesser paid employees given the present economy and the situation in the country. His last question was exactly how much the culvert relocation will cost and why the costs keep rising. Mayor Claire stated that the City must pay competitive wages like any company and Council Member Hartnett and City Attorney Yamamoto clarified that the figures quoted from the newspaper are not salary figures, but total compensation figures. Stacey Wagner, representing the Redwood City Chamber of Commerce, stated that there will be three members of the Chamber Leadership class attending the Town Hall meeting entitled, 'Budget Crunch 2003 — Looking for Answers ", to be held on Thursday, March 27 at 7:30 p.m. at Peninsula TV. She stated that the panelists will be Assembly Members Joe Simitian and Gene Mullin, Supervisor Jerry Hill, Burlingame Council Member Joe Galligan, San Mateo County College District Chancellor Ron Galatolo, and San Mateo Union High School District Superintendent Tom Moore. Pete Hughes stated that the City staff is excellent and that after hiring employees for 35 years in his own business, that you get what you pay for. REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING March 24, 2003 AGENDA PAGE2 MINUTES Book No. 59 Page No. 418