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City Council Minutes January 10, 1996 Page 2 f'e a.~ candidates to invite for personal interviews; 7) after their regular meeting on February 28, the council will recess into workshop to determine interview questions; 8) on March 6th, council will conduct interviews of approximately 30 minutes; 9) on March 13th, the council will appoint a candidate; and 101 on March 27th, the selected candidate will be sworn in as a councilmember. Motion was made by councilmember Jacobs to approve the appointment process as described above. Motion passed unanimously. DISCUSSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION SCHEDULE Administrator Hoyt noted that with the expiration of some Human Rights Commissioners' terms and the resignation of another, there are few active commission members remaining. It is critical that the city have a Human Rights Commission. However, it may be time to review the meeting schedule and focus of the commission in order to encourage recruitment of new commissioners. councilmember Gibson Talbot, the commission's council liaison, noted that the Human Rights Commission has branched into two groups: those who are interested in "hard core" human rights issues and those who want to take a broader, training-type focus. She also suggested that the structure of the commission's meetings be changed to a quarterly or semi-annual basis, with the caveat that more meetings could be called if necessary. Mayor Gehrz suggested that a future activity for the commission could be to develop a response plan for "hate crimes", similar to the plan the city has for emergency evacuations. There was some discussion among the councilmembers about possibly appointing as few as three people to be "core" commissioners with remaining commissioners being appointed as particular issues or concerns are addressed. This approach might allow the city to draw on the talents of those whose schedules are too committed to allow them to be appointed for a three year term. Administrator Hoyt will review the written policies on the Human Rights Commission and bring back the suggested changes for review at a future council meeting. REQUEST FOR A LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR A GRANT APPLICATION FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALCOHOL COMPLIANCE PROJECT Administrator Hoyt explained that the University of Minnesota is applying for a grant to study youth access to alcohol. This research project would involve a number of cities and would involve both research and the training of merchants about alcohol compliance techniques. Hoyt noted that the city's police provider would be asked to conduct compliance checks on all of the city's liquor licensees. Since this is more time consuming than tobacco compliance checks, the police's costs would be passed on the city at a cost of up to 51350. Hoyt stressed that while alcohol compliance is very desirable for the