Council directs staff to bring back revised appointments policy and to interview Human Rights Commission finalists before full council

The City Council directed staff to update the city's commission appointment procedures and to schedule interviews of Human Rights Commission (HRC) finalists before the full council after public comment from HRC members and a council debate about consistency across commissions.

The matter arose after public testimony from David Vignolo, vice chair of the Human Rights Commission, who urged that "interviewing prescreened applicants by all council members rather than by a 2‑member subcommittee is the best way to ensure the selection of qualified applicants." Councilmember Bernstein moved to update the appointments resolution and include HRC among the commissions whose finalists are interviewed by all five council members. The motion included direction to staff to clean up outdated language in the existing resolution (references to residency and dates that no longer match current practice). The council also discussed whether the change should apply to other commissions; several members said the ordinance needs broader cleanup and that some commissions (HSPB, Planning, Measure J) already involve full‑council review.

Mayor DeHart and others noted the time burden of five‑member interviews; Mayor Pro Tem and other councilmembers offered a hybrid approach for future liaison work with commissions but said that tonight's action focused on the appointments resolution and HRC. The motion to update the resolution and schedule HRC finalist interviews before the full council carried. Staff was directed to return with a revised policy reflecting the clarified procedures and cleanup items discussed by council.