The Human Services Commission was created on December 5, 1985 and is comprised of five (5) members appointed by individual Councilmembers and two (2) members appointed by the Council as a whole (at-large). Each member of the Commission shall serve a two-year term commencing March 1st following a general municipal election. Members shall have a significant interest in the City such as residency, business or residential ownership, economic involvement, or some other valid link to be determined by the City Council. Members shall not be officers or employees of the City. The Commission shall meet no more than once monthly, and if a member of the Commission is absent for any reason for more than three regular meetings in any twelve-month period, the office of such member shall be vacated. The Commission shall have the power and be required to: (1) Make recommendations on priorities for development of the city’s efforts in Human Service. The program area of Human Services includes Leisure programs, Social programs, Human Rights, and Senior Citizen Affairs; (2) Assist the City Council and Department of Human Services in identifying and determining the Human Service needs of the City. The Commission will cooperate with other agencies in assessing these needs and identifying service gaps; (3) Promote citizen participation in the decision-making process and bring the government process closer to the residents of the City as regards human services programming.