The Ames City Council will discuss a new liquor-license renewal policy at its meeting tonight. If the policy is approved, the responsibility of reducing the number of underage violations would be placed on bar employees. City officials, three bar owners and the owners’ lawyer met last Tuesday to design a set of renewal recommendations for the city council to consider. “We were impressed that the bar owners are concerned with the problem of minors in bars, and they seemed to have a legitimate interest,” Ames City Manager Steve Schainker said. A few of the suggestions the bar owners gave to reduce the number of underage patrons sneaking into bars included setting up cameras outside bars to observe doormen, having employees inside checking identification on a regular basis, designing a written policy for doormen to sign and making a commitment that 100 percent of bar employees would attend training from the Ames Police Department, Schainker said. The current liquor-law policy, set by City Attorney John Klaus this summer, allows bars to have up to 12 minor violations each year. If bars exceed this number they will not receive a positive recommendation for their liquor-license renewal. Boheme Bistro, 2900 West St., was the first bar to receive a negative recommendation from Klaus this summer after records showed it had 15 violations. Currently, Boheme has a temporary six-month license. Peter Sherman, an owner of the Boheme, said he attended last Tuesday’s meeting because he thinks the new suggestions would be better than the 12-violation limit. “I think the meeting was pretty cooperative,” Sherman said. “I think [the recommendations] are worth considering.” Schainker said there was a general consensus at the meeting that “numbers were arbitrary” and the policy should instead “rely on the self-policing of establishments.” The recommended policy would still be subject to interpretation because it allows for the police to take a more active role in checking to make sure bars are following through with police training and aggressively checking identification, Schainker said. “We’re emphasizing effort rather than outcome,” he said. Ames Police Chief Dennis Ballantine, also at the meeting, said he was pleased with the meeting’s productivity and with the outline of recommendations put together for the city council to approve. “I think we’re all on the same page,” he said. Barry Nadler, attorney representing the owners of the liquor license shared by People’s Bar and Grill and Lumpy’s, 2428 Lincoln Way, said he hopes the suggestions and recommendations will be approved by the city council. “I think [the recommendations] have a really good chance,” Nadler said. “[We] have some good proposals.”