 We'll just establish a quorum, please. Commissioner Cameron. I'm present. Commissioner O'Brien. I am here. Commissioner Zuniga. Hi here. Good morning, everybody. And commissioner Stephens. Here. Good morning, everyone. And I'm here and this is. May day. And I will reiterate that given the unprecedented circumstances resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic, governor Baker issued an order to provide limited relief from certain provisions of the open meeting law to protect the health and safety of those who wish to participate in and attend our public meetings. And keeping with the guidance provided, the commission will conduct this public meeting utilizing remote collaborative technology. And if there's any technical problem, we will give advice on our website at mass gaming. To reestablish a connection. I want to thank everybody for attending. We've, um, We extend the invitation to all of our staff and it's, um, I'm very appreciative for how many members of our, of our team join us in these meetings. So thank you. And of course, to members of the public media who are joining us today. Thank you. I'm going to call this meeting to order Friday, April 3rd, 10 a.m. This is Massachusetts gaming commission's public meeting, number 300. And for at least three of my colleagues, never mind the entire many members of the team. That is quite a history for you. So, um, Mark number 300 virtually. Um, moving on the agenda item number two, we have an executive staff update from interim executive director Karen Wells. And, um, Our director of racing and chief Mary and Dr. Alex lightbound Karen. Good morning. Good morning. Uh, just as for the critical business of the day, uh, the governor has extended, uh, his order, the shutdown order regarding the coronavirus. Uh, through May 18th. So it's my recommendation that the commission parallel that and extend that temporary suspension of the operations at the three gaming establishments until May 18th. And who do we have questions and comments from fellow commissioners and I'll just, if you want to wave, um, or lean in. Thank you. Thank you. And no, obviously, um, we were, uh, you know, waiting for the governor to come out with, uh, new, um, orders. And, um, it's entirely appropriate for us to follow suit, um, with, uh, all those experts that came to those decisions about moving it two more weeks. So I think it is certainly appropriate that we follow suit and the recommendation is a good one by our interim director. Any further questions or comments regarding this proposal? I just a comment. I agree. It's, it's obviously the right thing to do and, and mandated at this point. Um, but I don't know if now or the next meeting is the time to talk about, um, next steps in terms of, you know, continuing to get advice, et cetera from, uh, the governor and the public health sector, but also, um, our licensees in terms of, um, um, you know, as we hopefully get more clarity by the end of the month, um, what the summer may look like, but that may be a conversation for a future meeting. Excellent. Any further questions? Um, we do need a vote on this matter. Do I have a motion? So madam chair, I, um, I move that the commission approve, um, the recommendation of the executive director, um, to follow the governor's orders and, uh, move our timeframe, uh, and keep, uh, keep the licenses, keep the casinos closed until the 18th. Of. May. A second. Any discussion, amendment, edit. Okay. Barring none. Um, I'll do a real call vote. Chris, your camera. I can show Brian. Hi. Hi. Commissioner Stevens. Hi. And I vote yes. Five zero. Thank you. Moving on to Dr. Leipow. Good morning. Good morning. I have spoken with the three racing licensees and they're aware of the governor's extension of the order to May 18th and, um, they agreed to continue to abide by it, um, for simulcasting. Um, as we've done in the past, they will continue Suffolk and Plainridge to do online account wagering. Alex, uh, I thank you for that update. Um, just a quick question actually, um, I saw in the news today that, uh, the Kentucky Derby, which was supposed to run tomorrow is obviously been rescheduled, but they're doing a, uh, a virtual Kentucky Derby. So, um, do you happen to know offhand whether that is open to any online betting or whether that is just for betting for recreation? I think I heard something about. Contributions or winnings being donated to COVID-19, uh, Jerry's. I've heard about the, um, race that they're putting together, but I'm not sure, um, on the betting angle. Okay. All right. Thank you. It'll be interesting to watch. We've obviously learned, I'll heard a lot about historical racing. But it'll be interesting to see what the interest is. Correct. Any further questions for Alex. Okay. We do not need a vote. Um, we've been advised by, um, uh, legal that we're all set on that and keeping with our past, our past practice. Um, with that, I do want to move on to just item number three, just really to build on commissioner O'Brien's remarks earlier. Um, when we first decided to temporarily suspend operations at the, uh, states three gaming facilities, the commission, and licensees, um, how to share view that public health was paramount to all other considerations. And at that time, the urgent circumstances required us to move quickly and decisively. The timeline as we recognize today is still uncertain. However, our attention is now focused on developing a reopening or responsible. I'm sorry. We start, uh, planning a plan and maximizing this time that we do have to establish guidelines and coordination and collaboration with key stakeholders, including the three licensees, state and local leaders, and of course, public health experts. We'll have the opportunity as we've recognized in our early meetings to leverage our internal expertise. And it appears to learn from other jurisdictions. Additionally, we will closely monitor guidance under development by the governor's reopening advisory board. Our shared priority of public health remains paramount in our decision making as we determine how to proceed in a post pandemic environment. Excuse me to support the work already in progress under the leadership of interim executive director Wells. An internal restart working group will be convened. This group will help in the development of the work plan and identify early on issues for the commission's consideration to facilitate its agile action on key policy and regulatory matters. As we proceed in this matter, this working group will assist with oversight and planning for two primary areas that Ms. Wells has identified as core to a safe and sustainable reopening plan. And while she'll expand on this at our next meeting next Thursday, I'd like for Karen to just give us a snapshot of those two areas, please. Yeah, thank you, Madam chair at, you know, as I mentioned at the last meeting, there's really two buckets. There's the technical opening and then because of the situation we find ourselves in now we sort of have health and safety issues that we need to address. So as far as the technical opening. Part of the procedures, the technical opening protocols and procedures will consist of an assessment of the regulatory process required to bring casinos back online. Including an extensive operations checklist that ensures the necessary compliance and integrity standards. So the second piece is obviously the health and safety given the coronavirus pandemic that we're all dealing with. And that involves health and safety operational planning that will address a comprehensive opening strategy regarding measures necessary to prioritize the well being of casino guests and employees. Pop it's there are going to include but not be limited to enhance sanitation procedures, employee training, physical distancing, occupational or may occupancy limitations and any other guidance provided by public health authorities. The plan will also need to account for what procedures will be necessary in the event of a restart setback. The other piece of that in addition will be developing in parallel protocols and procedures for the reopening of the Massachusetts gaming commission office to ensure a safe return to the office for those NGC employees. So that's the that's the overview that we're going to be looking at over the next several weeks. Excellent thank you in terms of timing as determined today will continue to follow the state's lead. And then we look forward to Miss Wells updating us on the process on a regular cadence, but particularly we'll look forward to next week. This difficult set of circumstances has presented as we know the word we hear so frequently and unprecedented global challenge. As so many have said, we are all in this together. An effective reopening plan will require sustained cooperation from all involved. So thank you to the MGC team and our licensees for your hard work, thoughtful diligence, despite this intense and challenging time. And with that I invite my fellow commissioners to comment and then we will close this meeting and look forward to next Thursday's. 300 and first meeting. Any comments. No, just to say that it sounds at a very high level really appropriate and. I'm thoughtful. So I'm glad that's that's happening. I'm just curious if you've established. That working group already or are in the process and will give us. An update of that when. Next time. So I'm working with Karen commissioner on that. And I've been asked to commissioner. O'Brien to assist in that as well. So there'll be representation from the commission. And then it will be a very small group. It is not intended to duplicate efforts. It's really more of a sounding board. I think Karen, if you want to wish to ask that. Yeah. So. There's a layered approach as well. There's this group, but we also have staff that's working on operational procedure. So we have different groups working. On the COVID. Health. Right. Health priorities and the best practices. We also have. Set another group working on the opening checklist. So there's, there's things going on at the staff level. This is more of a higher level. Yeah, Justin, it's really just a, another layer that will hopefully prove to be efficient during these virtual working times and make sure that. The full commission is really apprised on a regular cadence. And so that we can be really nimble on our decision making to keep the work proceeding. And, and, and that way we won't. Have too much accumulate down the road that will be difficult to address in a nimble fashion. Other questions. That's great. No. Well, I, the only other thought is really more of a comment. States a little bit of the obvious, but I'm glad you are articulate them. What seems to be the order of priorities. Health and safety. And, and, and, you know, Patrons and employees at the casinos. I'm also interested eventually in the procedures of the opening the MPC offices, but I've had to put in the plug here that we've been operating quite successfully with the relief from the governor about the open meeting law, by the way, and the help of our IT technology and IT team. And I can only imagine that at least some version of this. You know, whether it's virtual collaboration or what have you might be in the, in the future when it comes to MPC procedures, but I also like probably everyone else looks forward to the time when we can at least those that are comfortable. Come back to the office and operating a more personal level because there's there's something that's missing a little bit from from this virtual modem. Yeah, I agree with that. The, you know, we have an excellent IT department. So our, our ability to work remotely has been remarkable. So I think the approach to the MGC office is remote reopening is going to be employee centric and seeing what we need to do what we have to do. But the focus is on our health and safety of our employees and doing it the right way. I think because we have all these tools at our disposal, we can have a phased approach and prioritize the health and safety of our workforce. And you'll be updating us along the way on that. Yes. And appreciate it. So for those members of our, of our team who are just hearing this, stay tuned. Those guidelines are going to be underway. And of course we have to reflect that things are still very fluid. And we really have no sense of the exact timing. But as always, we work to be prepared. Anything further commissioner Cameron. I can't see commissioner O'Brien for some reason. Are you all set? No, I'm all set. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, plans sound great and thoughtful. So I. In complete agreement was that the process. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. Commissioner Stevens. No, I think it's a, it's a good game plan going forward. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. All right. Then looking forward to next week's meeting. And thank you for today's. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your action on a difficult matter. Do I have a motion? Motion to adjourn. I second that. Okay. Any comments? Questions. Roll call vote. Commissioner Cameron. I. Commissioner O'Brien. Hi. Commissioner Zunica. I thank you, everybody. Hi. Thank you, everyone. And I vote yes. And from all of us, thanks.