 started. I'll start. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. A reminder to all of us and to those who are attending from outside our community. This is a meeting that will be recorded as well as live streamed. We are providing remote technology permissible under the law and really evidence of our success over the pandemic. I need to take up a remote roll call. Commissioner Cameron. She's weird. I'm here. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner O'Brien. Commissioner O'Brien, just so you know, we couldn't hear you, but I saw your lips. Oh, I'm here. Okay, great. Thank you so much. And Commissioner Zinica. Good morning, everyone. I'm here. Great. We can get started calling today. Public meeting number 350 for those of you who started with number one, another milestone. And we'll get right to the minutes. Commissioner O'Brien. Thank you, Madam Chair. In the packet today are meeting minutes from March 11, 2021. I would move that the Commission approve those minutes subject to any needed changes for typographical errors or other minister of non material matters. Second. Okay, great. Everyone had a chance to review. Good. Any questions or edits commissioners? Okay. Commissioner Cameron. I, Commissioner O'Brien. I, Commissioner Zinica. Aye. And I vote yes. 4-0 Vivian. Thank you. We'll move right to item number three on the agenda. Executive Director Wells. Thank you. Good morning, Madam Chair. Good morning, commissioners. The first item on the agenda is an update from Jill Griffin, the Director of Diversity and Legislative Affairs and Crystal Howard, our program manager. So I think we're going to start with that, although I think we have a guest speaker and I'm not seeing the guest speaker on the, on the screen right now. So Jill, I could go forward to the casino on-site update if you want to hold on the item A and do that a little out of order and get him a chance to get on the, on the screen here. What was your preference? That would be great. Okay. Okay. We can go ahead and do that with the chair's permission. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Okay. So why don't we skip number, or we'll postpone item three A and go on to three B and have Loretta and Bruce give an update on what's going on with casino properties. Okay. Thanks, Karen. Good morning, Chair. Good morning, commissioners. Regarding the COVID measures, we're really status quo from the last report at your meeting two weeks ago. Each of the properties is continuing with their enhanced cleaning methods, Encore and MGM continue to require their employees to wear masks if they do not provide proof of vaccination and PPC follows the CDC guidance of wearing masks if not fully vaccinated and incentivizing vaccination among their employee population and they have a very high degree of vaccination based on the self reports that they receive from their employee group. They continue each of the properties continues to notify the IEB when it becomes aware of COVID positives in its employee population and those numbers have always reflected the greater trends in Massachusetts. We did have some notifications this month, a very small number, but they do continue to notify us and as they have been doing for over a year now, they also notify their respective boards of health, they perform contact tracing and identify any of their employees that have come into close contact with the COVID positive inform us if any of our employees have come into close contact and none of these recent notifications have we had a report of that and they follow all of the directives of their local boards of health with respect to contact tracing. Everybody is mindful of the recently updated guidance from the CDC regarding areas of substantial or high transmission and the guidance of mask wearing indoors in those areas. The good news is that none of the three properties are located in counties of substantial or high transmission, but like us, they are monitoring and have committed to a continuum to follow all CDC and DPH guidance. Each of the three properties is intensively involved in hiring measures. PPC has a hiring event this morning for food and beverage on core and MGM are also actively engaged in hiring measures. MGM has to date or until recently limited their hiring to 21-year-olds and over. Recently they have expanded their hiring pool to include 18-year-old and over. This is allowed under section 25H of the statute. They are reminding any hires who fall into that category that their time on the gaming floor is strictly limited to their work duties and that they have required to leave the floor as soon as their shift is over. Those are the significant updates that I have for you. I know Bruce is available to address any more specific COVID issues as they directly impact gaming. Yes, as far as the gaming floor, the three properties continue to remove some of the plexiglass. PPC started last week removing some. There isn't a lot of plexiglass left on the floor there. Other than that, all three properties are operating smoothly and there really isn't a lot as far as casino operations to report. Do you have any questions on, you know, if you'd be pleased to answer them? Questions for Loretta or Bruce? Are they repositioning some of the slot machines that they had positioned to keep people spaced out without plexi? They're kind of staying in place as a whole. Those positions that they're kind of pleased with from what I've seen, so there really isn't a lot of slot movement to get them out of what they were configured before. In this industry, they always move slot moves so, Commissioner, but I haven't seen a lot to move them out of what they placed prior to this. Okay, thanks. Bruce, can you remind us of the hours of operation for each property, please? They are all 24-hours operations, so you know, there isn't a closing time for any of the properties. But not all amenities are open 24-7, correct? No, that really varies depending on the day of the weekend, you know, the busyness of the weekend, so to speak, if it's a holiday weekend. But this time of year, they are open more than they would be during the slower times of the year, such as, you know, winter or fall, late fall. Any other questions? Commissioner Zunigan, yes. Yeah, just a question for Loretta. To the extent you know at this point or maybe for a later update, Loretta, you mentioned that they're looking to expand at least MGM the hiring into 18-year-olds, which is allowed under the statute. But again, to the extent that you know, would that be for more of food and beverage type of positions or are we talking about some gaming billers type of positions? We're talking about some positions on the gaming floor, some gaming positions, so this is brand new. I don't have any data on it yet, but happy to come back with a report on how successful that has been, how much that's helped. Yeah, I'd be interested in that at a later time. I know, as you mentioned before, and we saw, we're seeing some of the properties in my recent visits, that there is a reflection of a very tight labor market in this particular sector for a number of reasons, but it's again a reflection of what they need to do to continue or enhance their operations. Next month at our next meeting, Commissioner Insuna got, MGM Springfield will be presenting their quarterly report, and even though it will be more about this quarter, perhaps they can address that issue too. Thank you. Okay, I'll set any other questions? Okay, Karen. Okay. Thank you, Loretta. Thank you, Bruce. I think Jill got booted out of HD, I have texted her, she's rebooting, so in an effort to keep things moving, I'm going to go on to the item C, which have entitled MGC return to the office, because we all have been working remotely. So there's a lot going on, we have a working group that is working on planning, and there's also a lot going on in the United States with respect to COVID, and we're monitoring that, and we've been tracking some of the things that are happening, which may impact some of our decision making. There have been recent news articles, I'm sure people have seen that several federal, state and local governments will mandate public employee vaccinations or in the process of considering that requirement, particularly because of the concerns related to the Delta variant. According to multiple reports, Department of Veterans Affairs, States of California, New York, and cities including Los Angeles and New York are requiring public employees to either present proof of vaccination or submit to a weekly COVID-19 test. So the current recommendation from the Massachusetts governor has been not to require that, and we've been following that from the tutorial stance on that, so it's something we can consider and just recognize that that's out there. Also, the Associated Press reported several large employers, including Google and Apple, plan to delay the return to the office from September to October, and there's a lot going on in that area, and then even President Biden has also publicly stated his team is considering mandatory vaccination or regular testing for federal employees and contractors, so that's another issue we're looking at. In addition, the CDC this week updated its mass wearing guidance. Loretta already referenced this, recommending that fully vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors. I believe Loretta that's in public places, so not in private locations that are either high, there were their transmission rates are either high or substantial, so there are currently five counties in Massachusetts qualify as substantial or high and Suffolk County was the only area identified that would impact MGC operations, but that's where our Boston office is in Suffolk County. Yesterday Governor Baker publicly stated his administration is in the process of reviewing the latest federal masking guidance and will have a more thorough review upcoming. The governor also further reinforced that Massachusetts currently has the second lowest hospitalization rate for COVID in the country and simultaneously holds the nation's second highest vaccination rate, so we are doing very well here in Massachusetts and that's a factor that we should be considering. As we've seen through the many phases of the pandemic, information continues to evolve, opinions vary, public health experts continue to closely assess the data and our working group continues to closely monitor developments to inform our strategy and determine how evolving details impact our organization. We have noted that the remote working has been very successful, the working group met yesterday, I discussed with them, we currently had a proposed start date back in the Boston offices of September 13th. At this point with a lot of this going on, I think it may be prudent to postpone that start date till sometime at least in October, certainly looking for the commission's perspective on that because we have the discretion to adjust the start date as we deem fit given that we are operating efficiently currently. We're also looking at the gaming agents and the racing folks. We also have MSP, which I recognize fall under the Department of State Police, but as Loretta mentioned, that team has been aware of this new masking guidance, we're considering how those people are doing because they are working on site and we also have to consider the racing folks and what's going on with them and the public health guidance there. So there's certainly a lot going on. The working group also when we met yesterday, we went through sort of a line by line analysis of the policy for coming back in a hybrid model. We almost got through the whole thing. It's actually quite comprehensive, so some work still needs to be done on that, but we got through a substantial amount of that policy. My expectation is that we would bring that before the commission now on the 19th of September, that next meeting of the commission. 19th of August, you mean? Yeah, August. And then the other thing we're looking at, and we didn't have much time because we took up a lot of time working on the policy, but the other thing we're looking at is office space and what makes sense in the office. Are there reconfigurations? Are the things we can do in the Boston office space when people do return? It works better in a hybrid environment and be just as a welcoming place for people to work. So we had some ideas there, we're mentoring those around, but I think that we need a little more time to check that out, but we may get some more data on what are some options and what would be the expense of any modifications. So that's sort of a general sense of where we are. There's certainly a lot going on. We all see that there's a lot in the news with the Delta variant. We are mindful of that. We are concerned about not only the physical health of our employees, but also the mental health because there may be some anxiety surrounding that and going back into an office where people are congregated together. So we're just trying very hard to be mindful of both things. So that's the general status of where we are. I think the main question for today is if the commission is comfortable with the recommendation of postponing, the start of returning to the Boston offices to at least some time in October, like some feedback on that. I would like to let staff know so they can make plans, but other than that, we're just monitoring the situation and working on the policy as we go. So that's sort of where we are. Any questions or feedback? Commissioners, questions? Yeah, thank you for that report, Karen. I think as you, the theme is of course, it's a very fluid situation and continue to monitoring is more than prudent. I think as you said and as the governor has said, it's in a great status compared to the rest of the country that doesn't make it necessarily, you know, everything really, really well. We need to continue to monitor the increases in infection rates and whatnot. So I think it's very prudent what you recommend to postpone any major moves and continue to evaluate as we go along. If you are also mentioning some reconfiguration, these might be the time to do that while there's still very few people that come into the office and continue to have, you know, the current status that we have, which is, according to preference or certain things, some people make it into the office and there's enough distance there that there's no concern at all. Of course, that will continue to be our, you know, our approach, something that I myself have availed myself of that opportunity. And I'm certainly welcoming any feedback on any suggestions on reconfiguration. You know, we talked about, you know, the 13th floor and, you know, originally some space near the commissioner's offices. We've also talked about expanding the kitchen area into more sort of a lounge area because there's tubes there not being used. So we have some ideas in that respect. So I'm certainly open to any feedback on that or any other suggestions on the 13th floor or the 12th. Well, as a non-member of the working group, I'm imagining a near future of hybrid, some kind of flexibility when we do return to the office. So any, you know, low-cost reconfigurations that might facilitate or any, let me rephrase that, anything that would fit into our budget that we currently have anticipated that may, you know, we may be able to reconfigure some kind of space, however small to make it more flexible, anticipating that we might have to avail ourselves of that flexibility in a hybrid environment. I'm all for it. You know, you can work the details with the working group or come back for a later report if there's something that starts to look a little bigger than than than just incidentals, let's say. But I think, you know, this would be a good opportunity to for us, for us to do that, you know, other than acquiring more space or decreasing the space, that would be a major thing, of course, that I think more carefully about. Yeah, so as a member of the working group, I do have the benefit of listening to all of the team members who also have feedback from their members under their command. So I, you know, did have an opportunity yesterday to listen at length to concerns. And there were real concerns about being uncomfortable working next to someone that they don't know if they're vaccinated or not. So we just, there were a lot of concerns that we talked through. So I do believe we're being prudent in listening to all the concerns and holding off right now at this point to making a final decision as to when the appropriate start time to start a hybrid model would be and push to October certainly makes sense to me as a member of that group because of what's happening now. And you know, fluid facts, I do look forward to when the governor's team has a chance to really look closely and then compare that data to what's happening here in Massachusetts. And I think we've been served well by following advice coming out of that office so far. So I look forward to that. Mr. O'Brien. I reiterate what Commissioner Cameron said. I came on to this group recently to get a very robust discussion yesterday in light of recent events and CDC guidance. So I think there was unanimity in terms of the appropriateness of pushing a start date back to October. I just think, you know, it's been working sufficiently for 17 months and given what's happening, I think everything that Karen described, you know, fits in with pushing that start date out so that we can really take stock of what may anticipate happening in the fall. So I'm not really, you know, I appreciate everybody's input on the October start. I guess I'm, you know, I'm hearing folks' concerns kind of feel like, you know, everything is very much in flux. And I think I would, I know that I don't think it has happened yet, Karen, but I think it would be interesting to maybe do it, you know, an agency-wide survey folks. You know, I suppose it really, you know, September to October doesn't matter much. I feel that, you know, I'm sensitive to the idea that for some people that might be continuing uncertainty. And so some people might have, you know, some fears about the COVID and because things are right now really fluid, that's, it is scary. I also think there might be some folks who could benefit by, you know, where we can give certainty. And if you're saying October is certain, then, you know, so they can establish child care arrangements and expectations. You know, I'm hopeful for that. You know, it's hard to deliver certainty when everything still is so uncertain. But I just wonder if you, if it might make sense to, you know, because I'm guessing, and I might be totally wrong that nobody's concerned about that. But I wonder if there are some who are. And I just, I wonder if it makes some sense to do a quick survey of all the different types of issues that you are all discussing in the working group. I hear Commissioner Cameron say that, you know, it's pretty, pretty broad group. They're getting input from their whole team. Maybe that's the case. I just don't know. Right. Right. You know, one thing that's been helpful was also, as you know, we've also, you know, given the opportunity for people to come into the office because some people, you know, that may be a benefit to them, you know, trapped at home for 17 months has not been a lot of fun for a lot of people. That's right. So, you know, I think that messaging also that that is an option as well, you know, on a voluntary basis between now and when the office opens is helpful. I know I've taken advantage of that. And I've enjoyed going in the office and, you know, being able to do some things there has been very helpful. We have a system where we have, you know, Marianne Dooley tracking who's in the office, so we know who's there, making sure too many people are congregating at the same time, things like that. So we were monitoring the data on that. But just as a reminder to the MGC staff, that is an option as well. People feel beneath the state for their mental health and well-being that they want to go into the office that we have that option available. So that's sort of where we are. I'm hearing general consensus that, you know, we would move the potential start type sometime in October. We could set a tentative date now of, say, you know, October 4th or October 11th. But I'm not sure that's necessary. You know, I do have a town hall schedule for the staff members on the 6th. I would like to send something out, some kind of email to the staff, getting them sort of an outline of what's going on tomorrow. And then we can discuss that more fully on the 6th. But I don't think a specific date is necessary at this point. But we could do that if people there would be more helpful, you know, to catch this point about certainty being helpful. Any thoughts on that? I just wonder if we'll get guidance soon coming out of the Governor's Office and that maybe helps us in making that decision. Okay. And that's one of the things I'm really concerned about is that the message that you mentioned, both Lovetta and Karen, that I heard this morning as well is that we are in a really good place in terms of our public health status. And so I just want to keep that in mind. You know, I do understand that people still have consternation. I'm just thinking, you know, ahead, we have an international conference coming in in September. Right. You know, so I just want to make sure we're being somewhat, you know, that we're being consistent in thinking about all the issues as we move forward. Honestly, if it's going to help logistically for you too, October's fine. It may be a long time before we are all 100% comfortable. You know, I have to say that I wore my mask in today, you know, into the building. And so I understand that there's a consternation. So I guess I love input on how do we manage that? I'm not sure. October, we're going to be relieved of it either. Right. And so, you know, we have to weigh, are we going to, you know, is it a return to office, a hybrid, or continuation of what we're doing now? That's why maybe a survey might be helpful to find out where people are. Okay. I think that's right. I think that ultimately, and this is a very broad statement, but providing people flexibility, because there is going to be people with different concerns for particular, for their own personal reasons, whether it's comfort level or family situation or home work environment, or health issues, none of which we can generalize to all the staff. I view a lot of these in the form of providing reasonable accommodations that that's the obligation of all employers. And this is just one more aspect. Good job. Yeah. So I think that, okay. So the messaging, you know, we'll bump the start date to sometime in October and just communicate that we're listening, we're, you know, monitoring what's going on, and that also it's going to be really helpful for us to get some guidance from the executive branch, because they do have DPH and they do have experts on that, and that's really helpful for us. Okay. I mean, especially we have people out on the floor, so the casino, we have casinos that are open. Right. We have people at the horse racing. So, okay. That's really good. Very helpful. Okay. Thank you. So I'll go back now to item 3A for the diversity and legislative fairs update for Jill and for Crystal, and we'll go from there. Thank you. Thank you for your patience. You know, it keeps you on your toes to have those technical problems. For some reason, I was kicked out. So we're going to spend a few minutes and go over our department's role in our work. And I'll ask Crystal to bring up the PowerPoint. And then we have a guest speaker as well. Sorry, Jill. I'm just having a coughing fit. That's okay. So we're diversity and legislative affairs. And as you all know, it's a small but mighty department that consists of myself and Crystal Howard. Here we go. Crystal is coming right up. And go to the next slide. So who are we? Next slide. So diversity and legislative affairs is one of the eight departments reporting to executive director Wells. And I should note that the legislative affairs portion has a direct reporting relationship and communication with chair Judd Stein. Next slide. So as I said before, this department is small but mighty. Program manager Crystal Howard and I have accomplished quite a bit together. Historically, we worked externally with the casinos to focus on the priority of maximizing opportunities for Massachusetts residents and small businesses to benefit from the introduction of expanded gaming. And this was during construction and operations. As you know, we include a particular focus on the inclusion of individuals who are minorities, women or veterans and businesses owned by these individuals. During the last six or eight months, we've taken on additional focus working with colleagues on the commission's own internal diversity strategy. Additionally, we now have a focus on legislative affairs. Next slide. So I thought I'd just review some of the work because it's been a while. Many of you know that we created and executed an accountability and monitoring system during construction called the Access and Opportunity Committee. We met monthly and our licensees submitted detailed public reporting on their progress towards diversity. We launched with our communications team and Elaine's help to build a life that works campaign, a marketing campaign focused on getting women to consider careers in the building trades. And this featured real trades women. We also launched the best practices report, a lasting legacy documenting the how behind the diversity success and the construction. And it featured all of our partners involved. We performed diversity audits that licensees provided detailed diversity reports. We reviewed documentation for audit verification purposes. During pre opening, in order to maximize economic impact for Massachusetts, we established partnerships with community colleges, mass higher career centers and the community to connect with the casino's recruitment teams. And we formed similar partnerships for local and small businesses. In terms of compliance, pre opening compliance, we looked at the marketing and tourism plans that each licensees submitted and the affirmative marketing programs and the diversity programs and all the other commitments made during the application process ensured that those were completed, including the number of jobs. And legislative change, we were happy to support or play a role in supporting the work of the legislative change that allowed some service employees exemption from registration and background check. And this opened up jobs and careers to those who really needed it. During operations, we introduced grant programs to support small businesses. We standardized the reporting formats of the licensees. We created and launched the impact report that really measured and chronicled some of the successes and contributions of the licensees towards diversity and economic impact. We proposed and developed the workforce community mitigation fund grant program. So our world came to a halt during the pandemic closures, but our work did not. During the pandemic, we put together webinars to assist businesses in accessing resources. We brought in folks like the U.S. Small Business Association and financial technical assistance experts to help these businesses. We kept our website up to date with resources for individuals and businesses to help them get through this time. We leveraged our business technical assistance grantee leave to support individual businesses and they also were helpful regarding the webinars. During the reopening, we were busy monitoring legislation regarding the open meeting, horse racing, sports betting, and we actually supported and executed several gaming policy advisory committee meetings and were participants in the equity and inclusion working group convened by chair Jed Stein. We also had very successful and fruitful conversations regarding compliance and planning for the future. But what's next? What's next in the horizon is we're working on streamlining the diversity and economic research reporting with the Donahue Institute. Crystal Howard mentioned this during our impact reporting at a recent commission meeting. The community mitigation fund workforce grants for 2022 planning has already begun and the commission's own diversity initiatives that we recently reported on. An interim review of the licensee compliance and impacted live entertainment venue agreements, marketing and tourism plans and other commitments and of course sports betting. So I'm going to ask Crystal to take the next slide. Thanks Jill. So I guess what you can tell from Jill's part of the presentation is given the large scope of our work and the unique mix of our department's programs, the key theme for our division is collaboration. We work interdepartmentally in almost every aspect of our work. It's probably obvious that we would work with the comms team, communications in Elaine and her team or HR. More obvious that we would do that than something like designing information over our licensing team back before the casinos were open because we needed things of that nature. Those marketing materials for the vendors themselves are interested businesses who understand what they would have to do for certification or how they can do business and contract with the casino. Additionally, Jill mentioned some of our audits which were heavily led by Joe's team at the time who wasn't in the affairs but we ran all of our diversity audits and the process for our diversity exemptions very closely with Chief Delaney. Actually the exemptions themselves are a key example because in many areas of our work and I'm rick is familiar with this speaking of the diversity exemption city but we would have to actually compile committees from various departments and various experts in other areas to make sure we could get the work done and do it well. An example would be the RFR. When we put an RFR out for our best practices we had a consultant actually start to get up on that work and we had alongside that any time we had a grant team to review or a grant which we've had several we would put together a committee that we thought would have some of those experts help us make that decision from our internal departments. Additionally we also have to collaborate externally. Our work goes beyond these walls in MGC or not these walls in my apartment but the walls we used to sit in and those relationships were really necessary for our work in developing some of the programs and some of those connections that we needed with our licensees but also just we've done plenty of work with our other state agencies such as the supplier diversity office is a big partner in some of what we've done mass hire and of course now as Jill mentioned we are working more closely with our legislators and their aides but those governmental relationships weren't foreign to us we had worked with others in the past such as the secretary of labor and workforce development and the secretary of veterans affairs and in previous programs and projects so other than that you know there are there were large teams for our workforce and vendor diversity development of community organizations up to not just the access and opportunity committee which everyone's familiar with but some of them had up to 30 different members so we really really work heavily with people outside the York. To that extent these collaborative relationships were key in the development of the training and gaming school partnerships. MCCTI I think is one of the ones we're most familiar with and the culinary institute but there was Bristol Community College and the Cambridge College way back when as a reminder Todd Grossman and the division of professional licensure worked together to develop those processes and regulations for the gaming schools before we ever even had applicants for a license and we are still actually working really closely with HCC because they are a current community mitigation fund grantee and they're ramping up their culinary arts program now for the grants we are currently working on contracting. In the interest of time I'm not going to dive deep into these grant programs but just as a reminder we our current grant program we are running Jill mentioned earlier the local enterprise assistance fund these are our three members of the team that I work really closely with they're doing a great job in ensuring that the licensees are able to or sorry the business is doing contracts with the licensees are able to maintain those relationships but also growing smaller businesses who are interested in doing business with our licensees and certifying businesses so that those important elements of us tracking their diversity monitoring have have more way in their contracts as you know in some in some cases that's an eligibility that makes them even more likely to get that grant. They're helping them with their business models upscaling pricing certifications so they're even funding some of these to get to do the business that they would need to do to make sure that they can get that content so we hope to feature them actually a little bit more in in the future but we that's the current grant program and in the past we've had several rise up spring field JVS hospitality grants workforce training grants grants for businesses in this rise up spring field that uses the in arises streetwise MBA program and we funded those to do for various options opportunity and of course you're familiar with NCT one of the biggest grants that we had programmed actually began before I even got here so that they are still running that and something I will turn it back to you Joe. So this concludes our presentation thank you very much as you can see the work continues and I'll wait but we do have a guest speaker if it's okay to proceed. Would it be best to entertain questions about the PowerPoint now or comments? That would be great. Commissioner Bryan do you want to do you have any questions for Jill and Crystal what a great presentation and no I don't I've had unfortunately not enough but I have had opportunities to go out to in person before COVID to see some of the examples of the impact of this which I always find even more powerful than the PowerPoint that lays out all the great work that you guys have done and you know to be reminded it's a division of two which is pretty impressive so I know just great work I look forward to hearing in this speaker so thank you. Commissioner Cameron yes I love these more in-depth presentations about what one of our departments does because I learn something every time I was very familiar with some of the work but not all of the work particularly impressive was your examples of external partnerships that really help whether it be small businesses individuals the leaf program sounds amazing and in their ability to assist and encourage small businesses to grow their business so it's not just about tracking the work you do is so much more elaborate and important than that and of course the internal partnerships have been so helpful to our organization how you've worked with every single department in order to get them to think a little differently about the work they're doing and and offer the assistance they may have needed and and sometimes not even realize they needed right so I just think that's and I've seen that firsthand how that's helped whether it be the hiring process or you know brochures all of that work is is really important and and brings and brings a lot of credit to our organization for for this work so I just want to thank the two of you and thank you for giving us this presentation and it really is important so thanks. Thank you. Commission Zinica. Yeah thank you um thanks for the presentation of course it's it tells it only summarizes all the work that has happened in creating those relationships and those programs that you and you outlined that took time and diligence of a few of course and others as we I'm reminded of all the work that one of our last commissioners did in this in this arena commissioners Stevens who's of course you know has moved on and as we get another commissioner hopefully sometime in the future I'm thinking that you know this is a great opportunity for to avail ourselves of the input of a second commissioner I know I know you mentioned jail church of sign involvement in particular matters but without creating a subcommittee of the commission which is never our intention I think the input of a second commissioner will be most valuable in in fostering or continuing some of these relationships but plenty of time for us to think about that in the future great work jail and crystal thank you. John Crystal thank you so much for the presentation just the presentation alone it was interesting and compelling just the formatting and so thank you that demonstrates I think the the talents of of Crystal Howard and I think Jill and she have collaborated so well translating that knowledge often to us in a way that I don't even know if we all knew it was happening so just today the presentation was excellent you know Commissioner Cameron touched on the the the fact that what really Crystal highlighted and Jill of course has led is the collaboration and the internal collaboration has been particularly highlighted this last year where equity and inclusion became so important to our organization and for that Jill we thank you you have participated in internal hiring processes giving us giving us guidance that really has allowed us to be better at hiring and in a better agency for it and I know that crystal has supported that work all along crystal supports the community mitigation program extensively on the workforce grants the two of you have in fact been collaborators with all of the teammates and you know I know that that's really rewarding for you and I think that probably all the your teammates could express themselves so they would express their their gratitude for that support and I know that Elaine Driscoll has been by your sides all along making sure that the good work that you were doing externally was highlighted and and and not just to highlight it but to really increase its impact and and you have been extremely impactful your your work is well known wide beyond MGC I knew about it before I came to the gaming commission we had worked our work had had intersected and your your work both Jill and Crystal was known to be really the top of the of the line in terms of of bringing diversity so to the to construction into external projects so you really have taken what was inspired by the legislation and made it much bigger so the internal and external collaboration like Commissioner Cameron noted so important and just a quick last thought it was all of that grace and effectiveness that prompted me to and Karen to say boy we could probably use this team to help us on important legislative relation developing and for that we are really thankful and as crystal said you know you had a lot of those relationships underway and and you you brought us through with this new division you know to keep us well informed and I think we're ending today's agenda with a short briefing on on that those legislative affairs I feel like I'm beginning your fat so that's it I really that's the irony here if I keep on talking maybe you'll change your mind but I'm going to end here now because I do we do want to hear from your guest speaker and again you've always been very generous on making sure we meet the vendors and outside individuals who are benefiting from our work well we can benefit from their experience so thank you for always thinking of that it's been a gift so I look forward to hearing from him great thank you I'm Chair Judd Stein you know it is actually my pleasure I'm going to have a few words of introduction so you know just how lucky we are to have this guest next guest speaker um so at the last commission meeting um Crystal Howard and I presented the 2018 no 2019 impact report that highlighted um the impact that casino licensees um had relative to the diverse populations in the Commonwealth um in terms of careers and business opportunities our next guest Shagun Idaou present and CEO of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts or BEKMA was a valuable contributor to the commission's own vendor advisory team the commission convened various business support resources across the state to help casino at uh casinos maximize their impact on the Commonwealth's economy and to identify potential Massachusetts vendors the vendor advisory group was composed of local and diverse chambers and business affinity groups like BEKMA we met regularly with casino procurement staff during the pre-opening phase for example on core Boston Harbor um Shagun was committed to ensuring that the casino supplier bases were fully inclusive of the diverse populations that make up the citizenry of the Commonwealth the commission has recently become a member of BEKMA and has the opportunity to utilize some of their valuable programs as a resource for our own procurement needs as well as um the casino's needs um Shagun was invited to introduce you to his organization and describe how the commission can partner with BEKMA but first let me say a few just a couple more words about Shagun as a lifelong resident of Boston the proud product of Boston public schools and he also graduated from Morehouse College in 2014 Shagun and a colleague organized the Boston police camera action team to further accountability and safety in Boston through the mandatory use of police worn body cameras as a result of their efforts Boston began a year-long mandatory body worn camera pilot program and um later in 2016 policy followed by a two million dollar investment in a permanent program in 2018 Shagun was elected to serve as the first vice president for the Boston chapter of the NAACP in this role he managed the much heralded and research intensive report card project that assessed the city of Boston's efforts and results in addressing systemic racial disparities Shagun currently serves as the president and CEO of BEKMA the chief advocacy organization for black businesses across the Commonwealth BEKMA represents over 2,000 black firms that employ 17,000 Massachusetts residents and generate over 1.9 billion in annual revenue it is my honor to introduce you to Shagun Adele well thank you very much for that chill and thank you madam chair and to all of the commissioners for the opportunity to introduce our organization and share a couple of words with you today and thank you especially to director Wells and in particular to Jill who's been a steadfast partner of BEKMA since we were founded six years ago I think when our business members and our board look at how we have become successful in any kind of way we'll be able to draw a straight line to our partnership with Jill in connecting our businesses to opportunities and in being in conversation on how we as an organization can do better and help our partners so as Jill mentioned my name is Shagun very happy to be able to be here today particularly with the mass gaming commission because of the strong leadership an example that you all have set you know I'll say a little bit about BEKMA it was founded six years ago as a result of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston study the color of wealth in Boston I think we all know the statistics that came out of that chief among them the statistic around the enormous wealth gap in the greater Boston area and so as a result of that report 700 people in Dorchester Roxbury and Mattapan came together at the Prince Hall in Dorchester to talk about how we address and eliminate this growing wealth gap in a city that we all love and want to thrive in and one of the ideas that came out of that conversation was BEKMA because the founders believe that and to this day that if we're going to eliminate the racial wealth gap one way to build that wealth is through starting and growing small businesses in particular because small businesses owned by black people locate in our communities they hire people from our communities they're some of the biggest employers of black people in our state and they give back to our communities in so many various ways and so it was important to us that there be a group that advocated for these businesses and made sure that they had a seat at the table and were able to drive home policies and practices that would help them grow and thrive and so today as Jill mentioned we represent the over 2,000 black firms that employ 17,000 residents and generate two billion dollars in revenue every year and also the 23,000 sole proprietor black owned enterprises and our goal is to help these 23,000 sole proprietors through partnerships like with mass gaming commission to grow into employer firms that were employing more of our people shrinking the unemployment numbers which for too long in our history have always been doubled that of white and other communities and helped to grow again the wealth of our communities because we believe strongly as we know that you do based on your on the DEI statement of purpose which we laud and appreciate your putting that together that the development of some communities cannot coexist with the underdevelopment of others so if we want to see a healthy and thriving Massachusetts we have to make sure that our black communities and brown communities are also thriving and so we support our members in a couple of different ways our strongest way of supporting our members is through our advocacy when we first started our work was on the local level working with the city council and with then mayor Walsh to try to implement policies that we're going to remove barriers in particular to procurement but also expand opportunities for our businesses and our workforce and in the last couple of years we've ensured that our voices now not only heard and a driving force at the state level but now also on the federal level and we were proud to be able to host Cecilia Roush who is the new chair of the council of economic advisors at the White House along with representative Catherine Clark and representative Trehan and Rep Presley a few weeks ago to ensure that our business members had an opportunity to share what some of the barriers were to their growth the impact of child care on their ability to grow and prosper their business and to develop concrete solutions to addressing that should be present in President Biden's family rescue plan another way that we help our members and work with them is through empowering them so even though we are advocating on behalf of our members you know this small example I just shared one with many others we want to make sure that our members are also leaders in their own right we already know that they are the fact that they took that leap in starting a business and employing someone else that shows remarkable vitality for them but we also want to make sure that we're empowering them to advocate on their own behalf so that they are advancing their own causes and issues and other ways that we empower them connecting them to one another it's important to us that we're fostering this ecosystem of black businesses using black businesses that they're growing each other and so we hold many events that allow them to come together of course in the last 15 months they've mostly been virtual but we're having the same conversations that you had earlier today about how to maintain a hybrid experience allowing some folks to come together because you know a lot of us miss that human interaction in person where we get to share with one another and finally you know empowering our members through growing their commerce so you know we ensure that we're connecting our members to capital we don't talk a lot about access to capital we talk about dispersal of capital because many of our business members know exactly where the capital is it's the fact that for so many years this capital was not getting to them it was not being awarded to them for various reasons that I'm sure we could go into during another meeting but we do our best to make sure that we are removing barriers in receiving needed capital particularly in the last year where you know we were proud to be able to work with our partners to ensure that the governor when he announced 700 million dollars in grants last year working with his administration via Secretary Keneally to ensure that 40% of that grant money went to minority-owned businesses in particular black-owned businesses who otherwise would never have gotten that money had we not worked with our members and work with the administration and many other programs to ensure that needed capital is getting to our members but access to capital really important but what's really important are contracts commerce that's what helps to grow our businesses capital is needed for laying the foundation but commerce helps our businesses to grow their infrastructure to grow their capacity to be able to hire more people pay higher wages provide more benefits and again all of that toward moving us toward the goal of eliminating this racial wealth gap and so the way one of the ways we do that is through our partnerships and as Jill mentioned that's where we're really excited about the fact that the mass gaming commission is now a member of our organization so that we can strengthen the partnership that we already had in a couple of ways what we're building on is our evangelism of the mass gaming commission model as Jill mentioned this vendor advisory board I was proud to be able to serve on that when I first joined the organization in 2018 and my person in the role before me Reggie Nunnally served on the advisory board when the gaming commission was working with the MGM in Springfield and it's this model that we have been sharing with cities and towns across the Commonwealth that we've been sharing with state agents other state agencies here in the Commonwealth and with those in the private sector that if you want to achieve your supplier diversity goals you need to go talk to Jill you need to study what the mass gaming commission did because they not only met their goals they exceeded their goals both for workforce and for supplier diversity and the way that happened was the fact that as was mentioned all of the stakeholders came together in one room we received the same information we were able to look at what the opportunities were coming up for the next year to 18 months share that with our members for those who may not have had the capacity right now to take on something we were able to work with them and build their capacity for opportunities that were coming down the line something that's really important as Commissioner Cameron mentioned you know this technical assistance some businesses don't know that they need it but when we were able to review the upcoming opportunities they were able to see okay I don't have this these one or two things but if I work with groups like Beckma or others I can help address that issue and bid on that opportunity and so many of our members were able to receive those opportunities and so you know building on this model and this original partnership the membership with Beckma will now allow us to ensure that when there are hiring opportunities at the mass gaming commission and we've already started this process we not only put it on our jobs board but you know we interact with our members every single day in various ways and so not just sending an email that may or may not get open but openly communicating with our members about these opportunities calling folks up that we know that may be able to at least apply for this role and would be excellent fits and then on the supplier diversity front working in the same way that we did with the vendor advisory board ensuring that we understand what the upcoming opportunities are for the mass gaming commission and preparing our members for those opportunities and so that's why we're excited and eager to work with the commission to reach and exceed your goals so with that being said I'll just say that I'm looking forward to working with with the commission with Jill and her team I'm always happy when I see crystals emails coming to my email because I know that there are exciting opportunities for our members that we're able to blast out and get to our folks but you know again looking forward to working with you to ensure that equity is not just something that we are sharing via words but what you have already shown being committed to acting on those principles and making it a reality across the commonwealth so I appreciate this time happy to answer any questions and looking forward to working with you questions commissioner Cameron yes thank you so much sugar thank you so much for being here love listening to what you had to say about the organization Jill forwarded us your bio before you were going to be a guest with us so in reading that I just thought the first thought that came to mind was how lucky is massachusetts that you came back home you went away to college and you're a young leader and you decided to come back and use your talents at home so I appreciate that being a fellow resident my question is this I think one of the reasons we were able to have some success with our licensees now they were willing partners they did listen and you know engage and and be willing to to work with us to bring in a diverse group of folks whether they be workers construction in the front end the back end but we also talked about it every three months in a public meeting right we had quarterly updates where they had to come before us and let us know about their progress and I think that helps I wouldn't call it a stick but it certainly helps when someone knows that they're going to have to publicly talk about what worked what didn't work their efforts to achieve these goals how how can that be effective you talked about this as a model whether it be with other state agencies or other businesses how can how can that piece of it be effective where they don't have to report to anyone necessarily about their progress well I appreciate first of all I appreciate your your original comments I think you know we all want to see massachusetts continue to be a leader so I was happy to come back home and and contribute in this way you know for this question the immediate thing I thought of is something that congresswoman pressley says all the time that sunshine is the best disinfectant and so you know the first piece of it is the fact that there are goals that are set this is something we've been pushing certainly the city of boston but other municipalities to adopt and then this regular reporting not just a report that gets emailed or put on the website and no one knows about it but as you mentioned talking about it out loud because at the end of the day I think most people you know they want to do better they they have a desire to increase diversity inclusion in their projects in various ways it's first about you know giving them the blueprint for how to do that but then you know they have those targets that they know they have to regularly regularly report then that means they're actively working to achieve those goals and that if they give an unfavorable report that it's going to you know reflect negatively on them and no one wants to look bad in public and so I think that's a really really important component of ensuring that we're hitting our goals and like I said I think that's a part of the model that the mass gaming commission has set in place that we are certainly sharing and pushing others to adopt you know what what you don't measure won't actually get solved and what you're not talking about out loud won't actually get fixed and so I agree with you you know I think everyone needs to adopt that and will certainly be working on mayors and the governor to make it standard as opposed to agency by agency great thank you thank you there's questions comments would you say that? No just thank you for for being here Shagun and thanks JL for the context in which this is a great example of the collaboration I think I'm just reminded of something about you said Shagun and we knew from the beginning in the access and opportunity committee that it's everybody at the table literally looking at the statistics looking at the opportunities asking the questions reporting sunshine that you talk about it's the multiple collaboration that brings about some meaningful results and I think I believe that the last few months have infused a lot more you know consciousness into this topic in all all different industries and business groups and and business leaders and I think the work that you do in telling these kinds of stories what are the success factors and what not is equally important in fluctuating change mission for me so I loved hearing the background and the the development of Bekma but I was also particularly satisfied to hear you talk about the procurement assistance that you're providing some of my background before I got here we would be looking at state and municipal procurements and why certain people kept getting them all the time and while there was some malfeasance there was also just a systemic almost like an incumbent position they came along with how a lot of that money was sent out and I think you're helping your members go in see those opportunities be viable candidates get access to all of that I think everyone benefits for that may not sound like something sexy but having seen sort of the the underbelly of how some of this works at the state and municipal level I was really happy to hear how you're doing it and the success that you and your members are having in terms of getting diversity and equity out in that way because I do think we've seen it and some of the spotlights that Jill's put in front of us in terms of the vendors that have some of whom have expanded rapidly once they get a toe hold into some of that business and so that was very satisfying to hear that you're continuing to do that and thank you very much for your time to come here today and talk to us thank you commissioner and I'll start with that goodness well thank you so much for taking time out of your morning to be with us first off I applaud you for your accomplishments particularly what Jill left with on the the body cameras you leading in what has really become a national discourse and and I remember I didn't have personal knowledge or involvement in that but I was able to to observe from afar that it was it was done in exactly that collaborative spirit despite the fact that it was new and and and and maybe even difficult for the long established Boston Police Department so congratulations on that and it was an important step for the equity measures that you're seeking now I applaud you for building capacity whether it's to get capital or to secure those procurements or to secure hiring I guess what I my question is probably one that doesn't need to be answered now but I want you to know it's a it's a continuing question how can we be of help you know just at any time we're oddly both insular in that we have a very finite mission but we do work closely with our fellow the licensees of world-class organizations that have you know understand that they are economic drivers for the common law and so you know I'm presuming Jill and maybe it's a wrong assumption that Zagun has been introduced to our licensees personally when we think about the partnerships that they could forge with the organizations that Zagun overseas and works with for right now a lot of the workforce challenges that they're encountering so you know that's just one thought and I'm hoping that you'll just continue to keep the channel of communication open and recognize that however big or small we want to be be partners and want to support your mission absolutely well I'll just say you know the success of the commission is our success you know if you are reaching and exceeding your goals it means that our community is better off for it so absolutely we'll stay in touch and happy to continue to address this question of how you can be helpful but I'll just I'll say the first part of being helpful is you're being successful so you let us know how we can help you is is the first step and happy to go on from there also going if you were to stay on and and I know you have a busy day you would see that we have two quarterly reports from our the licensees today and they will be there will be sunshine on their on the exact numbers that we've discussed today so the accountability continues and in many ways accountability is still strong word because as Commissioner Cameron points out they are very eager to be successful in this arena so thank you so much thank you Joe what a treat thank you thank you shagun thank you all yes and thank you shagun so so interesting and thank you for the partnership I look forward to working with you going forward so the next item on the agenda is a recognition of Jill Griffin it's been very helpful to have this whole outline of all the things she's accomplished I think we've all been aware of it but I don't need to go into much detail because we just had a wonderful PowerPoint and the chair also gave us a little bit of a preview some of the accolades we would have for her but I just wanted to you know let folks know publicly that she is leaving us for the private sector she did with us since the beginning since the commission was started and as she pointed out earlier it initially is the director of workforce supplier and diversity development and she really as we've talked about she had a critical role in the success of the casino construction and hiring process focusing on giving opportunities to minorities women and veterans through this metric based approach so you know I know we're going to be having a more comprehensive goodbye to Jill at our staff meeting next Friday but I just wanted to take this opportunity to publicly say thank you to Jill you've been a wonderful colleague and a tremendous asset to this organization I know we will miss you very much I can speak personally I will miss you very much in our Tuesday morning meetings that I've really enjoyed you know especially in my role as the new executive director really enjoyed working with you in that capacity it's been really fun so we'll miss you but I just wanted to publicly acknowledge you and I know we're going to do more next next Friday but just wanted to say that and you know give the commissioners an opportunity just to comment I know I'll start with Commissioner Cameron and you can go through all right happy to talk about Jill um you know Jill Karen just said she will miss you I I can say speaking the whole commission will miss you but I will miss you I have loved our conversations over the years you have made me more aware of what's happening here in Massachusetts I know I've mentioned this before but it it still impacts my life the tour you took me on years ago because you know I was back living in my home state but felt like I didn't really know the city right so we really took a day and just visited every part of the city which was so important to me and and I knew Jill was a leader I had watched her and the work she was doing and the group she was leading but to see her in the community and the respect she had by other leaders and just those partnerships that we mentioned all the time they were there they had they were firmly established before you came to work with us Jill and it just made me think that day and I thought that from that day on is how lucky we were to have you join our team early on as you did you chose to come with us now I think you understood that we wanted to be better and we wanted our licensees to be better and we wanted to make an impact and you have helped us tremendously in doing that so I will miss that I will miss little intelligence that used to provide to me you know Jill noticed when something she can be a quiet leader right and knows no you know that taking on something like a bowl which I can do is not always the best way to handle a situation you know little information about something in an investigation that could have been handled better and just allowed me to you know and have a quiet conversation with someone else who had the ability to change that so I think those kinds of relationships are so important as well right it's not just outward facing it's little things how can we do it better and and you were able to assist greatly in in those kinds of things so we will miss you I will miss you but let's keep in touch okay and really good luck I know you'll be fabulous your our loss is someone else's gain in the private sector and clearly understand that and support you so thank you thank you so much Gail uh I'll go over to Eileen thanks um so one of my biggest regrets in terms of not being here in the beginning with jealous this is now the second time that I could hear about how great Boston tour is that you'll get left as jealous at the time and now really jealous but so I'm gonna have to make sure you stay in touch so that when COVID comes down I can get one of those around you know your responsibilities and your new job but I reiterate everything Karen has said and Gail has said I I regret not having more of an opportunity to to see you and be here when a lot of the work that we're seeing the benefit of now you you know put in and and made happen with the casinos again I I do remember going out to western mass and hearing from some of the people who and the women who benefited specifically from the build a better life campaign and it was incredibly powerful and I know there's dozens and dozens of stories like that that I've had you impacted not only in your time here but I'm sure in your professional personal life leading up to coming here and I feel like we're going to have to also keep in touch with you to get you back here be a speaker because when you describe where you're going in the opportunity it sounds fantastic for you and then I just think the opportunities you're going to have to make an impact on that development and this company is going to be a whole other lesson for us as we're constituted now and then I'm sure as people turn over in the M.G.C. and we're going to have to hear about the legendary Jill Griffin it'll be great to have you back here be the speaker one day so I wish you well I hope you have a great rest of the summer etc and stay in touch thank you so much right and go over to Enrique yeah thank you um I'll I'll start with a little historical context of for those of you who might not know of the access and opportunity committee we hired Jill early on and she suggested that we have these she was the one with the idea about the access and opportunity committee even all the expectation all the groups that were already calling us about you know what are going to be the jobs and what are going to be etc etc and we brought in someone from outside someone you know who shall remain nameless was great but eventually and you know moved on could not he was overcommitted in these kinds of things throughout the state and at that juncture Jill really stepped up to that plate let me put it that way to that podium it was you know a group of people who have been let down in the past who brought in a lot of reluctance but wishful participation and and I was lucky enough to see attend some of those meetings and see the evolution of that group that I think speaks large largely to the tenure of Jill here and how the success of of the licensees was the success of us the success of of the members that brought in the best intentions and and again some of it highlighted here I attribute mostly to the great work of jail she's a very soft calm demeanor with strong results really really accomplishes what the objectives again by being a very docile and that doesn't take away from from the strength of the results and that's that's really a great thing to see Jill I I've been to a number of events with jail after putting in an eight hour shift throughout the city and I recommend going to those events with Jill because she will know everybody introduced you to a lot of people and and that makes her in my mind the ultimate connector which was so critical in in all the job that you did here for us and that was also you know an aspect that will miss but your legacy stays with us and of course the people that you are now in a position to help with are hiring you for that very reason among others so you know I'll stop there it's been a pleasure to work with you Jill you've taught us a lot you've done tremendous things in in trying to in achieving our mission um and your legacy is is really great and and speaks for itself so thank you thank you so much okay and then Kathy I know you've already said such lovely things but give you an opportunity yeah I won't repeat I know we're going to have an opportunity to to speak with um Jill again and the whole team at the town hall and I know that all the your fellow employees that the gaming commissioner are going to look forward to seeing that and to being able to be part of it however I care and imagine I just know that we're really going to miss your presence Jill um you know I probably take exception with commissioner Zuniga's characterization of docile because I feel you're anything but you I think his intent was to say one might think it's that they don't they don't recognize how much direction you're taking as opposed to being directed so um you know and and but we all have recognized that today you have had significant impact well beyond the confines of the gaming commission well into the community throughout the Commonwealth and you have established you know with of course your your colleague by your side Christopher Howard um a model that as I said earlier I I knew of it we were replicating it my last position and uh and as we heard today from so good as well establish other organizations we're doing the same my only concern is that that replication needs to be institutionalized and I'm hoping that in your next position you don't forget that goal because we'll need you to help in that because it will take the entire Commonwealth to make sure that model can be replicated and and enforced and again I you know we talked a lot about the success of the Build a Better Life campaign it's outstanding I think if I walked out the door right now I'd see one of the signs that inspired by the initial campaign but again I mentioned you mentioned and I mentioned earlier the work that you did um with our equity and inclusion working group and just a real quick little story um and I think this is what inspired Commissioner Suniga earlier commentary as well when we were doing the statement of purpose um it was a uniquely a unique group um everybody worked so well together and so efficiently together we were able to to turn around that work um in a short amount of time and I think we recognize that need to be turned around that in such a short time to to be intentional about the goals and the actions that were derived but what folks who were in the working group wouldn't know is that we did a lot of our production of the statement and action items together and we would read out loud and the only voice that could work was Jill's so she would read out loud to us um the the statement of purpose and keep us together so that we could hear what would eventually be conveyed to our fellow commissioners correct Amigey and in many ways that her voice and her intentionality in doing that exercise only further inspired our ultimate goals so that quiet presence that Commissioner Suniga was referring to um directed us and that was what I wanted to get back to we didn't direct you ever you directed us and you've done that with the work that you've done through the hiring you've been very instructive um on how we can do better at our hosting in our job descriptions I know that Chupti has been you know very inspired by all of your um your your good thoughts and then of course during the interviews your contributions have been powerful so um you know for that um you know I'm terribly grateful and I think Karen as we think about how that work is done in the future you you've got some really good cues that you're going to want to replicate um that Jill has provided with us and then finally again as I mentioned um thank you for all the work that you've done um establishing some really strong initial contacts at the um with the legislature most importantly we've been able to be responsive I know Director Wells you've been able to be very helpful to the legislature because of those steps that Jill with Christos helped um you know established and you know they were able to find us um by phone now um you know COVID makes everything more complicated and the channels of communication have been well established so that we can be the helpful state agency that we should be to our lawmakers and I know that that work you've established a good structure and I feel that um you know we will be able to be well informed because of your leadership so I could go on but I know we have a busy schedule ahead um I just want to thank you so much and most of all I really want to wish you well um you're quite beloved outside of our um commission and I was well aware of that uh you're very beloved here and people are going to miss you here thank you so much if I know you have a full schedule so let me just say a word or two um you know for me this was all about um connecting people with opportunity when I first um got the call that this was a possibility um um I I just thought wow what an opportunity um and it sure was um I'm so proud to have been part of this phenomenal team um that really prioritized diversity and inclusion from the very beginning you know the the legislature started it with a very strong roadmap um but um couldn't have been possible without the true support of the commissioners um you know I've had the pleasure of working over the years with eight commissioners um and every single one um you know really um made me feel like my job was extremely important so I thank you for that um and and I worked with a team and under the leadership of um director Wells and others who um ensured that innovations were welcome um and and to me that was um music to my ears um so um my my work is all about partnerships and um working with individuals who have the same goals um Enrique or Commissioner Zuniga you reminded me I had forgotten about those early contentious access and opportunity now you know it seemed like a good idea because at the time when when that was um when we founded the AOC I was a team of one I had no other support and I had all these community members who wanted information um they wanted access to you know the commission I said well what better way than establishing these regular monthly meetings where everyone gets the information at once um but there was such distrust at the time no one trusted each other um and we really had to work hard to um establish respect and trust amongst the community groups the licensees the unions um but in the end everyone realized that we were all working towards the same goal and that was um at that point when I knew that that was the case it was so rewarding um I'll save my comments about my colleagues who I also had the chance to partner and work closely with um I'll just say that Executive Director Wells is just such a fabulous leader and it's been a little too short Karen I really have really enjoyed working with you and um just give a special shout out to um Crystal Howard who's um you know talent and and hard work is second to none and and she always made me look good so thank you to Crystal um and I'll save my other remarks for our internal get together so thank you everybody that's Jill all right so that concludes the administrative update moment here there's still time to change your mind Jill anyway thank you uh thank you for the um the update and we'll move along uh Jill again uh and Crystal thank you for your presentation to begin um earlier and the wonderful remarks from our guest speaker a special way to start our morning we're getting into some of our our core mission work now um with uh chair um we could it be uh could we take a five minute break before we get into the the next item yeah I had said to Marianne I might need to call an audible so we'll call an audible right now um and um North I see that you've joined us um we've already had a good hour and a half of work here so if you don't mind um we'll take a five minute ten what what do you need commissioner five minutes five five minute break um and uh we'll come right back at um at 1045 you know I'm not um Austin I guess we can go ahead and stream I can't see everybody so I don't know if all there we are thank you I think um I'm going to do a roll call commissioner uh Cameron uh I'm here commissioner Brian I'm here commissioner Zinica here and we're all set to reconvene uh public meeting number 350 thank you everyone uh good morning uh chief Delaney and and welcome north and team good morning madam chair and commissioners thank you um so first up today uh we have here the plane ridge park casino uh second quarter report and we have with us from pbc north ground cell Dana Fortney Kathy Lucas Michelle Collins and uh Lisa McKinney and with that I will turn it over to you north good morning commissioners good morning madam chair uh we wanted to start out our our comments by sharing your celebration of Jill and her work with the commission uh we very much appreciate her guidance and partnership um with ppc and we wish her the very best on her next adventure um we also wanted to start our comments by taking a moment to recognize uh and thank you madam chair as well as commissioner Zinica Cameron and executive director Wells for making the trip out the plane ridge for the fourth annual spirit of massachusetts trot it was a great day at the races we'll talk about the race a little bit more in our next quarterly update but i'll give you just a few of the highlights from the race the 2020 champ machango machego won this year's title trot and we awarded more than five hundred thousand dollars in purse money for the day the clara barton race winner lion sentinel tied the track record and set uh set last year in this race and together with the horsemen we spent over 50 000 with local businesses to promote the race and purchase commemorative items for the race today so again thank you for making the trip out we greatly appreciated you showing your support both for the property and harness racing and uh we hope that you'll come see us again soon so transitioning now to our quarterly report we appreciate the opportunity to provide you with an update on our business the team will provide additional details and their portions of the presentation but i wanted to highlight just a few of the points at the outset in q2 52 percent of our qualified spend was with massachusetts companies and nine percent of that was with businesses and our host and surrounding communities our total diverse spend north i'm i'm wondering if you are we supposed to be on the front page still on youtube yep we are just summarizing okay thank you sorry about that no my apologies i just wanted to make sure it was working thank you yes ma'am our total diverse spend for q2 uh was 27 percent on a goal of 21 percent and total qualified spend was up compared to q1 of this year in the employment side we exceeded our employment goals for veterans local and diverse employees and finally in compliance after many quarters of zero incidents we did have two incidents in q2 relating to underage gaming patrons in neither instance did these underage patrons consume alcohol so those are the highlights from our update with that i will pass it over to dana who's going to provide details on our financial performance and diverse spend good morning madam chair commissioners it's pleasure to be here again this morning with you um so beginning with slide two gaming revenue and taxes well there's a lot of information on this slide for comparison we'll we'll draw your eyes down to the bottom half so for the second quarter of 2021 plan which generated 36 million in revenue with total taxes paid to the commonwealth coming in just under 18 million this brings our year-to-date total to 67.9 million in revenue and 33.3 million in taxes the next slide is our lottery sales in the second quarter plan rich sold over 578 thousand in online and instant ticket sales so we continue to see positive trends in our lottery since reopening um from covet and q3 of 2020 year-to-date 2021 we've sold over a million dollars which is only 22 percent down from 2020 in total up next is our spend by state for the second quarter uh as north mentioned in state spend was 52 percent or 363 thousand of qualified or um 363 thousand or 52 percent of qualified spend the percentage of spend from in-state increased from the first quarter of 36 percent and total dollars spent in state increased 190 thousand moving on to our local spend in state versus surrounding community spend shows an increased quarter over quarter while the first quarter was nominal second quarter came in at 34 per thousand or nine percent driving the spend as rent them um with our a local construction company that did some assistance for us in the racing division like paddock repairs and then claimville is with a local nursery that provides um product for the racetrack looking at our diversity goals the second quarter diverse spend shows that we exceeded our goal on women owned and veteran owned spend but shows a slight miss in minority owned overall we exceeded our diversity spend by six percentage points and i'll go into the details of those figures on the next slide so taking a look at that data that i mentioned for the second quarter qualified spend doubled from the first quarter which included a 239 percent increase in women owned spend as i mentioned earlier q1 was little light we had you know restrictions in the state as well as an accounting system change that caused some payments we pulled them into q4 of 2020 that would have normally been paid in the first part of 2021 so outside of that if there are no questions at this time i can pass the presentation over to north to review our compliance figures okay on the compliance front in the second quarter we prevented a total of 574 patrons from entering the gaming establishment 23 of those patrons were minors 60 were underage and 474 had expired invalid or no id as i mentioned in our opening comments we did have two incidents where underage patrons were intercepted playing on the gaming floor in both instances the underage patrons were intercepted less than 30 minutes after gaining access to the floor um with that i will pass it over to kathy who's going to talk to a little bit about some of the employment figures thank you north so all the employees referenced in this exhibit we're current as of q2 2021 we had 291 team members which was an increase of 25 team members as we reported in q1 supporting our goal of bringing our business back we continue to exceed our diversity goal of 15 in q2 with 24 of our team members being diverse as well we exceeded our veterans goal of 2 in q2 maintaining 6 from q1 in q1 we spoke of the decrease against our women's goal when we closed multiple venues due to covert related layoffs we had a slight increase up to 40 in q2 since adding our revolution lounge and outdoor patio lounge with limited hours of operation we're actively hiring great customer friendly and service-oriented team members as we continue to open our venues and support guest services we're exceeding our local goal of 35 in q2 at 40 this area includes outer borough fox borough mansfield north outer borough plainville and rent them we're finding as we're bringing candidates to the information sections that they're looking to stay local which is helping us in this area you can see on the slides in q2 the 291 team members included 216 which were full-time 66 which is 23 percent which were part-time and nine which three percent were seasonal employees next slide so our commitment to recruiting from a community-based organizations that support diversity veterans women and local candidates is robust at the team member level and also at the management level especially with the highly competitive market and a smaller pipeline of candidates just to share we host two hiring events weekly weekly and offer compelling incentives to onboarding and retention and those include referral sign-on and retention bonuses we offer housing tuition and loan assistance as as many of our businesses know we have to be nimble and flexible in this environment for recruitment a little update on our covid safety initiatives with team members and managers we've had a lot of success with the incentive program and we also had a great partnership with the commonwealth mobile vaccination program providing convenient on-site vaccinations we are in the process of scheduling additional dates in this slide you'll see that at the supervisor level we have 69 team members um who are diverse 29 percent i'm sorry 29 percent identify as diverse and this is an increase over our prior two quarters four percent are veterans and 35 percent are women which is an increase over our team four um members which we shared uh based to the covid layoffs we were working to to um return to the the number the numbers prior to covid the next slide north so you'll see here with ppc cares uh the the things that we had going on in q2 um along with pen gaming around our diversity and inclusion initiatives and also our community relation initiatives on the top right there you'll see we donated a thousand dollars to rolling thunder on behalf of the plain bill fire department rolling thunder is a nonprofit organization many members of rolling thunder are veterans and ride motorcycles which are not qualifications to be a part of rolling thunder but um they they have young old men and women um very diverse in in what they do but their cause is really to bring full accountability for prisoners of war and missing in action and reminding um all that they're not going to forget and so um we felt really great with being able to support them with this donation we also donated seventy six hundred dollars to the american cancer society supporting relay for life the relay for life moment movement is dedicated to helping communities attack cancer um through funds donated time and awareness race communities uh virtually or in person are making a difference to strike out cancer we also donated five thousand dollars to an orc pantry a local food pantry sponsored by the north adabara board of health that operates out of the town hall there uh they they serve between 85 to 95 individual individual families once a month or throughout the month and then finally on the other side around diversity diversity scholarship um program i shared in uh q one that we launched this diversity scholarship program and our company committed one million dollars to the program it's it was exclusively for the children of team members i'm really excited to share our it manager darin mackentire son dylan was a recipient of one of the five forty thousand dollar scholarships pen awarded um it's going to be delivered in increments of ten thousand dollars a year supporting the dylan over uh four years as he studies chemistry in a state school here in mass um we're heavily invested in the commitment to equity and post secondary education opportunities for students and we're really really proud of dylan and excited for darin to be able to help him with his son's tuition i'll i'll turn it back over to north thank you kathy so michelle collins is on vacation this week so i'll be covering the slide on marketing i won't do it as well as she does but uh i'll do my best so uh we continue to meet quarterly with the massachusetts office of travel and tourism and the greater boston convention and visitors bureau and part of the massachusetts office of travel and tourism is the my local massachusetts marketing campaign we're supporting that by including the messages in our monthly direct mail social media post as well as on our website we also continue our partnerships with uh rentham and foxborough on a new regional marketing initiative and we also have continued partnerships with rentham village premium outlets patriot place uh the fennway park summer concert series which begins next month in august as well as the tpc in boston and with that our report for this quarter is complete we're ready to take any questions that you may have do you mind taking down the um power plant please commissioners commission camera um yeah just a couple of comments and one question uh for um gathie lucas um uh your numbers on diversity um with regard to um with regard to minorities and veterans are excellent really good to see those numbers and um i know that you've explained a little bit about why uh you're struggling with women i'm just wondering i know there's still some parts of uh the casino in particular food offerings that are not open yet and i know that could assist with these numbers is there any plan i know you're struggling to get some people you've explained that in the past and you talk about your recruiting efforts and bonuses and whatnot so that's encouraging but any any idea on when other offerings will open and that may help you with those numbers that's so and and i'll ask north to add on a little bit more with timing um we we initially projected that we would have those venues open um in the the july timeframe and uh we have been working effortlessly to um really uh get the right staff from a leadership perspective back at the house culinary managers and leaders um and front of the house managers and leaders for specifically our fluties and then also our banquet areas and um we we are are doing um you know everything possible in regards to the recruitment but the pipeline has just been incredibly thin for a leadership piece i'm not sure um you know if this is an experience and i know it's an experience that a lot of us are seeing out here um we've got candidates that will um you know schedule the interviews and um unfortunately you know uh four out of five are not showing up for the actual scheduled interview so um that has has really um you know been surprising to us because that's not something that we experienced prior to COVID um we we have partnered with um i hire for um you know culinary and and food uh folks we are working with a lot of the local colleges and universities um you know offering uh you know internships that would lead into permanent roles so we're we're working on everything we're just um in a in a state where the pipeline is just so so tight uh north do you want to add to that in regards to the timing just based on where we stand yeah so the one thing i think i want to make clear for the commissioners is that we are not waiting when we have great candidates so we do have great candidates that may eventually move into other outlets that we have already hired and work in other parts of the business where we need help right now so we're kind of building our our stable of talent we are not having people sit on the sidelines when we find great talent we're getting them to work um right away the one thing that we want to make sure that we do is when we do open an outlet to make sure that we can deliver at the level that our guests have come to expect um i i think that we all have had the experiences of visiting restaurants lately where the service wasn't quite what we wanted or the food product wasn't quite what we wanted um and because of staffing challenges that's that's where that is we have been very cognizant in making sure that whatever it is that we're offering that we're offering a quality product and offering quality service uh and not compromising on that piece so we continue to we continue to recruit when we get that critical mass of talent we will be able to open those outlets it's just taking longer than any of us would have liked uh unfortunately thank you and also a couple of years ago there was really an issue with um your overall diversity was pretty good but it was that was not the case with supervisors so i see the great improvement there with both women and minorities so that's um i know you instituted a couple of programs leadership programs and whatnot so really good work there and the charitable work and the diversity scholarship work really tremendous so i know you're being a good um uh a good employer here in the commonwealth and a good neighbor as well so thank you commissioner brian or commissioner zinaga any questions for north and team uh no i my question was the one that commissioner cameron just asked so thank you for answering it and just a comment that uh tries that might i did not get down there for racing so i will talk to alex and get myself down there so i can see the the fire pit area and take in some of the races before the season ends this time we'd love to have you should i send okay questions i know thank you for the report um i um i'm beginning i'm not beginning i i have a full appreciation of the present a condition that you find yourselves with a very tight market in these um in this particular sector and i appreciate you explaining the context um you know you you heard perhaps earlier that mgm is moving towards um expanding the age range of people that they hire which is also a direct result of what they are seeing locally my hope and expectation is that these may be a temporary situation um and um but you know we'll continue to be um watchful and uh and look forward to the updates as they as they evolve yeah i i am also have no real additional questions just comment thank you for your hospitality on sunday we were really lucky uh with respect to the weather and great races so uh thank you it was um really a pleasure to be part of it and an honor to be part of it so thank you and and to commissioner brian's point um we did get to see the expanded area where you have outdoor services and amenities like the fire pit that commissioner brian mentioned i know too that you're you're waiting again post pandemic there's a lot of supply issues and so you're looking forward to receiving some of your equipment and and uh it's just really exciting that you expanded to outdoors um that allows real access to the first racing and it's just a great additional amenity to your beautiful um facility so thank you um the only thing that i might ask and maybe i don't think you can answer today um but i wonder if there's room for with some intentionality expanded um spend in massachusetts to maybe make that circle um you know shift from 52 percent to a higher percent um i know a lot of it has to do with the fact that national has such a broad range of facilities across the country but i'm i will have my eye on that that 52 percent a number and and just you know knowing that you are an important economic driver for commonwealth watching that number and again i also would have asked about the same question commissioner camera asked i am pleased to see the supervisor and manager positions increase in diversity it's great news so thank you comprehensive report and thanks for um Kathy for for your input and all the charitable work that you've been doing of course thank you further all right chief delaney i think we're all set thank you north again nice to see you on sunday thank you okay well next up we have on core blaster harbors uh second quarter report we have with us jackie crumb senior vice president and juliana catanzariti who's the executive director legal um and with that i will turn it over to jack and juliana uh good morning madam chair commissioners um may i also take a moment to say thank you uh but not goodbye to jill jill was in the trenches with us right from the very very beginning and it wasn't always easy as jill alluded to and jill was the consummate on bud's woman keeping everyone calm and focused uh our success in achieving our goals could not have been accomplished without jill's assistance and gentle but very persistent reminders to stay on track uh jill you will be very much missed we will miss you we'll miss your guidance thank you for everything now uh i will launch into our quarterly report for the second quarter 2021 to start with uh gaming revenue we are pleased to report that gaming revenue uh there we go gaming revenue has continued to grow every month in the second quarter for a total of 156 million in gross gaming revenue resulting in a tax payment of almost 39 million for the quarter from a year-over-year comparison uh we are very pleased to report substantial growth compared to second quarter 2020 uh unfortunately it was a very low bar as we had zero gaming revenue in uh second quarter 2020 lottery sales uh approximately 727 000 again a substantial change from second quarter 2020 from a year-over-year perspective what's interesting is that the lottery sales in quarter two uh in the second quarter are consistent with pre-covid numbers from the first quarter uh remembering that we were closed uh in mid-march of the first quarter uh juliana do you want to pick up on workforce sorry um so for uh these figures are as of july 1st 2021 um so for our total number of employees was 3256 uh 200 and 2421 of which are full-time and 835 of which are part-time um the minority veteran and women break down as above uh in the residents of massachusetts at 2901 uh and then we have our operating spend for the second quarter of 2021 uh so our total our total spend for the quarter was 14944 thousand to 189 um of that for about 4,200,000 was spent um on different diverse categories and locally we have here about 8 million or 56 percent was spent in massachusetts and then between boston chelsea everett molden menford and summerville also during q2 we were able to purchase and we were happy to purchase about 35 000 and give certificates directly from local restaurants in everett and malden we purchased about 1800 dollars from a variety of different restaurants we were then able to use those gift certificates to gift to employees who provided vaccination cards um so that was a great way for us to support the local community and also reward employees for compliance um so during uh q2 we had a number of 10 minors intercepted on the gaming floor and prevented from gaming i would like to note that four of those minors or actual children um in some instances like a toddler ran on the gaming floor some parents accidentally walked from ready around to the front um so there was a very limited time period where they were on the gaming floor um three minors were intercepted gaming one at slot machines two at table games um and nine minors were intercepted consuming alcohol the average length of time spent was 40 minutes the longest length of time spent with two hours and 54 minutes and the shortest was 10 seconds and again that was one of the um the children who just ran on the gaming floor and not to interrupt juliana but before we move on from there i just wanted to let the commission know that we are launching a campaign to re-educate all of our team members about the importance of uh preventing minors from entering the gaming floor but also what their responsibilities are uh if they see someone on the gaming floor so that'll be a back of house uh campaign that we'll launch within the next month jacky i think you want to oh yes my turn okay uh in may we launched a contest to reward three of the countless men and women who self selflessly braved the pandemic on the front lines uh each hero received a one night stay in our guest rooms limousine transports to and from their residents dinner for two at rare steakhouse a makeover treatment at our spa and salon and a complimentary retail experience we received 958 entries and our evaluation team worked went through every application and made a very difficult decision to narrow it down to six individuals uh they presented all six individuals to the executive team and uh we couldn't eliminate anyone one of the many advantages of having a woman led executive team so we expanded the number of winners to include uh all six of the individuals uh of those six we celebrated a newton firefighter who was also caring for his seven-year-old son undergoing treatment for cancer two registered nurses one from peabody with six adopted children and one from topsfield a restaurant worker from from medford who took care of her extended family and her community a postal worker from clement who had recently lost his spouse of 27 years and a patient greeter from tartan who was the point person for triaging hundreds of patients coming into the hospital on a daily basis next round we are also really pleased to announce that we launched um our change for charities program uh essentially this gives our guests the option uh when they use one of our cash redemption machines to donate their sense to one of four selected charities excuse me uh the boston area rape crisis center the mystic river watershed association bread of life an organization located in malton that provides prepared meals for low-income or homeless families or dev uh disabled american veterans since launching on june 27th it has already generated about 13 000 in donations to these nonprofits as some donations are as little as two or three cents the average donation is 19 cents and we've had a total of 66 566 donations next slide please okay on special events we celebrated our second anniversary on june 23rd unfortunately as you know we were closed for our first anniversary uh this by the way is not the champagne toasted midnight uh for our second anniversary management served sparkling cider to our team members in our employee dining room we also decorated our back of house or what we like to call our heart of house uh we had photo booths and an instagrammable i think that's a word uh flower wall where employees could pose for flower for our photos we also launched a master class series on june 13th we had oyster shucking and champagne tasting in partnership with island creek oysters and for father's day we had a special grilling mixology and cigar rolling master class where participants could learn the difference between gas fired gas fired wood and charcoal grilling uh marinating and seasoning techniques we also partnered with workout sensation kelly bravance of booty by bravance words that i never thought i'd say in a commission hearing for an exercise class on our south lawn in support of uh giving the glam which is a local nonprofit that gives prom dresses to underprivileged and special means girls and finally we launched a night shift beer garden which is just stunning uh unfortunately given the weather this summer we have been rained out more often than not so we're hoping for a uh drier august to celebrate there and uh finally if this is the appropriate time and there are no questions uh i wanted to give a little bit of an update uh on poker actually i know jack me about um the stats and minors on the gaming floor yeah uh i've been asking for a while if you guys could break that down by under 21 versus under 18 um so just first if you guys can do that going forward but then also do you guys have the breakdown on that slide i i do so there were four very minor children and then two minors under under 18 the rest were 18 above and then the two hours 54 minutes um was that uh it was a 20 year old person it's 20 year old and then how any and what's the circumstances of how they get um it's a fake id or what was it they just honestly their id just was not checked there was not a fake id okay and and we have followed up the officer has been disciplined and that's why we're relaunching the training to make sure that uh all of our offices but it's not frankly just the security offices responsible for checking at the door it's all about team members our pit bosses our dealers our cocktail servers bartenders are all responsible for asking for identification thanks jackie i have a question on that slide you know perhaps we can do it there and i'm just thinking of the report that we saw from plain rich they report the people they turn away um is that it's not part of this slide is it or do you have the statistics of how many people you turn away or do we have just a very different um population accessing the casino that's right yeah we can certainly provide that information i don't have it off hand but i certainly we do turn a lot of people away we did i believe one of these cases if it's not unless it's next month someone to enter the gaming pool for 10 minutes and then he turned 21 while on the gaming floor so by the time we caught up with him um he was permitted to stay that's some detail um i just think i just think it would provide and i know it may be difficult to to track if you're you know or an additional step it just occurs to me that it may be an additional context into these numbers just based on the number of these patients that you have yeah you know i i would put more more in your perspective but thank you absolutely we'll include that and i just had one very good point commissioner uh sunica that that context would be really helpful sorry commissioner cameron no no worries i just had a comment which was um you know in these times i think the charitable work is so important and i love that you couldn't eliminate any one of the six worthy candidates that was terrific and secondly you know you don't realize right how much change adds up so i think that those four charities are probably very grateful and it's a great idea right you y'all it happens in the supermarket now and whatnot but this is uh this is a good idea that you've incorporated for four very worthy charities so um good work thank you thank you i'm all set jackie thank you for the um the thorough report but i i think uh uh before we go into the poker discussion i just want to uh check in with chief delaney and general counsel grossman do you want jackie to go ahead and give that update or um would you like to set the stage uh i i am fine either way uh general counsel grossman well jackie seems to be on a roll so i'm happy to have her continue on and then i'll jump in with uh joe and mr band after thank you thank you jackie thank you uh first just to be clear we did not say never to poker we have said just not at this time uh we're constantly readjusting our offerings based on guest demand and people for example uh less than two years after opening we've repositioned almost every single one of our food and beverage outlets uh we had some guests who were pretty incredulous when we closed our beautiful buffet uh and we know that there for the opening of the sports um throughout this difficult time we have really tried to be agile and responsive however we do have limited space and uh the former poker areas currently occupied by some of our highest performing slot machines during the pandemic we made substantial changes to our floor to maximize our offerings this included investing in some very large and when i say large i mean physically large uh slot machines that take up quite a bit of space uh not just a typical row of slots um our guests love them and uh the popularity of the loft area has grown exponentially uh further uh as you are aware we remain in continual hiring mode uh we simply cannot find enough dealers cashiers or food servers we're running dealer schools almost non-stop and we are able to bring back any of our poker dealers on any other table game if they choose uh we did offer to pay for dealer school if it was needed uh for any of the poker dealers uh in june 20 uh in june 2020 um because of this labor crunch reopening poker right now we necessitate the closure of other table games uh we simply don't have the staff available to do both uh we fully understand the impact of these changes to our valued guests including our poker players and if we could add another floor to the casino we would um but we also have commitments to our shareholders and as our partner the commonwealth um our management team is making very difficult decisions every single day uh when to fully reopen the hotel when to bring back breakfast in the garden cafe how to program the outdoor space maybe when it finally stops raining um repositioning night shift harborside lounge cheese meat wine and i can assure you that the return of poker is very much a part of this uh daily consideration again uh not at this time thank you for that report so jackie if you could stay on um because i suspect there'll be some questions for you i think on that uh uh both joe and and todd have um todd if you could just lay out some framework for us to understand um you know where we are with respect to uh the history of poker etc sure i'd be happy to do that um i think certainly any time uh the commission is faced with a decision point it's helpful to ensure a uniform understanding of the commission's authority over any particular matter so to that end i'm happy to just review a number of the legal principles that i believe will help guide your decision making uh in this case and of course mr delaney is standing by as is uh bruce band who has joined and is prepared to offer a broad survey as to the status of poker operations across the country um any review of the commission's authority of course necessarily begins with a look at chapter 23k and there are several provisions that i'd like to quickly draw your attention to beginning with the broad and then we'll work towards the narrow um that is uh to help address the specific issue first we'll look at some of really quickly some of the familiar provisions contained in section one of chapter 23k they support a general conclusion um as we recall from other discussions that the commission is afforded fairly wide-ranging and broad authority to govern matters related to the operation of gaming establishment um in the commonwealth and so there are two uh parts of section one of chapter 23k that i just wanted to mention we're all very familiar with provision 10 which provides that the power and authority granted to the commission shall be construed as broadly as necessary for the implementation administration and enforcement of this chapter there's also one other section that bears a mention in this context and that's in provision nine of section one but also that says that a license awarded by the commission shall be revocable privilege maybe conditions suspended or revoked upon a breach of the conditions of licensure including failure to complete any phase of construction the gaming establishment or any promises made to the commonwealth in return for receiving a gaming license the um other area to take a quick look at in the under the heading of a broad authority is contained in section 21 in paragraph c in particular section 21 you may recall discusses the number of the required conditions of licensure for all of our gaming licensee licensees paragraph c though says that the commission may include any reasonable additional requirements to the license so that's the broad authority that the commission is afforded over all areas related to gaming in the commonwealth the other areas that are a general application include some of the definitions and those are you'll recall in section two of chapter 23k the first definition to just be mindful of is that which defines what a category one license actually is and it says that it is a license issued by the commission that permits the licensee to operate a gaming establishment with table games and slot machine as distinguished from a category two license which just supports that operator the ability to operate a 1250 slot machine but no table game and then a table game itself which is defined just as a game other than a slot machine which is authorized by the commission to be played in a gaming establishment the next area to turn to is section 18 which talks about some of the considerations that the commission was required to think about when it determined to award the gaming licenses and are the underpinnings of the gaming law begin with and there are just a couple of that I'd like to reference really quickly I'm not going to go through all of them in section 18 but the statute provides that the commission referring back now to the evaluation as to whether to award a gaming license shall evaluate an issue of statement of findings as to how the applicant now the licensee proposes to advance the following objectives and there are four in particular that I just think the first was that it consider how the applicant would realize maximum capital investment there was one that talked about the consideration as to whether the applicant would be building a gaming establishment of high caliber with a variety of quality amenities the next one talked about the applicant's ability to maximize revenues received by the common law and then finally the last one I wanted to note discussed whether the applicant would be offering the highest and best value to create a secure and robust gaming market in the region and the common law so those are just some of the broad provisions of the law that are important to bear in mind as we now move towards some of the provisions that talk about that may help adjudicate this particular issue and I think we should start by looking at again section 21 in paragraph a in particular which provides that the commission shall prescribe the form of the gaming license but shall include but not be limited to the following license conditions for each fight so there's a whole series of conditions that had to be included with any gaming license but the one I wanted to just draw to your attention is the first one on the list which says that a licensee shall have an affirmative obligation to abide by every statement made in its application to the commission including all evaluation criteria and eligibility requirements so the question becomes what statements if any did the applicant make in its rfa2 application relative to offering poker there are a few places and a number of us have taken an opportunity to go through the rfa2 application to see what type of statements were made and it was mentioned in a couple of different places but the one that I think kind of illuminates the issue best is in response to question 4-10 this has been mentioned before you'll recall there are two places it was mentioned the application itself contained the boxes which each of the applicants typed their responses the brief responses to the question and then submitted an attachment where they really broke out the answer in a little more detail but in the answer to question 10 when it came to encore it was noted that there will be an exclusive poker area with 25 dedicated poker tables covering all of the most popular poker games and that essentially response was repeated in the more elaborate answer that was attached in response to question 4-10 and again there are a couple of other areas where poker is mentioned but those are the most definitive statements if you will relative to poker clearly these statements though were made as part of a larger description of the gaming program itself that was envisioned at the time and so should of course be considered in the context in which the statements were made for certain so that essentially covers chapter 23k but there is one other area that I would just like to bring to attention today and that's the license conditions that were attached to the award of the actual license and we've already kind of discussed this I mentioned this before but there is a condition it's condition section two in provision one requires the licensee to comply with all requirements of chapter 23k including but not limited to all the conditions set forth in chapter 23k section 21a and b so if it's specifically reference the part about all the affirmative statements compliance with all the affirmative statements made in the application so in some the commission in my opinion has very broad and express authority to address this issue as it relates to the operation of gaming in the Commonwealth and additionally as always the commission can of course promulgate any regulations or attach any license conditions to the gaming license to address any issue related to this sort of matter certainly depending on the circumstances I thought I would pause there for a moment and address any comments or questions relative to that otherwise I know Mr. Band is standing by and prepared to discuss the status of the poker operation in general yeah if I could just frame it for the commissioners you know at our last commission meeting we thought that we had understood from uh director band that there were inquiries about poker we had already um and commissioner brian you won't probably notice we had already asked about poker offerings and understood that there might be a delay in the offerings but uh given the the increase in interest we did want to make some increase today about the status and we thank you for um the rationales that you provided I know commissioner Cameron commissioner brian you laid out that that's what you would like to hear today um I don't think today we necessarily will make a decision or take a vote um but I do think that this is our chance to make the increase that we we've wanted to and then we can revisit this if need be either with some further thoughts or with some recommendations with that does that all make sense commissioners for today's purposes I'm seeing a couple not going to see three nods all right so with that um is there a commissioner who has a question for um for jackie or for totter joe or bruise um i have uh jackie you you talked about you and I remember this from earlier meetings where you offered other training opportunities for poker dealers who potentially needed to be trained in other opportunities and I thought I heard you say that offer was made in June of 2020 have you made additional overtures to the poker dealers in terms of training opportunities or was that just a one-off offer back in June of 2020 that was a one-off offer but what we have done with all of our employees who are in furlough is let them know what job positions are available so that they they want to apply for any other job position they certainly can do so but does the offer in terms of the free retraining still stands that's something that maybe if it is the impact need to be messaged with them again we will train absolutely anyone who wants to be a dealer at our cost yes okay I just wanted to point out one other thing on the speaking that Todd read um about what was now application um the leading sentence to that particular uh provision does state that the property slot and table departments will constantly refresh the mix of slot and table games on the floor ensuring that the most recent and popular games that appeal to all customers second on through the available so I just wanted to put that one out there too thank you Jackie um I have to admit today uh and I might be because I'm in my office it's harder for me to hear so if everybody can shout into their laptop that would be great or get close to the microphone commission of Cameron and I appreciate it thank you thank you I had a question about um director ban explained to us that there were increased complaints I guess I'd like to know what that really means how many complaints and kind of compare that to Jackie told us they are listening to their their clientele so I I'm wondering if they're complaining to us and maybe not to Encore or are they um like expressing their concerns to both be honest with you most of the time when we get these complaints and a lot of them have been directed towards Encore uh our senior supervisor shares them with Jackie uh in case they have a response or as well that might satisfy the complaint those complaints have probably gone from we'd normally get maybe in a month or five they've probably increased to 45 to 50 this month you know and some are just general statements you you know should bring back poker or allow like a you know a poker house that is that is quite a few is is that 45 to 50 total Bruce of 45 to 50 a month uh no that for the month okay at at Encore it's gone up like I say from like five uh a month to about 45 to 50 I don't have the exact number right of my fingertip but uh I shouldn't do this yeah Jackie that seems like I had a question quite a few um do you have I'm sorry Bruce I had a question maybe you can clarify the 45 are they all um individual new complaints or are they repeated by the same uh a smaller number of people or you know how do they break down in that way they would be individual complaints from from different people okay thank you commission Cameron you you still are speaking sorry I just I wanted to know if it's it's uh requests or concerns about bringing poker back yes that that's pretty much about bringing poker back okay thank you uh another another question commissioners in again um yeah let me um well the question and then a comment and I know you you know we're not taking posts as you said but um Jackie um I know it's a fluid situation you you talked about these not being a permanent decision and I and I think that's the most relevant part of of your comments um what is have you contemplated to the extent that you can speak about this have you contemplated perhaps bringing some not the full pro poker program but maybe some some area maybe not the same way it was in the poker then but that was really you know identifiable to poker customers um to be again I know this gets into some of the details operational details but is that part of what you might be contemplating as a way to kind of accommodate some of these requests absolutely you know we've thought about far fewer tables I think that poses some different operational issues and customer concerns as well because I think they are likely to be packed and you know we have concerns about that as well and honestly nothing's off the table right now that area is working incredibly well um and I say it's working incredibly well right now our customers tend to change quite frequently they and they're very vocal about when they're done with something and so we try to listen to that and adjust accordingly well I I feel compelled to to um to say that as a matter as a matter of principle I think we ought to be very differential to the operational expertise of the of the licensees we awarded them a license because among many other things one of the big things was the the the way they operate gaming and and the recognition and the great companies that they that they are I think they they have heard this matter loud and clear and I know that it's there's a quite a bit of a level of uncertainty into how things might change even what we were talking about earlier going back into our office for example turns into you know having to defer there might be there must be parallel considerations on the gaming operations I also would underscore what you highlighted Jackie relative to your duty to shareholders and the Commonwealth in terms of revenues and that is another aspect that the context is important this is a particularly tough last year a quarter with with zero revenues I mean that's part of the mix I think it's important to consider and I'm sure you're considering it but I want to highlight it for the public record so I look forward to your additional updates I know before you said that you would make a decision before the end of the year this is a statement you made you made in an earlier meeting when you were reopening I'd ask you to continue to consider given the interest by by some of the best customers whether that may be done earlier than the end of this year which just seems far far away but but again I'm more in the of the mindset of deferring to you or when it comes to operational issues and certainly when it comes to gaming operation which so if I could add my thoughts thank you commissioner you I agree you know the the term is that we often hear this micromanagement and I'm not interested in micromanaging the world class organization that that you are on the other hand you know commitments were made early on for this license we recognize this is a privilege and and we have our job to do to make sure that you know we are aware of certain business decisions that could impact some of the overriding objectives of the our legislative mandate you know I I do note thank you councillor Grossman for your your thorough overview and to be transparent he also offered a very similar briefing in a silent mode to us so that we could digest it and do our own research you know so the in the long list of of objectives that are to be achieved in determining the granting of the license certainly it does say maximizing revenues received by the common law but I'm hearing you Jackie say that this is a decision that you you feel is bringing in the best revenue choices or best revenue outcomes excuse me Todd also highlighted number 13 in that list of 19 that you know there's an offering the highest and best value to create and secure a robust gaming market and under license one a category license of one versus two the distinction is in fact a very different tax rate because there's there are table games being offered at as part of your overall resort casino application versus simply spots and so today I I appreciate you noting the language clarifying what Todd said and I think it said basically that that yes poker was part of the original commitment and it was a poker room of like 25 poker tables but that there was also some piece in the application where you you would be changing it up but that was with respect to table games and so today I'm hearing that poker the poker room has been replaced by very high revenue generating slot machines and I appreciate that again given our overall desire to maximize revenues you can imagine though I am thinking about that proverbial slippery slope because with each table game comes another part of those objectives which is the number 12 providing a high number of quality jobs in the gaming establishment already commissioner Brian alluded to that we know that table games provide more jobs than slot machines or at least it's our and I can be corrected immediately on that but you know and and in careers and so you know I'm I am thinking of that when I hear that certain options are being taken out but that doesn't mean I don't also honor your business decision making I think what I'm struck by is perhaps more the need for continued open communication and and and perhaps we can set up a system to improve that and that's something for I'm going to be thinking about between now and our next meeting that will at least put us on sort of fair notice and I know that we did hear we did hear that you were going to put this off but I think you know I think that we welcome the opportunity for you to come in and explain your rationale as you did today and and perhaps some of those decisions we won't need public discussion on it and then others we will but I do think we think you have to look back at the initial promises what you know the conditions attached to your license and think about that I'm pleased that your slot machines are doing well I'm just at right now at this point okay as commissioner maybe it's commissioner soon again saying are you going to maybe do some kind of a another option you know for poker and maybe a more limited fashion sorry someone someone came in and so I when I was shaking my head no it was not at you it was don't come in no I'm so used to that jacket didn't even notice it don't come in but you know what we welcome all household co-workers I don't know if you're at home today or in your office but including every pet as part of our discussion but that you know so that's where I'm thinking is where there are changes you know perhaps director Wells we can establish some kind of a nothing that's going to create so much obstruction that's not efficient but perhaps coordinated notice and I know that Bruce hears season hears a lot and I know we get information through Joe but perhaps that's a coordinated front so that we are aware when changes are occurring I know and Todd you've you've informed me of this long before I join the commission but changes were made with respect to the promise those you know early promises in the application we understand the business will be evolving we also understand you haven't had well I don't think you've had a full year yet of 12 months of continued opening so we understand it's fluid we also understand that poker players may be more vocal than other players I I don't know but I think that's intelligence that we're going to listen to and also put it in the proper perspective but from my perspective today I think this is an important discussion for us to have so that you know somehow changes are are made too readily without our further consideration I also think it's an important stat and Joe I think you have this or maybe it's Bruce you Jack you have like more table games on the floor than your initial commitment if I understand correct that's correct and if I could just address your point about jobs for a second because I think that's a very important point part of the issue that we're facing right now is we have the jobs and we can't get people to fulfill the job so it's that's part of the consideration frankly as well yes and and I think that we're hearing that so widely and and I and and that is part of why you're coming in today and giving the full rationale was so important Jackie to rest to hear commissioners I gave my thoughts I want to give you another round of questions or comments that you want to make Commissioner O'Brien able do you want to share comment oh the the two issues I think have been discussed pretty substantially from my perspective which is the I mean the offerings particularly when you care when you compare to particular states you know I'm sure goes into the factor in terms of the amenities offered but the jobs implications in terms of not having an entire category of games what that could mean you know addressing that you're having trouble hiring people may be more of a safer outreach to offering retraining incentives to get these poker dealers retrained if it is a question of meeting bodies on the floor maybe that's something to look at and then I'm questioning whether we should have some sort of status for this topic because we have a stretch now about five months or so between the original estimate in terms of where you're coming from and if there's an uptick in queries to us on the topic I think maybe it might be better to sort of calendar this to have a check-in with Encore and MGM so that this is not something coming out in the press that then comes back to us that maybe I think we should be a little more proactive about checking in on this rather than the December timeline we initially talked about that's very helpful. Commissioner Cameron did you have additional comments or inquiries? No I think I understand both sides to this issue and I agree that we should continue to to certainly monitor did Mr. Band have a little more information? Yes I was going to go back I think that it's really important for Chris to comment on the lay of the land because I think poker is in flux correct Chris? Yes I can kind of tell you what's going on around the country. Rhode Island their over rooms are closed Connecticut both of them are open in Maine their over rooms closed New Hampshire which are card rooms all nine are open in New York three of the seven are open New Jersey three of the ten are open in Delaware one of the two are open Pennsylvania seven of the 11 are open in Maryland all four of them are open North Carolina they have one open Georgia one of the two are open Florida 25 the 27 are open in Arizona seven of the 12 are open Arkansas their one poker room is open in a moment here to turn the page in California 37 of the 48 are open Colorado for the five are open Illinois for the eight are open Indiana for the seven are open in Iowa for the nine are open in Kansas all three are open Louisiana five of 11 are open Michigan six of the eight are open in Minnesota three of six are open in Mississippi six of eight are open in Missouri four of six are open in Nevada 28 of 43 are open in New Mexico two of five are open in Ohio all six are open Oklahoma 10 of 12 are open Oregon 11 or 14 are open South Dakota three of six are open Texas all 35 are open Washington 14 of 20 are open West Virginia two of five are open and in Wisconsin one or four are open a lot of poker across the country I'll tell you that any other questions with that or very comprehensive Bruce thank you very helpful it does show though that it's not 100 across the country but there is a lot of poker still being played and it would be fascinating and I don't think we'll be able to get to build down on this but I wonder how much the the workforce shortage is playing into this or if it is a matter of what where poker is in as a favorable game right now so we can stay tuned and watch that Lorena and Bruce and and get the input from our the licensees Enrique, Commissioner Zuniga do you have more questions or comments for thank you just to reiterate perhaps the emerging conclusion that we'd love to hear about this as a matter of public interest in the future I'll reiterate the point I made before that I attribute a great difference when it comes to operational issues certainly on gaming who are for licensees and I think they've heard loud and clear the interest out there if we're getting a lot of inquiries and statements as Bruce says I know for sure that anchor is hearing them as well and taking them in consideration with everything else they hear including the rest of their operations so I look forward to more on this but for now I thank both Jackie for her initial remarks and Todd for you know the great framework for our authority which I think is broad but continue to think that you know difference here is the operating board and Bruce for all that great research on what's going on in the country before we break Chief Delaney do you have anything you wish to add or are you all set well I think I'm all set I think Todd incorporated my my my comments in with his as well so I think I'm all set excellent so Jackie thank you for first off your initial presentation and and then of course for responding to our you know request for this update we'll check in with you on some further updates on this and and just really you know I view it as somewhat just monitoring the ramping up efforts as as hopefully public health trends continue favorably in Massachusetts I know it's a difficult time right now but it's all knock on wood and and hope that you can continue to ramp up the business and also that these challenges around workforce will start to shift because it's really tough thank you and we'll continue to provide you with updates as requested or you know we can do that anytime yeah and and we know that so again we really appreciate you coming in we appreciate your transparency and frankness truly and it gives us the opportunity to to make sure we're doing our jobs as well so thank you okay all set commissioners Jackie can go talk to whoever was trying to to speak to her earlier okay excellent then if we could go on for item number six do folks feeling need a break now okay we'll go on to did I read that right I was agreeing on the break but I'm happy to be persuaded otherwise that I would love to go for a couple more items and then if we need to take a little bit of a short break for a bite but not much break if that's possible it is you know we are working toward a one o'clock finish so okay so Chief Skinner I'm looking for you there you are you always have a beautiful background thank you this is on MGM's beverage license thank you very much Nikisha sorry thank you good morning or good afternoon now since it's noon chair and commissioners for your review and consideration today is a request for approval of MGM Springfield's gaming beverage license renewal and their current license expires on August 15th at 2021 the renewal application was timely submitted on July 1st 2021 in accordance with the regulation which requires that the application be submitted 45 days before the current license expires the application was deemed administratively complete on July 27th just worked out some final details and documents that were owed but you have a copy of the full application in your packet with the exception of the certificate of insurance that didn't make it to the packet but I'm happy to circulate it after the meeting for anyone that deemed it necessary the renewal consists of MGM's master license which includes 24 licensed areas and I won't take precious time reading the names of all of them but you also have in your packet the appendix which details each of the areas including the floor plans a description of how the alcoholic beverages will be stored and secured it talks about whether bottle services offered at each of the venues hours of service and capacity and that's all the information required to be contained in the application I do want to call your attention to licensed area number 17 for an adjustment 17 is space previously occupied by a vendor crystal candle a crystal candle did not renew its contract with MGM and the space is currently vacant so we're not seeking license renewal for that area today there are two licensed areas that involve jointly responsible persons one is wall burgers just recently licensed and the other is regal cinema who was part of the initial license um or actually that I don't want to misspeak I don't know if they were part of the initial license because I wasn't on board but they were previously licensed is a better way to say that all the other licensed areas are operated by MGM and if approved this will be MGM second renewal I understand that MGM has a good record of compliance overall but I'm turning it over to IEB to speak to that and to report out their findings relative to compliance Loretta I don't know if you want to yeah I'm sorry I was on on mute for that um uh you know there has been a strong history of compliance um uh with no significant matters to of concern to note um you know Bruce I don't know if in the recent past you wanted to note anything like during these months of the um you know these past challenging months oh 17 months uh but feel free to uh to jump in on that uh Angela has full report on that oh awesome I uh of course I should have known I apologize Angela go right ahead oh yeah I prepared a brief statement touching on the three aspects of the team's audits and inspections relating to the noted areas detailed in the appendix of the gaming beverage license renewal application and after my my statement I'll be happy to answer any questions first with regards to storage and security of alcohol outlets listed in the application the IEB conducts routine inspections we complete physical inspections such as ensuring beer taps and our locked in alcohol storage areas are secured we also complete audits reviews and investigations using the surveillance system located in the state office the surveillance system enhances our ability to ensure compliance to state regulations and laws relating to alcohol by allowing reviews and investigations to be performed both proactively during our routine audits and through reviews and in follow up to any incidents that may occur on the floor when incidents do occur we continue to have good communications with MGM surveillance team and our gaming enforcement unit relating to all incidents related to compliance concerns the IEB routinely conducts reviews using the surveillance system if an incident does involve possible over service the IEB will review the patron's time on property the number of alcoholic beverage beverages served and which food and beverage employees serve the alcohol through these inspections and reviews the IEB has recorded minimal instances of alcohol related to non-compliance issues our observations both positive feedback and concerns are discussed with MGM compliance and are followed up with additional training or coaching for their employees if applicable lastly the IEB and MGM maintain a relationship with the alcohol beverage control control commission the ABCC routinely conducts unannounced onsite inspections reporting minimal issues to date in closing MGM has been very receptive to our findings and maintains exceptional compliance with regards to alcohol service and storage with that said the IEB recommends the renewal of MGM's liquor license for all related out all requested outlets and please let me know if you have any questions thank you Mikesha so as Angela you know stated it's also my recommendation that the commission approve MGM's gaming beverage renewal application I I do believe as part of the vote and I'm happy to take questions as well but as part of the vote there needs we need to make some amendment for that to account for the licensed area 17 the elimination of that from from your consideration questions for Mikesha and the IEB too thank you Mikesha you mentioned that cringled cringled is it cringled candle it might be cringled candle I'm sorry I've been saying crystal candle it might be okay no just I mentioned that only to clarify the it's the old church space right yeah and so it's your recommendation or part of the analysis that that area won't be licensed until there's another tenant that's right or I see that the tenant cringled it's not no longer licensed but the license from the space remains licensed I'm wondering of a couple of things you mean if it can be automatically transferred to a new tenant or or or remain or keep the area licensed without that tenant I have a couple of scenarios first I wonder if MGM would ever want to use it for special events like they what they have in the in the armory for example or if we can license that that area in short order as soon as they have another tenant it occur to me that I mean I'm sure we could do that second scenario but I know that that might be a having that license if you will might be a good asset towards occupying that space from a subsequent tenant are they okay with that at this point that's right commissioner a couple of things crystal kit the area is vacant and and cringle candle has not renewed so they will not be back as I understand it MGM doesn't have a definitive plan with respect to the space they are having internal discussions right now as to how to you know repurpose it but I think that they do plan to operate it themselves and not lease it out again discussions are still happening so they haven't made any final plans the example you gave about the armory and utilizing this space for special events in the same way that's definitely up for consideration MGM spoke specifically to that they also talked about potentially using the space as a cafe type area and so I think while there's while MGM is still trying to figure out what they're going to do exactly to that property I think that we we should defer any consideration you should defer any consideration to license the space until you know the the licensing division and IEB has an opportunity to sit and understand exactly how MGM it intends to utilize the space so that we can properly inform you as to that so I would not recommend licensing that space as a vacant space just understanding that we we don't know what will ultimately go there fair enough so I suppose that does answer my question relative to we could react in short order if they get a tenant or a plan for that space or they decide to operate themselves in a particular way and come back to a future meeting and approve that space I think Commissioner Bryan was chiming in yes well it's funny so I had a question in my head so I went to 17 and the thing that absolutely makes me agree that we should hold office sort of alcohol distribution area TBD and so without knowing that distribution area of course you know IEB has to go into and make sure not only that the storage is secure but are the cameras sufficient for you know security all that sort of thing so it would seem to me that I think we can move in short order when they come back with the plan it would be isolated and very easy to amend this but until you know where that area is going to be in security etc I think it is the appropriate approach that she's recommending that we just take 17 out at this point unless and until they decide what they want to do with it fair enough thank you yeah and and I think that that if there is another use I think you point out Commissioner Zuniga we we can be responsive quickly correct Chief Skinner that's correct Chair and Commissioner Zuniga we just recently licensed wall burgers for MGM what would be a similar process whereby they're speaking in amendment their master license so they we could get it done in short order fair enough thank you Mikesha Commissioner Zuniga and I were out at a visit MGM Springfield with a few others we did see that right now the Commonwealth Bar is being used for space for spot machines I think they have plans for the future of bringing that back as a bar does is that it is that did that come up at all but I'm not even sure if they're running it as a bar now and like it didn't look like they would have a bar going but does that impact the analysis at all I am not aware that that space is not being utilized we're not serving alcoholic beverages I don't know if if Bruce or Angela has any insight there I think there I'm sorry but my understanding there are cocktail servers now so alcohol is being served at least do the cocktail servers but Angela if you can shed any more light on that but the cocktail service continues in that area Angela I'm so sorry I can't hear you you'll have to get close to my phone can you hear me better now I can thank you okay so just a follow-up on Loretta's comment the alcohol service continues in there through the beverage servers and the the bar area which was active when it was a lounge is is a slot you know on a bar top slot machines they're being used but there's no bartender behind that bank of bar top machines does it is the um this is probably a question I should know the answer to by now and I'm embarrassed to ask does the license cover both serving on into the area or is it that there's a bar in liquor being dispensed in the area you know or is it both it it it's both so we would need even if they didn't have the bar going it would be the same certificate if they're bringing the drinks to patrons who are playing at the slot machine yeah that's my understanding um as well uh yes nakisha is that your understanding it is I'm looking at we're talking about is it is it area six that you're referring to chair I I don't have the number for me it's the commonwealth lounge that's right yes so commonwealth lounge it is it is my understanding that that that that space will operate exactly as it as it did under the as it does under the current license I'm not aware that there are any changes to that that sounds like the only change is there is no active bartender service which there had been up until they decided to suspend that during COVID right it was suspended by require it was required you know when bar service was eliminated for COVID reasons and you know when efforts made to reutilize that space transition to the beverage servers the bar has not been reopened we did have some discussions with MGM probably about a month ago they are working on plans tentatively around the fall to reopen the space with slightly different modeling than it was previously but more more of a lounge atmosphere I they haven't finalized their plan so I don't want to get ahead of ahead of myself yet but as of about a month ago the conversation was they intended to reopen to a lounge atmosphere a little bit different than it had been before but more of the full lounge atmosphere as opposed to the slots and no bar service that has been going on for you know during this period post COVID matter I'm thinking this and though Todd there wouldn't be any impact to if they don't have it going if we still go ahead and license correct or is that problematic no I think it's okay and I just wanted to also point out that the Commonwealth bar I believe is included as part of the gaming area so would as for service purposes is covered under the gaming beverage license which is under a different that's what I thought thank you so I think they're covered to serve alcoholic beverages and they're from the gaming floor so that takes care of those cocktail servers who are coming in with the drinks what I understand is that the certificate that we're going to issue today that's being recommended is for the actual bar operation for that bar and just to for folks we should know it's right now it's not operating as a bar and I guess my question is is there any danger in including it as in the certificate if it's not operating or should if their intention we believe is to open it up it is right now it's you know it's used for spot machines not just the ones at the bar but yeah I think Bruce has a comment yeah thank you please that the cocktail waitresses worked out from behind the bar which is part of it is where they get a lot of their drinks am I correct Angela oh okay that's helpful to know yes so they don't actually work over the bar but they do mix drinks and stuff that serve the floor out of there so it is and with all the machines and everything you're you still have the surveillance you need to be able to watch that correct excellent and chair and commissioners I apologize for not being prepared for this portion of the discussion I was not aware that there were or some changes in in the in sort of the configuration of the space so no apologies needed you know just sorting it out but it doesn't sound like it affects your analysis at all on the key show you know given that that Bruce has confirmed that the bar is still operating there I agree and they're keeping alcohol there it sounds like so we we need we need to monitor it as a as a bar okay helpful right commissioners right okay um this is a no the bar section that is being operated on the smart bars so the cocktail servers use the you know the the machines to mix the drinks rather than you know like a traditional bartender would prepare the drinks in front of it's it's a smart bar behind is that behind well it's it's it right and back of the bar it's it's if you look at section six it's just behind there it's part of the bar makeup itself the smart bar so on our tour I got to see one Bruce I asked I did ask so okay it wasn't that one it was a different one yes they are they are located all over the floor so much yeah any further questions for Nikisha it's not a question I guess just to clarify that as requested and as proposed that we approve it allows MGM to go back to having a bartender without having to come back to us correct correct okay that's correct but they would have to come back to us with respect to the church space correct right so Nikisha you need from the commission today authorization through a vote are there any further questions that we need Nikisha to address if if not are we prepared to vote today okay misha brian certainly madam chair I move the commission renew the gaming beverage license issue to MGM springfield including all license areas described and depicted in the application with the exception of space number 17 formally occupied by kringle candle contained in the commissioner's packet and reviewed today incorporating all terms and conditions described in chapter 23k 205 cmr and included in the submitted applications for a term of three years ending august 15th 2024 in accordance with 205 cmr 136.061 thank you any further questions or comments for Nikisha or without us Keith okay roll call vote commission camera hi commissioner brian hi commissioner zunica hi night vote yes um the vn you shifted four zero thank you and Nikisha thank you so much um there are there's a lot of fluid parts right now because of covid and i think we just had the advantage of the tour to see that so um thank you very comprehensive and comprehensive memory and then packet all set thank you chair and and thank you also to my my i e b team and thank you and lisa i see you i didn't want you to think i hadn't noticed your beautiful background thank you okay and angela thank you so much for the report all right then i think we can um um 1225 um we could move on to director well so should we take a 10 minute break now to get a quick something um the goal of course again is uh to um think mary in that we might be able to be closer to monica will look like we're getting close do we need a perfect break okay um i'm going to suggest that we then reconvene gosh i can't read my watch time um so it's 1230 now how about 20 of one okay okay thank you okay 40 austin thank you i'll check in and make sure we're all here again uh commissioner cameron i am here commissioner o'brien yep thank you commission sorry i finished it back great commissioners and again here okay we're all set to reconvene again um public meeting number 350 so um you think uh if you just get her again for uh the work on the mgm beverage license and we're moving on now to uh you executive director wells on um on the mgc annual salary review yes thank you very much uh so madam chair and commissioners i'm pleased to request uh that in recognition of just the outstanding work that's been accomplished during this really trying year uh and acknowledging that uh during f y 21 the mgc did not give agency wide raises due to the uncertainty of the pandemic and the closures of the casinos uh derek lenin and i the cfo and i have been working on the budget and we were asking that uh the commission approve salary adjustments for the employees here at the mgc um we uh the commission voted on the f y 22 budget on june 14 2021 which allowed for 287 800 uh dollars in compensation adjustments so as far as uh how that's used we are recommending that we do use that amount and that would be a four percent increase to all employees base salary which accounts for both arrays and a cost of living adjustment or cola for f y 21 and f y 22 and then uh there's a small amount of money we could use for a one-time covid bonus you know we do recognize there's uh employee service during the pandemic but and one thing in particular that came up when we were doing some briefings on this was uh the racing employees that some of those in particular seasonal employees because of the shortened season that it impacted them uh in uh an economic way so we wanted to bring that to the commission's attention and bring that up as a potential for raises uh derek is on for uh you know any further explanation on where we got to the uh the cola and the raise increase but it's a combination of both and we're recognizing there has been a custom cost of living adjustment and we also recognize uh just the outstanding work and the performance that has gone on in the past during really trying times and there and there have been employees for example that have uh gone back to uh face-to-face interacts like racing gaming agents during during the pandemic time so that that's the uh that's the framework uh for the uh the recommendation is the four percent and then i think there may be some uh opportunity for discussion on what to do with the the bonus school and how that would be dispersed so that's so where we're starting right now commissioners who would like to ask Karen some questions and thank you for that report thank you commission brian um i don't i don't really have a lot of questions other than i really i wanted to sort of reiterate what i had expressed to karen and derek during the briefing which is um you know my my general support for the recommendation um when it comes to the bonuses i had a one concern in terms of timing right now because you know as we just heard our licensees are coming out of covid and trying to do open amenities etc i don't know what the financial impact is overall of sort of flat bonuses to everybody um it sounds like it's something we can handle but i was you know wanting to be mindful of the economic situation that we're in in terms of the timing doing the cola and the bonuses simultaneously as terms of the bonuses and the distribution and the sizes um i've said this before and i reiterated in this forum which is covid and that experience for all of us has been taxing and trying i do think there are certain categories of our employees who bore more of the brunt of the financial impact and took more of the hazard risk in terms of front facing than some of us did and i think course rate is the first one that comes to mind in terms of bearing the biggest economic impact and the the seasonal employees losing months of their season in 2020 um and relying on unemployment and not having full employment status like the rest of our employees did and then from day one in the end of june getting ready to be open in july they were front facing with the public in a way that none of our other employees were asked to be in a continued to be so to me i'd rather see a tearing of the bonus in terms of i'd like to acknowledge um whether you call it hazard pay or acknowledgement of sort of the excessive risk and impact that some of those employees had um i do think that to some extent gaming agents were the next category down in terms of that front facing risk so i would like to have a conversation about the bonuses being adjusted to some way rather than flat to everybody to recognize what was an increased economic hit and front facing risk that those racing employees to some extent gaming agents took all right could i add to that i i happen to be in the same briefing with uh commissioner brian and we did we did discuss uh all the employees and their uh the work that they've done during this time and i i totally agree with um commissioner brian and racing in particular did two reasons right they have been pretty much back the whole time and then they did have a an economic hardship where they were not working at all since they are seasonal because we started that racing season later i believe it was july rather than april or at the end of june so um for the and then boom they've been hard at it ever since in a in a forward facing in a hazardous kind of a situation so i i really very much agree with that uh first of all i i totally agree with the four percent for everybody all of our staff is deserving the rationale was sound to me when it was explained by karen and derrick i am supportive of that and as far as bonuses go i i kind of like the tiered approach as well racing having more of a hardship and then and then gaming uh agents would be next because they did um also go in and be in the office at a time when uh or rather go in and be in the casinos when a time when many of us were not doing that so i i think that they can they deserve that consideration as well commissioner karen could you explain and what you mean by tiered well you know we talked about numbers and the numbers that we came up but we thought about in just this limited briefing was maybe a thousand dollars to our racing employees because of the additional um the longer responsibility and the fact that they were impacted by not being called back to the work for a couple of months and then maybe gaming agents say five hundred dollars because they in fact did come back early and and have responsibilities on the floor as well but they were not impacted financially we were able to keep them all on um unlike the racing employees so those are the discussions we had that made a lot of sense to me during the briefing and so there would be no bonus for the other no i well i think the four percent absolutely is well deserving for all the other employees within the mgc but the bonus is um so you're saying a thousand for racing and something for g e u and not a bonus for other correct okay and commissioner brian does that reflect your discussion as well or your thoughts your recommendation commissioner zinica thank you um i i can see that that rationale and that um thought process um i guess i was initially of the mindset of um a lot of other people whose situation we don't know about because of their home environment or their childcare duties or um you know any number of variables um that may also have or merit some consideration which would be very difficult to get into um and uh you know in that context i was i was in agreement with the recommendation of a flat bonus to everybody i recognize that these particular two categories especially the license racing um is you know perhaps stands separately that merits you know some consideration but i'm i'm thinking of you know recognizing the the reality of everybody which by the way the four percent does indeed partially do that in addition with keeping up with some of the inflation and you know um recognizing the the past year which which we didn't do anything but when it came to the bonus i i came with that with that perspective about again a number of people that we may know little about in terms of their personal situation that may warrant a little um a little recognition um but i'm happy to um you know do the most we can within the confines of whatever we already have budgeted for and if that means some additional discretion to um director wells i'm i'm happy to do that um or whatever the case may be so um i'll give my initial thoughts and then we can we can have Karen elaborate um you know in in terms of the research i've done and and the um some work i've done with respect to charitable organizations which i have some leadership positions um it is not unusual to recognize that this has been an extraordinary year and and and compensating for covid um costs have been addressed so i'm very comfortable separating the four percent cost of living from a discussion around um a covid bonus if you will um i um i feel strongly that this team performed their duties from their home throughout the time there was no pause we went from shutting down our offices on march 14th of 2020 and um because of the work of many much the it but with everyone's training everyone's uh input all in getting their equipment from it doing everything they can to meet with their managers we were able to continue our work seamlessly so we acknowledge all along the way that working from home did in many ways create a safer environment because we weren't exposed to covid at the same time working from home also um meant using resources like your bandwidth paying for your electricity tending to some of you went ahead and bought new equipment so you could be even more efficient for us it all was because you are all on the team it is no secret that when we sent dr. Liebaum to the first horse races i know i was choked up and i was worried and very concerned about our teams being out in the public and this felt the same way with respect to being at the casino floors once they started open for our g e u and for our gaming agents but i have to say i worried equally about those who were at home some were isolated than others who would have liked to have been in a different environment than what they were in to perform their job it wasn't i'm not going to the office so it's fun and games we were holding um you know managers were holding regular meetings and there was accountability there was productivity and we've been able to have more than the meetings we wanted because our team demanded them of us including today's full agenda so i um i i understand hearing karen and i think this is like maybe a follow-up question yeah that um that that we have funding to do a bonus i think there's some discretion to make up for the the racing division because you know we i think we just learned that their salaries took ahead because of the shortened season if we could exercise some discretion around that piece i would recommend um that all of the team receive this the same amount with that discretion around racing and i suspect that our entire team would feel real comfortable with that because you know what you all were in it together you all supported each other and we asked that of you and i mean we haven't been able to be together in a room but there have been many times where i felt that all of you were supporting each other across departments and you knew that some of you were confined in home situations that weren't perfect you had to do your job from that others were going up to the casino and you all had the same worries and concerns for each other's health and well-being and so for that i think i'm really i'm comfortable with advocating that um if there is money that is that was part of our funding and i am sensitive to the um um licensees like commissioner um over and pointed out i i think this is a very good time as we continue to face uncertainties to say thank you across the board i don't think any of us are saying that every employee isn't valued and every employee isn't worthy i i'm certainly no i but with a limited pool which is what my understanding was we were trying to come up with something and and knowing that we were in agreement that four percent was absolutely wanted we were trying to come up with some ideas that did value that public facing pieces in the organization that hazard this piece of the organization and that was our thought process now what i don't know is if there's if there's consideration and ability to say give every team member a certain amount because absolutely but then that was my question for Karen commission yeah that was my question for Karen yeah right but then then recognize those maybe additionally who have had a financial hardship and um i do think their consideration for gaming agents as well who have been out there is uh is worthy of a discussions as part of this okay so um uh to uh uh commissioner brine's initial question i think there is and i'll defer to our cfo to for the exact numbers i think there is money in the budget to do this sort of tiered approach what i'm hearing is you know i'm hearing uh you know two very valid points of view on how to do this but we could uh work it out so there is sort of a three-tiered approach and split the money up that way i think always recognizing we'd be within our budget um and derrick i think there is sufficient to do that um with this sort of 1500 and maybe you know split up the rest for the rest of the employees something like that and that way you recognize the folks that have been forward-facing or or have had financial hardship and and i realized you know from my perspective the most important thing i think you've all acknowledged is this this four percent that's the big that's the big chunk this is a nominal appreciation fee you know our amount and so this is is that jeff's share that just is a tangible way to say look we recognize this was a really hard year so that um you know and actually it's not nearly as this as important as the as the four percent which i sense yeah and karen maybe it maybe it's helpful to give the range of what the bonus would be so that everyone understands did you say it already well i thought uh the math right karen is you're saying yeah so hypothetical third tier is right so we'd have to go back on the numbers because what we ran was the four percent first that got us about 250 000 and increased um salaries annually then that left us 36 000 and change um for what was built into the budget so that was the $500 evenly distributed now racing is a different animal because racing is funded by their trust fund and they had some extra money rolling into this year which you'll see in their annual report because their season was shortened but they have such high numbers coming in through their call-in bets i apologize i have someone in the hospital so i've got the text i have a family number even surgery so i've text flying in um so um racing they have the money for the thousand dollars i've already gone over that with um with chad and with alex and on the gaming side the 500 would be even so it's just rerunning the numbers as what do you want to put as a frontline position you know and as you start going through those um discussion points maybe you add a few other positions too which we contemplated right like there are some people in licensing that were actual taking prints right forward facing rather than some of us who are just going into the office where no one else is in there um so you know there's there's that consideration i think as well um and look at i i think the main point that you bring up is if it's a four percent raise and for an agency that got zero last year that's a huge raise um you know so i think that's very great and anything that can be given out on top of that is is is really nice because normally we would have taken that additional money and put it back to the licensees so um you know i think i think it's a great i think it's a great message i think it's a great message to employees that they're valued and no matter what comes out of it it's i mean the racing piece to be honest the commissioners i hadn't even contemplated the um shortness of the season so so that was brought up and that's a real impact that's a real financial impact to them um so you know i think the more you talk about this the better clarity you get around the real impacts to people right so we're talking require more conversation with directors and you Karen in terms of you know we've set out two general categories of front-facing but to Derek's point you know there may be an individual who would also qualify something so i don't know if it's if you need to go back and do the numbers or you right want discretion to be that other category of front-facing that didn't fall into you know resting and well i think that you need to have um a vote today is that right um i think we were you thinking of going back commissioner of ryan is that we were just whether we could absolutely i mean it's there's clearly unanimity on the four percent yeah and so that's clear to me and then a vote would effectuate that for them as soon as they can the question is is there a further vote today with general parameters or is it cleaner um to go back and take a better look at making sure we don't forget any forward facing employee that we haven't contemplated gaming agents before giving and or do we give you some sort of parameters to go ahead and have the discretion to deal with those people as well like the people that took the prince and stuff right and the uh you know it's outlined the men of the plan for the if should the commission approve the um raise and the bonus was to um implement i think it's the second pay period is september but retroactive for the full fiscal year so they get it back until you know starting um july 1st so that that was the plan so either way would work for our operations we have time to do that so i don't know Derek i don't have any strong feeling either way no i mean uh so if we if we voted on the four percent now that gives troop d and the team plenty of time to get that into hrcms and then for the one time bonuses whether you get it in that same you may want to spread it out so you don't get taxed as heavy um because they tax per pay period so if you did the one time bonus in another pay period you wouldn't jump up to the highest tax category and so um i think what i'm hearing is we could vote today on the four percent and then we come back i'm hearing um that maybe uh commissioners in aga are you um do you wish to have the tiered approach or would you be comfortable with the um you know with the discretion being given to on the horse racing and then have everyone receive the same well i was um it's a mix i was um persuaded on on on the tiered approach but uh comfortable with the given that the you know Karen the discretion Karen and eric to um you know to with as commissioner brian says to with some parameters you know tiered accordingly um as long as the third category was not zero meaning that everybody gets something within the company you're proposing to have karen make the decision commissioner brian is that what i'm hearing that's one of the actions it was more what commissioner karen and i had talked about with the thousand for the horse racing 500 for the gaming agents and then you would have to go back and determine what less than the 500 would be available for everyone else but there may be an individual who we weren't thinking of like the person in licensing who had to take fingerprints etc who was front-facing that should maybe fall somewhere in between the 500 and what everyone else is getting i'm comfortable giving that discretion for that handful of people to karen and derrick in communication with their supervisors but i don't know if everyone else is so that is that it's only the it's only the um the the folks that horse racing and the gaming agents and somebody else that maybe is outward facing and then no bonuses for the other people is that what i'm hearing no a lesser bonus a lesser bonus then there may be this fourth category of people that are forward facing that we haven't contemplated in the gaming agents of horse racing that may merit getting something other than what everyone else is getting something slightly elevated but less than g e1 horse racing and i think the the new information here is that racing does can support the thousand dollars within their own budget which leaves the bigger chunk of that 36 for the entire team so i that that's that's a win-win as far as i can right so it may work out through the numbers that the forward-facing people might get more than 500 and we could and i want to know i'm i want to note that i i again am uncomfortable suggesting that people didn't have other challenges while at home and so you know i i'm hearing us going like oh you know if you're more forward-facing that that means you get a bigger bonus but not as much and so i just want i'm going to put it on the record i'm uncomfortable with this not because i don't appreciate the dangers that they encountered in the hardship of it what i don't know is what the people who are at home were facing we don't know the conditions that every one of our colleagues worked on and and i am reiterating um one of our CEOs said it to me and i'm that's why i'm repeating it here i have to repeat to our entire team frequently that they don't know what is going on in the home place and so you know i'm hearing what is what we know we know about the forward-facing we don't know what all of our team encountered working in the at home where they could not go to the office we told them they could not but that's what and they had also to provide their equipment and their their electricity and their bandwidth and so i just want to i want to just you know note my observation that we want to be very careful not to assume anything about what our team was encountering i don't think anyone is assuming anything madam chair that's what the bonus is and i think what we do know are requirements for front-facing mandated by people's positions at the mgc and so to me that merits amplifying the bonus because we know their day-to-day job duties mandated they go out forward-facing in these circumstances in a way everyone had challenges at home and my point yeah my point commissure brine is we mandated people to stay at home but we didn't mandate to go out into public and no but we mandated them to stay at home i think we i think we can all say that we recognize everyone and we value everyone it's just that i think we have a consensus that the forward-facing folks are are in our opinion in worthy worthy is not even the right word but we just want to value that because we know the hazard that they faced we know that we understand that we value that's okay and commissioners and again the error in agreement with that because i want to make sure our consensus yeah i know i i i recognize your point to fully uh chair i i do think that in the spirit of consensus as i mentioned earlier as long as the third tier is not zero which nobody's talking about everybody's talking maybe whatever it comes out to be 400 or you know 600 400 whatever it is and that's why i think we should we should recognize we should keep that discretion or we can come back if you want for a future vote as long as there is you know some recognition for that third category of people who were mandated to stay home for the for the interest of of everyone and that that accomplishes that recognition those uncertainties of what you know those things that we don't know those those things that you speak on whatever additional accommodation or or equipment or or what have you i should also say maybe this goes without saying i think karen mentioned this this is really in the in the gesture category you know 400 or 200 to 500 it's not going to break the bank on anybody it's not going to make the big difference i think it's really just going to recognize you know the the realities of of i guess different situations and as long as we're all in agreement that you know everyone else who had to stay home did encounter hardships of their own and that whatever it is goes to at least acknowledge that i'm in agreement with it again with the consensus that seems to be emerging okay um so i'm hearing that there's three who would like the tier approach karen why don't you come up with what the numbers are and it sounds as though there would be discretion for you and derek to come up with how you want to award that again i'm on the record to saying that for unity purposes i would have loved to have seen it be a bonus across the board because i in my heart of hearts think that's really of the culture of our organization with the understanding that some jobs are public um uh and forward facing and others have been you know using their bandwidth and doing their jobs at home and and and tending to all the that comes with the challenges of working from home um so i want to be on the record that doesn't mean in any way i minimize the dangers and i think i'm on the record clearly over this period um stating that i i um i don't think we probably need to revisit this i i am hearing derek suggest that maybe it should be done over pay different payrolls but karen you can um you know unless everybody wants to come down it is not a large amount um but it is a very meaningful amount you know in other words i don't want to minimize it it's very meaningful and and could cover some important costs particularly because i don't think the four percent probably covers all of what we're facing now in cost of living but it is as derek points out a very nice and generous um salary boost karen and congratulations on that i think that it's excellent um and we had hoped that that might be the recommendation today and it's nice to see that that is it does that make sense everyone does she need to come back to us to say no no yeah yeah and i'm confident given this guidance derek and i can work that out i understand what the commission's saying and i think you're all valuing everybody i see that hundred percent i don't think anyone is suggesting otherwise yeah okay all right then let's move on um doing we don't do we need to take a formal vote commissioner brian do you have um a motion if we need a formal vote i can i i can give you the language um madam chair i move that the commission adopt the recommendation proposed by the executive director and chief financial and accounting officer and approve a four percent increase to all commission employees based salaries as well as a one-time bonus described in the memorandum included in the commissioner's packet and as further detailed and discussed today second any questions okay commissioner um karen hi michelle brian hi commission zuniga hi and i felt yes four zero thanks um we will um then go on to item number eight kate i haven't seen kate yet good morning and and uh director lilios if we want to if you want to frame this out please sure and good afternoon again and this item the ip is bringing forward a qualifier for the plane ridge park casino license in important position where this qualifier miss felicia hendrix was appointed earlier this year as chief financial officer for the parent company and kate can present the results of the i eb's investigation the company and the qualifier are aware that we are proceeding on presenting this matter to you today so with with that i will turn it over to kate thank you good afternoon chair and commissioners as loretta stated the qualifier for your consideration today is felicia hendrix the cfo and also executive vice president um a qualifier for plane ridge park the investigative team and this matter was trooper john morris of the state police gaming enforcement unit and financial investigator david okay they're joining me on the call today should you have any questions after the presentation of the investigative report should be noted that miss hendrix has submitted all of the required forms and complied with all of the i eb's requests for supplemental and updated information and the i eb was able to conduct a complete protocol for suitability casino qualifiers and confirmed financial stability and integrity reviewed litigation history searched criminal history verified that no prohibited political contributions were made in massachusetts and also conducted checks of open the law enforcement databases on may 25th the investigative team of trooper morris and a financial investigator mckay were able to interview miss hendrix using virtual technology and it was noted during this time that miss hendrix was cooperative and forthcoming in all aspects of the investigation and during the interview miss hendrix provided her personal history and career path she graduated from the university of virginia in 1991 and went to work in new york city as a paralegal she did contemplate a career in the law however after working for two years as a paralegal miss hendrix left that position and returned to the university of virginia to the dartin school of business where she earned her mba in 1995 after earning her mba miss hendrix took a job doing institutional sales with needham and company out located back in new york she worked there from 1995 until april of 1997 needham and company is an independent investment bank and asset management firm after leaving the firm miss hendrix took a position with the investment banking firm of gerard claire madsen in april of 1997 where she remained in the role of research associate in gaming and leisure products until april of 1998 this was miss hendrix introduction into the gaming industry later in 1998 miss hendrix departed her position at gerard claire madsen and went to work at leeman brothers while employed at leeman brothers miss hendrix was promoted to the title of senior equity analyst this occurred in 2000 leeman brothers was then purchased by barkley's in 2008 miss hendrix remained in her role as a senior analyst now with barkley's and continued to focus on the gaming lodging and leisure sector she worked at barkley's from 2008 all the way until 2021 where she joined pen national gaming first as executive advisor to ceo j snowden and then that was February of 2021 and approximately one month into her tenure in that role she took her current position as executive vice vice president and chief financial officer at national gaming miss hendrix described her current role at pen as being the senior executive responsible for managing the financial actions of pngi she will oversee accounting treasury procurement and indirectly internal audit in this role and will also act as a strategic advisor reporting directly to mr snowden at present miss hendrix is currently licensed in many jurisdictions pursuant to this role these include the texas recent commission and the florida division of peri mutual redring who have granted her credentials and most recently she was licensed by the new mexico gaming control board an inquiry was made into the jurisdictions where miss hendrix holds the potential and no derogatory information was surfaced miss hendrix has demonstrated to the ieb by clear convincing evidence that she is suitable and the ieb recommends that the commission vote to find her suitable as a qualifier for plain rich park and if commissioners have any questions i'm happy to entertain them with the help of the investigative team as is typical for us of late this this qualifier is is uh it's a very clean report well done report there are no issues of concern as far as i'm concerned i'm concerned and i'm happy to support this recommendation thank you commissioners thank you i'll add a comment in in addition to um to the perspective from commission or camera that i'm familiar with miss hendrix from her work as an analyst to the licensees i often listen in or um read the transcripts for the analyst's call and in her role as as an analyst as as an analyst for barkleys she's often called upon to ask some of the tougher questions of the gaming operators and that includes in our case all all all gaming um licenses that we have because all three are all the companies so um i'm sure she will do very well in her role and it's also great to see some additional uh women at very high any further questions for kate commission or brian you're all set kate excellent report um you do need a vote today i do yes uh madam chair i'm happy to move uh that the commission issue a positive determination of suitability to felicia ray hendrix and her capacity is executive vice president and chief financial officer depend national gaming second okay okay commission camera hi commissioner o'brien hi commission is in a go hi night vote yes 40 thanks vivian um dr lightbound elix are you on okay can you hear me now i can i can hear you but unfortunately i can't see you today huh yeah yeah unfortunately i had um some computer problems i've been keeping the it environment very busy today so i apologize for that are you wearing no i'm at plain ridge but um i'm um yeah so that um it could meet me at plain ridge and and um uh take care of my computer for me so thanks thanks i appreciate them but thank you yes exactly you can operate without them exactly so um you have um item number nine and i know that chad's gonna gonna help you i do see chad and alex it was great seeing you on on sunday no yeah was it yeah sunday sunday right um it was great seeing you uh and appreciated uh the uh the many introductions you made and also i was learned a whole lot from you so thank you so um how do you want to go about this from the phone just yeah so um if i could briefly acknowledge the races on sunday that would be great and then i'll turn it over to Todd i mean to chad sorry oh yeah we had a great uh spirit of mass day and we wanted to thank um the commissioners and executive director for coming down um steve and his racing staff did an excellent job um with putting on the performance and the horseman did a wonderful job as well it's definitely a um group effort if everyone pitching in and um i wanted to acknowledge our mgc racing staff who um once again um you know there's a lot of licensing that day and a lot of other things that go into it and um we hope to talk about it more on our august um meeting on the with the commission at that point and with that i'll turn it over to chad and that's when ppc will be doing its quarterly report correct no that was today so they you're gonna do they they didn't really do the details today so right next okay that would be great yeah we'll have steve o tool come in oh okay thank you all right chad yes thanks alex and good afternoon madam chair and commissioners um so today is uh we have the quarterly local aid ending june 30th and again local aid is payable to each city in town where racing operations are conducted um the rate is is determined or the amount is determined by um using a rate of 0.35 percent times the handle from the quarter that ended six months prior to the payable date um so with that said using handles from october november in december of 2020 um the city of boston would receive 126 845 dollars and 91 cents the town of plainville 29 133 and four cents town of random 21 304 and 63 cents and the city of revere would receive 63 422 dollars and one cent the grand total is 240 705 dollars and 59 cents and the the breakdown and details are are in the packet and this does ask for a vote thank you any questions for chad or for alex as always very organized chad um thank you so much i'm commissioner karen yes i'm happy to move i think you may have frozen you should authorize the local aid quarterly distribution payments to can you hear you're freezing a little bit you're freezing a little bit gail can you hear me now yeah okay so i i moved that the commission authorized the local aid quarterly distribution payments to the city of boston the town of plainville the town of random and the city of revere and the amounts reflected in the memorandum included in the commissioners package and it's discussed today second okay any questions i'll set commission all right commissioner cameron i commissioner o'brien i commissioner zuniga i vote yes four zero vivian thank you okay alex you're all set then i've wanted i needed you to speak so i could find you thank you um thank you and thanks again on sunday looking forward to that report next meeting and now um director griffin can i give us an update thank you yes this is a short update but um i i hope alex will stay around it's really to celebrate the good news the hb 3976 an act extending simulcasting and horse racing authorization was signed by the governor on tuesday so as you all know um you know the live racing season at plainridge park casino can continue and simulcasting at plainridge suffictowns wonderland and rainham will also continue and this saves many jobs associated with all those industries so we can all celebrate and um then the other update um oh and i know i want to acknowledge all the work that the commissioners did to support and follow this bill along the way um you know as you remember the commissioners signed on to and and we sent several letters along the way to to let the legislatures know that this was important to us and to the industry and then the other update regarding sports betting a lot of this was in the news but the house passed hb 3993 and that's the house version of the sports wagering bill and that was passed last thursday and then grossed on the 23rd and this is the redrafted version of representative k-hills bill that was reported out favorably by the joint committee on economic development and emerging technologies and further changed by the house ways and means committee there were 12 amendments to the bill and um we're digging in and and following those um this bill has been sent to and received by the senate ways and means committee on monday of this week um additionally the um joint committee on economic development and emerging technologies um also reported out um the senate the senate version of the bill which is senator lessers bill s 269 to the senate and this was referred to the senate committee on ways and means right now there's no timeline on when the senate will debate their bill but ultimately we expect a single product from a conference committee when the house and senate sit down to to agree on a single bill so that is my brief debate and we'll continue to watch these developments play out so thank you questions for jill that was good news jill um and uh and timely and and smooth and easy and a lot had to do with yours and and crystal's shepherding that and of course todd and team um and they don't making sure that we were um addressing the the issues so thank you um it was just as it should work it was it was so nice to be able to report good news the signing came right before this meeting so well thank the governor for that as well all right um so that's the last item um um i have one item that falls under either the chair didn't reasonably expect to um address or a commissioner update uh so i need a couple minutes for that is there um do any of you have an update well i was just gonna mention um one aspect of um the bill that was passed by the house and i already alerted the staff and they were already working on these and and i i guess jill already alluded to this one amendment creates a limited slot machine license um and for veterans organizations and i think it's incumbent upon us to do some research and explain that potentially to to the to the legislature especially on just the number of um organizations that may qualify for this as they take it up and either reconcile it or incorporate it in the senate version and what that may mean for for the market and um you know and uh for the logistics of you know monitoring that those those slot machines if they wish to um go further with this aspect but that was my my comment okay karen i'll have you follow up with commission zuniga and jill on that okay and see how you want to coordinate that okay my update is this um uh as as as people are aware uh commissioner cameron has been um involved more deeply than than all of us but there is a plan to have an international gaming conference arrive um in boston uh week of september 12th around there um we did have some requests that uh from the organization to use some of our internal resources and with that um the um the contact of the ethics commission and we did receive some guidance from the ethics commission um i'm uh i'm just giving my notes um one second um todd and and karen have been apprised of this um the issue at hand is whether or not we can use state resources to um to support this important conference that's coming in and um that includes time used by staff and uh time used if we were to uh include um when i say time used by staff are the incidental things we would do as one would always do as a host agency for this kind of a industry conference to support them either boots on the ground the day of the conference or the days of the conference or supporting communications delivery deliverables or um any any sort of um support we use including doing presentations so that's and and if and if we did more by supplying um more formally services and we did receive some guidance on that from the ethics commission todd's aware of it and the reason why i'm bringing it up today is that if we are going to go further um and do that it's my understanding todd you can correct me if i'm wrong that we would need to ascertain a determination from our appointing officials if we are going to use um um state resources uh i'm afraid if we don't address this in today's meeting and this is why i've brought it up that time is going to keep on ticking and um um we we we may it may become harder to properly support this organization i want to be clear too that karen will be sending around and email sorts but she does need to recuse herself in these matters because she is the proud member of afforded directors of one of the organizations that's part of um that's coming forward so um we we we have some decision making to do as a commission and i thought todd we put it on today maybe a figure out at wednesday's agenda setting meeting that um whether we need to convene an additional meeting uh to address this need for appointing official or if there could be documentation prepared for our review we we might want to discuss i just don't know um if the you know the commissioners all would want to proceed but i think we do need to have todd you you give the commissioners some guidance and that they anticipate that you're going to um to provide that guidance i the reason why i really thought about this for today's meeting is that they asked for a promotional video and uh to promote they need some time in advance of the of the event and so it occurred to me we probably need to resolve this sooner than later in order to um to to be able to help them on any kind of promotional activities that they want um and um i also know that there was there were some other issues that need to be resolved on this so i'm asking todd and i asked commissioner brian to sort of support uh figuring this out there's also going to be some questions around or resolution needed around the attendance and all of that but with respect to the ethics guidance i i wondered if commissioner brian and commissioner and general counsel grossman could could take these initial steps so that really it's it's a matter of timing i want to make sure that the conference that we you know that we are helpful to the conference and that time doesn't take five commissioner uh cameron um this all kind of came to this and we really discussed this late yesterday so i thought i would take the um the opportunity to mention it today any questions todd are you all set then yes i'll certainly uh circulate the advice and reach out to each commissioner individually coordinate with commissioner brian um on this one right it's my understanding that they are looking for support sooner than later so um if we're going to if we do need in fact to get that clearance from our pointing officials that's a little bit of a delay so there's a little bit of an urgency um as to next steps okay that's my matter yeah i look forward to hearing how it applies to me individually from from todd um given my current oh i think it's on the use of the commission's resources state resources whether we can we can author i think that's how i read it as opposed to an individual conflict just if um can we use state state resources and if i'm reading it correctly and i may have misread it um todd that's why we need your guidance what steps need to be taken in order to you know um you know if we want if if if there was a suggestion that maybe we hire an independent contractor to help support the separate and that may all make sense but we might need to uh address some initial ethics thresholds so it's commission assets that's why i'm wondering if we need to reconvene at a future meeting for a quick vote which we know we can do we're nimble and we want to make you know we want to be helpful so um i'm raising it and maybe that we don't um need to but i just thought that um that was a threshold issue and it might require us to reconvene even if it's a very short meeting understood that makes sense okay yes yeah i don't think individually uh commissioners and against it's it's it's like unless um yet i don't think i saw those concerns for us todd does that make sense and then yeah i i oh sorry go ahead go ahead no i was just going to say we're you know we we received the advice recently we're still making sure to review it very carefully and we'll be in touch very shortly yeah and the urgency is i woke up in the middle of the night saying that they're looking for their promotional um material and they don't necessarily know that um we have a hold on that pending resolution of this of these um questions so um we want we want to help them promote but we want to just do it in accordance with whatever requirements i don't think they're taxing requirements okay all right so um maybe by wednesday we'll have a little bit more clarity on that and whether or not we have to set up a meeting or something for our agenda setting all right um anything else i just want to point out that we do have people to celebrate their honors um and that includes commissioner zuniga uh who is recently honored we are looking forward to doing that at our next public meeting when um director vandalin is back from his big bike ride okay anything else i think so okay do i have a motion to adjourn i move to adjourn second thank you commissioner cameron i commissioner o bryan hi commissioner zuniga hi and i vote yes four zero excellent meeting today thank you and again there's an akisha thank you so much and jill um it was fun vetting you we're looking forward to what day is the town hall caron that was sorry next friday the sixth Friday the sixth excellent thanks so much everyone thanks hi thank you