 again. All right, we'll get started today. Now that we're streaming live, I'll need a role called Commissioner Cameron. I am here. Commissioner O'Brien. I am here. Commissioner Hill, there you go. Okay, we're all set then to proceed with public meeting number 365. And really a continuing conversation with Chief Skinner. Good afternoon. And thank you again, Nakeshia for joining us again on this matter. Good afternoon, Chair and commissioners. Yes. So this is take two for this item. Excuse me. On-car Boston Harbour's request for amendment of its gaming beverage license. So at last Thursday's meeting, I had a request for conditional approval. But Commissioner Hill wisely said no. So I'm back today with a with a request for full approval. So to recap, Encore is opening its Black Tier Lounge tomorrow, December 22. And the lounge is a new concept at Encore. The space is going to be dedicated to their Black Tier win rewards members. It's in the space formally occupied by Garden Lounge, which is currently licensed. They plan to have complimentary food and beverage service in the space, along with bar top video poker machines rendering the space part of the casino floor. Excuse me. The issue last time was that there was some minor construction needing to take place still. Since last Thursday, Encore completed those construction issues, and were set to have a final inspection done by IEB. And IEB has given its full approval of the space, the surveillance system and the alcohol storage plans. And Luis Lizano, who's the senior supervising gaming agent, he's present for this meeting. And Bruce's absence in case you have any questions about his inspection. Alcohol beverage service hours will be between 8am and 4am. As Commissioner O'Brien pointed out last time, the materials in your packet indicate that the operating hours are between 2pm and 12am, Sunday through Thursday, and between 2pm and 2am Friday and Saturday. Encore will need to test the demand for the space so they'd like the flexibility to extend their operating hours as they see fit and provide, providing the license for the maximum time would enable them to do that without seeking commission approval at a public meeting. And so that's why 8am to 4am is referenced on the application attachment. Can I ask, Akisha, the concern I had with that was sort of the one was the inconsistency which you just addressed. And the other was the alcohol is supposed to be keyed in to the gaming. And I know they've got terminals or whatever they're going to be in this area. And maybe, Lewis, maybe you can speak to this, but is there a way that we know that those are going to be up and running, that there's going to be some way of checking that the people actually qualify in terms of who can get alcohol service from two to four? Like if they're closing it to, is there going to still have to be some sort of review by IEV to make sure that they want to continue to do that, that whatever the mechanisms are they use for the main floor in terms of the two to four alcohol service can also be followed and checked into the gaming agents. So I think my next point will address your question, but if not, please let me know. The second to last bullet on the attachment to the application talks about automatic disabling of the alcohol service buttons. So those will correspond, the shutting the automatic disabling of those buttons will correspond with the closing hours. So whether that's 12am, 2am, or 4am. No, I stopped up freezing my question correctly, but we had a lot of conversations about when we initially voted to allow them to go from the two to four period rather than having to stop alcohol service at two, that there was, you know, we talked about what the process was in terms of making sure people don't kind of come into the area to just get alcohol service that weren't already on the floor at two. And so I guess my question is probably more for Lewis, I guess than you, Nakisha, is because it's sort of in a separate space, is there any concern at all in terms of making sure that they're complying with that portion of the alcohol beverage license that allows two to four service connected to gaming? I can talk a little bit about that. I don't see too much of a concern. There will be currently there aren't any slot machines in there. The slot machines are on back order, but when they're installed, I think that will be the visual. So if somebody is gaming, that's how you know they'll be able to be served or not. So they'll have to be only seated at, I assume not every seat has one of these terminals that will be at it. Yeah, there'll be eight. I'm sorry. No good. There'll be eight slot machines on the bar top. Okay, so only those eight seats would be the ones that could actually serve two to four once they're installed. Yes. And Commissioner O'Brien, if I can can jump in, you know, the monitoring of this would be performed in the same way as the two to four monitoring on the main floor, which there's some ability to real time monitoring both in place and remotely through surveillance and after the fact, monitoring through surveillance. So we will work with the team as this new venue opens to add that piece to the routine monitoring that the agents have on their list. Is this set off from the rest of the normal flow sort of at that hour? In Lewis, you can probably describe better, but it is on the second floor to remember where the garden cafe was. So it is different. It is a different area. You know, one of the inspections that Lewis performed was a camera coverage area. You know, for exactly that purposes, I think you're getting at. Yeah, just to add on that, to be able to enter the new VIP area, you would have to go through the Highlanded Slot area. That'll be the only entrance point. If you are familiar with the curving escalators, if you go up the curving escalators, it's the previous location was on the right of the curving escalators when you went up on the second level. But as they now constructed, they put up a about a three and a half foot fence to prevent people from entering that area from the curving escalators. The fence made out of I'm sure it's prettier than I'm picturing in my head. It's nicer than any fence I would put up at my house. All right, thank you. So unless there are any more questions, this will require a vote. So any any questions in terms of the completion of the work, Brad, anything that you have for the future, you're all set. But as Chief Skinner has pointed out, we, they do anticipate tomorrow still as they're opening. So we do need about to move forward. Drive a motion. None of us have our documents open. Todd, can you provide the commissioners with motion so they have it handy? It would have been in the packet. I think I have a poll. I have it, Madam Chair. I don't know who just said that. Karen? Yeah, so I don't know if you want me to read it and someone can. I have it as well. I have it as well. I'm happy to make the motion. And it's different because that one is has the conditional part, Gail, but you just do it without the conditional part. Yes. I'm looking for the committee. I don't see it. As we're looking for that, Nikisha, I had one other question for you in terms of the so that the end of business hours being 12 or two, but the authorization to serve alcohol two to four, is that rectified? Or is that inherently authorized for them to change that once they come, they have to go back to IEB or it's my it's my understanding that a vote to approve the amendment would allow the service for those hours between two and four should on core decide a later date that they want to extend their operating hours. Would they have to come back though and just ask for an amendment to the face of it for the hours or is that once we vote to approve? I think that I would that question to Loretta, I'm not sure what whether that's required under under there. Is that ministerial in it or would they have to come back and just ask for some sort of correction? No, I just have to email to Gail, I think it's a I have it as well. I don't think they need to come back. I think it's inherent in and allows them to respond to, you know, business over business needs. So if they if they were to change other ones that they have the license for change the hours of operating, the service of alcohol didn't line up with their hours of service, that's not a concern that we have, right? Well, the license allows them to go on this on this venue allows them to go to to for with the restriction that actively gaming. No, I guess I just it's more a ministerial question I have, which is the hours, the stated hours of operation don't line up with the alcohol service. So it seems like it's fine if those if there's a disconnect there, given the underlying authority to serve. Is that what I'm hearing? Yes, that's my understanding. Yes, that's our operational approach. I just wanted to make sure we didn't need to clean something up. OK, great. Thank you. So, Madam Chair, I'm happy to make that motion at this point. I move that the Commission approve the request submitted by Encore of Boston Harbor to amend its gaming beverage license to add a new licensed area referred to as the Black Tier Lounge in accordance with the terms outlined in the submission contained in the commissioners packet with the approvals that were discussed here today. Second. For the discussion, Mr. O'Brien, you're all set. Your questions have been answered. Yes. OK. Mr. Cameron. Aye. Mr. Hill. Aye. And I went out of order. Like a drum roll, like you expect me to do something. I'm here and I and I vote yes to it's interesting. I you're the four of us are in a quarter. And I think I just went clockwise and my mind is working in a certain direction at 401 p.m. here. So that takes care of that piece of business. Thank you, Nakeshah, for following up on that. And to Lewis, thank you for for chiming in today. I don't know if you've had the chance to meet Commissioner Hill. I can't remember if Lewis, if you've met him yet formally. I have not. I did. I did hear you made a visit to Encore and I was, unfortunately, away on vacation when you made your visit. And I look forward to meeting you in person to Commissioner Hill. Me as well. Thank you. Thank you, Lewis, and happy holidays. Do we have any commissioner updates right now? OK, I think we do have a matter that has arisen today. We couldn't recently anticipate this matter, but it does relate to Governor Baker's adviser that he issued with respect to the the ongoing challenges of the pandemic. And so I want to turn this matter over to Director Wells and Director Lillianos. Thanks. Thank you. So as you know, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Department of Public Health issued an advisory and the governor made that announcement. So Loretta, I don't know if you want to sort of go over the provisions, but the advisory has to do with Mac with masks and face coverings. And it now is issued an advisory that all residents, regardless of vaccination status, wear a mask or face covering when indoors and not in your own home. So that has some implications for the casinos. We should probably talk about our own staff and what's going on in our other offices in particular Boston. But maybe I can talk, turn it over to Loretta. She has, I think, reached out to the casinos or is going to reach out to the casinos to confirm their compliance with this as an advisory, what that would mean. Sure. Thanks. Thanks, Karen. So the advisory was issued today this morning. As Karen mentioned, it talks with talks about mask wearing. The first part of the it's a two page advisory. The first part of the advisory talks about urging everybody to get vaccinated and boosted because vaccination provides the most effective protection from severe illness from COVID-19. And then the advisory goes on to talk about in response to the spread of the Delta and Omicron variants. The Department of Public Health now advise that all residents, regardless of vaccination status or mask or face covered when indoors and not in your own home and the advisory goes on to particularly urge this recommendation for vulnerable individuals and people who are living with vulnerable individuals. The three casinos are under a directive from the Commission with respect to any advisories from the Department of Public Health to make those advisories known to patrons. And in that vein, I have reached out to the three properties, made sure they were aware of the advisory and reminded them of their obligation to adjust their communications plan, their signage, their website, their social media and to include this particular advisory. Of course, they've been through this type of drill before. They are well in tune to know how to do that. You know, I sent that communication, I don't know about our hour and a half ago or so, and they will get back to the IEB and notify the IEB when they've completed that. I have the expectation that they will do that promptly. Questions for Loretta on that. Did everybody get a chance to review the advisory? I think that got distributed to you, Loretta. So I know the mask mandates are done in municipality by municipality. And the last time I looked, none of the towns where the casinos are located had indoor mask mandates. Is that still the case? Or has anything changed since this DPH advisory came up? No, nothing has changed. Previously, Springfield did have a mask mandate that was lifted some time ago. I frankly can't remember exactly when it was lifted. So there are no mask mandates at this moment in any of the host communities. And are there policies in terms of the various casinos? Can you remind me again what the employee masking requirements are at the different casinos? Yeah, so we went over this last week. Let me pull it up again so that I can accurately tell you that. So bear with me for just a moment. I just opened some notes from our meeting on December, but it was December COVID notes from December 2020. So we've been at this for a while as we all. And the notes would be different. Wouldn't they be, has evolved and evolved and evolved? So let's see here. So. On court requires notification of vaccine status. OK, here we go. There and they have are continuing their practice of requiring employees to provide proof of vaccine upon receipt. Employees are issued new badges, not required to wear a mask, but they may continue to do so. And of course, they've been had a vaccine program on site with a lot of boosters given recently. MGM continues to require employees to wear a mask, regardless of vaccine status. Oh, that's actually not accurate. Salaried employees at MGM had a deadline to be vaccinated back in October. All salary team members are now fully vaccinated. New employees who have come on board in the past few months were required to be vaccinated. They do have a badging differential between vaccinated and unvaccinated unvaccinated are required to wear masks. PPC proof of vaccine status is voluntary without proof of without proof of vaccine employees must wear a mask. Just an update on MGM, Brad, correct me if you had a different impression, but it's our understanding that all employees were expected to wear masks. The president was there masked and we toured with his team and everybody did wear masks. We were not required to be both, of course, opted to wear a mask. So I don't know. I stand corrected. That was my note. And then I got confused, but that is my note. That is correct. They are still required to wear a mask, regardless of their vaccine status. Thank you, Kathy. My understanding is all of those positions are company specific. It's not anything we've mandated that they do. But it would be I wouldn't be displeased if I heard that PPC and EPH were going the way of MGM for making the employees mask, give them the advisory. And I think I sense. Yeah, I think that may be able that may be reported to you soon on at least one of the properties. I'm glad to use the advisory. Um, I apologize if I missed this. I just needed to get that liquor license signed. Did you also mention that the advisory said that vaccines and boosters were strongly urged? I believe I did read from that part, which is. I thought you had. Thank you. And again, we haven't formally addressed boosters because there hasn't been a mandate, but I think it is important for us to remind everyone that. Many ways are looking at the vaccination as a three part three series, as opposed to a booster, something extra special. Its efficacy is a million matter of the three shots. So. So, Karen, in terms of first off, Commissioner Hill, Commissioner Cameron, do you have any questions for Loretta on the gaming facilities? And the timeframe Loretta, they're going to be able to turn this over very quickly and incorporate the advice. I have every reason to think that, like I said, they've they've been through this and have turned on a dime before on this the signage of communication matters. So you wanted to address our office policy, perhaps? Yes, I think that in light of this, it's appropriate for the commissioners to have some discussion about what to do with the MGC folks. We have obviously individuals at the casinos. We also have people in a Boston office that are that are not at the casinos. We do an employee that works out of that works out of Springfield that is not not a gaming agent. So that would be incorporated in the Boston office sort of protocols. So let's I think it would be helpful to break it down and start with the casinos. Given that we need folks on site while the casinos are open, there are a couple options that we could do now, given the updated advisory from the governor. We could leave it alone and keep things as they are. We could either urge or require our own staff to be wearing masks sort of in in alignment with the recommendation from DPH. So those are sort of preliminary questions. The other thing we could think about is authorization for the either Loretta or the gaming agent, senior management team to potentially reduce staffing on site during the the height of the pandemic before there were vaccines. We had gaming agents just be on site one at a time so that they were not exposed to other people and they would be in the offices as opposed to on the floor. So my suggestion for at this point is potentially to either urge or require masks for the folks that are on site and then potentially vote to allow some discretion within the the management team over the next couple of weeks. If things, you know, monitoring how things are going and authorize them to potentially reduce staffing or take other measures to ensure the staff. So that's one piece, the casino piece. The other piece is the Boston office from this advisory. It does not limit it to public public places. We had been interpreting our offices not being a public place because we are not open to the public. We don't have the public in for meetings. We don't have public in for limited meetings. I mean, internal meetings. We don't have the public meetings there, but this advisory doesn't limit it to that. So my my thought is that we could change the policy in in the interim, say until the next meeting on January 12th and have working at the Boston office be voluntary. So people that want to come in, but that recommend or mandate the people in the Boston office, if they are going to do that voluntarily wear masks. So those are those are sort of some issues for us to discuss. It may be easier to start with the Boston office and then go back to the casinos and see what makes sense. But, you know, happy to sort of hash this out and talk this through the threat on the other members of the team. I do recognize a lot of folks will be on vacation over the holidays and we didn't work effectively remotely. So it may be that taking a pause and making this voluntary in the Boston office for the next couple weeks may make sense until we get a handle on what's going on with the variant and the public health metrics. Let's tackle the office first. I think that's a good idea. Yeah. So what Karen's suggesting is we just adopted the hybrid policy in our last meeting. In essence, you would like perhaps a temporary suspension to our next commission meeting. And but that doesn't mean that folks who and some folks do need to come to the office. I already understand that for access to your technology, but that if they came in, it would be voluntary, not fulfilling their two or three day in office commitment, but they would have to wear their mask both outside in the public space, coming to our offices as well as in the office while we're working. Is that what you're somewhat suggesting as a and I don't think that's out of line with what a lot of offices are doing already. Gail, you're not here. I agree. I had two previous meetings today where this topic came up and I did advise folks that we would have an opportunity to talk about this later today and I would make their concerns. No. So I do think that taking a pause through the holidays until our next meeting in January makes a lot of sense, a voluntary program where people can come in if they need to or wish to and others who may be feeling a bit vulnerable right now, have the opportunity to voluntarily step away and work remotely until we get through our next meeting and see what see what the situation on the ground is at that time. So I actually thought that was a good suggestion and one that I could one that I could certainly endorse. And one thing I just want to remind the team of is that the casinos have parking so folks are able to work at the casinos, the gaming agents are able to drive to the casinos, but Boston, I think a lot of our staff takes public transportation, so it's not just being in the office, which, you know, I compliment the commission for, you know, having a vaccine mandate because it makes you feel much safer at the office, but people do have to get from their homes to the office. And there are people that are taking public transportation to the Boston office to just unmindful of that. I don't have a problem with what's being suggested. We talked before the meeting started, well, family coming in and coming from all over the country. So I think taking a little breather for a couple of weeks would be the prudent thing to do. And I'd be okay with that. Actually, I've seen where people can work from home and get in the work done, and that's what we care about. It's getting done. I haven't seen any evidence to show me otherwise. So I'd be okay with the suggestion. No, I agree. I was talking to Karen about this earlier. I think it's actually the prudent course, which is to pull back in the short term, particularly given the holidays and what might be above given the behavior that's probably just naturally going to happen. So I think it's the safer way to go. Karen, can you just remind me of the date of our... Yes, so we have another commission meeting on Wednesday, January 12th. So that is one, that is just over three weeks away. It's a Wednesday. That's right. It's a Wednesday and then a Wednesday. Okay, so January 12th, and then we'll just reassess. If in fact, we'll say it continues through the 12th. Yeah. Right? Yeah. So, okay. Okay, so the other question... I wouldn't have a... I don't think you need a formal vote. It just seems that to us that you have support from the commissioners. On the... The one other question I had on the Boston office, are we going to require folks in the interim to wear masks in the office if they do come into the office on a voluntary basis? Oh, I thought that I had said yes. If they want to come in, they must wear a mask. Yeah. I would agree with that. And then if people are alone in an office, but can they take their masks off? I anticipate I'm going to get these kinds of questions. So if someone's alone and not with anyone else in an office, can they take the mask off? As opposed... And then the question is, if I'm at my work station at a queue, can I take my mask off? I would just go with the governor's policy. If you're not at home, wear a mask. Right? Yeah. Just so that you're, you know... Yep. That makes it easier. Walk in and out, and then no one's more privileged than the other. Madam chair, I don't usually disagree with you. But on this one, I intend on going in. And if I'm sitting in my office by myself, you know my health issues, wearing a mask for that long can be a problem for me. And I would want to be able to take it off if I'm by myself. If there was anybody in my office where I was to walk around, I would absolutely put that mask on. But I think I disagree with you a little bit in regards to if you're by yourself, being able to take it off. I don't know how others feel about that. But, and then again, I'm in a private office compared to a cubicle. So that may, you know, be a little different, but... And of course I respect your need for any accommodation. I guess I was trying to simplify it for Karen because of what the advisory was kind of, it was well written in that it said, unless you're at home, wear a mask indoors. And that stuck with me, Commissioner Hill, but I'm only one of four. Commissioner O'Brien and Commissioner Cameron, obviously I do think the risk is substantially reduced if we're in our offices. I just, I'm thinking almost from an equity point of view, but Commissioner Hill, whenever there's a accommodation that needs to be made for a helper, you know, and that includes mental health, we would work to accommodate that, of course. Commissioner O'Brien? I mean, it may create some inequities, although someone could maybe go to a conference room and close the door. I think if you're by yourself, if you're closing the door and not interacting with somebody, I think it would be okay to drop a mask in that circumstance. And then when you go out into the common area where there's no barriers to the ventilation that the mask should go back up. I think that's reasonable too. I think it is an advisory and our people are really smart and they have been using good sense. So that makes sense to me too, if you're alone, but obviously we wanna protect others. And if you're out in the common area with people, respecting them and protecting yourself is really the way to go. So I'm fine with that as well. I am too. So we have a consensus on that. All right, so that's helpful. So then the other question is the, obviously the state police and the local police that are in the gaming enforcement unit are their own separate entity that are required to be there, but our gaming agents need to be on site. So the question is, do we either urge or require masks on site? And then also, do we give some kind of authorization to the management team to adjust sort of scheduling and allow for some hybrid working and only have one person at a time if they determine that's appropriate. Missioners, who wants to start? Mr. Cameron, you're leaning in? Yeah, sure. I think we've done well by allowing discretion to our directors and those who are in charge of a unit of work, knowing what has to get done, knowing what it takes to get it done. And now we actually have experience, right? We have had our gaming agents working in a single capacity to get the job done and we've also had them working recently in more of the original style. So I am for providing that flexibility and really assessing what needs to be done and again, protecting our own people in the public. So if that means coming back to one agent at a time, I am in favor of allowing that flexibility. Roger, you're nodding your head? Yeah, I'm fine with that. Yeah, I agree. And then as far as the mask wearing, do you want the same rule to apply at the properties that unless you're by yourself in a room with the door closed, you should be wearing a mask? Yeah. With the time being? Okay. And then I'll put an email out to the staff today but that would be at least through January 12th and expect that to be addressed at the January 12th commission meeting. Karen, did you want to address, I think from a high level, the game sense? Yeah. I know Mark wanted that. Yes, so we spoke with Mark earlier today. Mark is going to be reaching out to the game sense team. As you know, there are contractors, our vendors for the onsite part of the responsible gaming operation. So my understanding is they are basically mirroring what the gaming commission is doing. So he'll have this information and he'll be reaching out to them, he'll encourage them to do the same thing. They're not technically our employees but they are our partners with us in keeping everyone safe on property. Any questions for Karen on this? I see no, I'll stop. Karen, is there anything else you need from us? No, I think that's it. If something comes up, I'll be reaching out, especially during the holidays, I'll still be available even on vacation time. So just keep you informed. But I think this is the smart move and it's gonna help to sort of get through this way. My hope is that we come out on the other end and get some better news in January and we'll see, but we'll update you on where we are. Okay, then I think our next matter on the agenda is respect to an executive session. Commission anticipates that it will meet an executive session in accordance with General Laws Chapter 30A, Section 21A3 to continue its discussion from December 20th in executive session relative to strategy with respect to litigation related to the confidentiality of certain documents and information as discussion of the subject that are at an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the commission. And in accordance with General Laws, Chapter 30A, Section 21A7 to evaluate a matter relative to the non-disclosure agreement between the commission and when LLC pursuant to General Laws, Chapter 23, Section 21A7 and 205CMR 139.02 as discussion of the matter in a public forum would frustrate the purpose of the statute, the regulation and agreement. In order for us to move forward into executive session, we must vote as a majority. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Thank you. Any questions, discussion for Todd? Okay, Commissioner Cameron. Aye. Commissioner O'Brien. Aye. Commissioner Hill. Aye. And I vote for zero. Thank you. I wanna make sure that the public understands that the session will not reconvene as a public session at the conclusion of the executive session. So remotely, I will end this meeting and those attending the executive session will enter into a different virtual room. I'll set top of that. Okay. Thank you everyone. We appreciate all those who just fit in today's public meeting.