 Good morning everyone and with that we We have everyone here. We'll take a roll call. Good morning commissioner Cameron. Good morning everyone. I am here Commissioner Brian. I am here Commissioner Hill President Okay, we're all set to proceed Today is January 27th, 2022 Today is public meeting number 368 We're going to get started with minutes today. Commissioner O'Brien. Yes legal team drafted Proposed minutes from January 12th, 2022 and I would move that the Commission Approved the minutes from January 12th, 2022 in the packet subject to any necessary changes for typographical errors or other non-material matters Okay Thank you. Has everyone had a chance to review them? Yes, excellent. Excellent. So any edits comments corrections? Excellent job. All right commissioner Cameron. I Commissioner O'Brien. I Commissioner Hill I 9 vote yes for zero. Thank you and thank you legal Moving on to the administrative update Karen. Good morning. Good morning, madam chair members of the Commission For the first item on the administrative update I'm going to turn it over to assistant director Bruce Bann to give you an update on what's going on at the casino Good morning. I'm sure I'll start with MGM MGM's in the process of changing their company while loyalty program and life to MGM rewards The main update to this is their branding or And the ability for debts to gain loyalty points for non gaming purchases like hotel dining and and so on They're also starting to open up under 21 access to a south end market and more amenities with families And more of the hotel is starting to open up to 24 7 access They're in the process of relocating game sense to a new and better location in the in the building There's nothing new to report at PPC On core is actually getting ready to for the grand poker reopening on January 31st With hours from Monday to Thursday from 10 to 8 p.m. And that's kind of all I have for the Any questions? Questions commissioners Bruce how many tables again are made on core how many well well, okay Actually, we did all the inspections this week and you know everything's ready to go Bruce can you remind us how many are MGM please? There are 12 12 also and and I should have I made a note I should have preserved a mental note of it. There's how many jobs were restored with the introduction of 12 poker tables. I I don't have the the exact numbers yet, which I can get those for you Right Brad I don't know if you remember on our tour at MGM, I wouldn't want to guest. Okay. Thank you. That would be great to know clearly And they're different level jobs, correct. Yes Okay, dealers and supervisors. Well, I know that the dealers have been very anxious to get back to work. So there we go excellent news Okay Yeah, quick question. Thank you. Yes, absolutely director band. Um, oh was that I'm sorry I think you may have an answer. I can tell you 50 jobs in poker at MGM. I just got a text Yeah Yeah, and I think that that does ring a bell now. I didn't dare say it. So thank you. Gail. Thank you missioner Uh, director band was that a collaborative effort to strategically move game sense or how did that come about? I I believe probably uh, mark manor one would be better one to answer that I know marcus is in here today bruce. I know because he's traveling, but I am aware. Yes That was a collaborative effort and they worked with the game sense folks and actually the game sense team was quite happy with the the Change in the move is my understanding Terrific, that's great. And obviously very good news about the south end market and the hotel increasing Times and availability. So good news. Thank you for that report You're welcome I just one more bruce in terms of the poker tables are there Are these the opening efforts with plans to ramp up or are they Unclear whether they're going to be ramping up the number of poker tables That I guess would always determine on business and you know a lot of other factors that they go, but the room looks good. It's ready to go I was out there on uh on tuesday and uh was helping louis with the inspection and I guess it kind of you know Be determined by business Do you know, do you happen to know how many poker tables are at say mohegan san or foxwoods? uh, not Not a moment yet. Okay. Thanks. You're welcome Okay, uh, so that any other questions on that for the administrative agenda So christia camry ross. I thought you were leaning in. No, I think we're all set, but excellent report bruce. Thank you Okay, so the next item on the agenda is just to touch base on the covet 19 update for the reopening of the offices so at the last commission meeting if we had presented that to the commission the commission thought the Date for reopening at this point would be february 14th because that's a monday So currently Our next scheduled public meeting is on the 10th Uh, we could if the commission so desired have an intermeeting to if that is helpful to the commission as far as Affirming that that's going to be the back to the office date on the 14th. So we certainly have flexibility with that That uh working group has been discussing the the covid policies within the office at this point We are Monitoring those to see if there are any changes based on opera operational needs or anything we need to do there So we'll be monitoring that and bringing that before the commission if there are recommended changes uh, and also the team it's particularly natasha is tracking The trends for the positivity rate for covid both in suffolk county in massachusetts as well as the hospitalizations We are seeing that things are going down and trending down which is great news So we'll be continuing to monitor those because that I expect would help inform the commission about Returning to the office and and what? Parameters you may have for in the office particularly with respect to masking so at this point, uh, we'll uh We have some flexibility when you'd like to make any determination about The sort of the final decision on the date being February 14th was as of right now. That's what we're tracking for Any questions on that? Commissioners gales. Yep. Um being part of the working group. We did talk about Really evaluating closer to the actual restarting dates. So we were really working with Current numbers and and making a good decision based on those numbers as as director well said It looks good. The trends are going in the right direction And I knew there was an internal policy issue that we were debating whether or not That needed to be adjusted. So I know that we did talk about maybe To give people certainty maybe by, you know, Thursday or something possibly having a quick meeting to really Talk about the numbers review everything and make a make a decision then and that gives people enough time to be ready To be ready That's just something we talked about. So I just wanted to put that out there is something we probably should Decide now if we wanted to have a special meeting. Um I say next thursday or so and just really um understand the numbers and and Give people real certainty about what to expect the week of the 14th Mr. O'Brien one time in I think gales summarized it accurately. We were all We want to make it on the most up-to-date information possible. Um, Which is why we've been tracking the numbers and they do they are trending in the right direction, which is great The question is how do we time our last? Some touchstone before we as a commission make a decision about whether to stick with the 14th or move it and ever mindful of people's schedules, etc I think as long as we all know there's possibility of having to call that meeting On the on the 10th or around then I think We're in good shape to stick with the 14th and then knowing we might just have to meet before then Yeah, I'm hearing I'm hearing that there may be a need For another meeting. Um, I'm you know commissioner Cameron throughout next thursday um We're pretty nimble about when we can Convene anyway, so if it's more helpful to have data even closer, you know Into the early part of the next week. I think we could do that too The um, I'm mindful of school vacation, but that's the the week of the 21st Right. Yeah. Yeah, okay, so Um, rather than set it right now, uh, commissioner Cameron, is it okay if we stay a little fluid on that? Uh, oh, absolutely. I just uh, just wanted to make sure we We were on the same page with that and what what makes the most sense to give people the For the two issues, right the one was maybe uh, readjusting an internal policy that Maybe challenging and the second one was the um, You know the the actual numbers and and really making a firm decision. So yes, we can stay fluid for sure Okay, but right now right now The expectation is February 14th, correct? Right okay, and I seem, uh Answer on the on-court they have 20 dealers and 25 supervisors as of now 20 and 25 or 25 and 25 Good dealers and 25 supervisors So 47 total. Yes Great Thank you You're welcome All right, so we'll just stay Nimble in terms of when Karen and the working group would like to convene if there's a need Okay, okay. So if there are no other questions, that's the status update for that The next two agenda items. I have our cio. It's been Katrina Jagroop-Gomes for here if there are any questions You may have but there are two policies the first one Is related to international travel and use of our it assets for international travel I'll summarize it in that these are just best practices for use of equipment and protecting our Assets and our security of our it systems. I'm going to train a few of any other comments on that But given that this is a policy because the commissioners also have Equipment and it applies to the commissioners as well It seems that it would be appropriate for the commissioners to approve the policy and then you could go ahead and implement that as effective Any any questions or any Need for a further explanation from Katrina You know are they written right now to apply to the commissioners or do you need to add that in is that part of our vote? I think it just sort of is very general so it doesn't specifically say commissioners, but given that It should well users Yeah Users yeah for the um for the first one and the second one. I wasn't sure if it applied We're only looking at the international travel right now. So we'll go through this individually. Yes So the users so if any of us are taking our equipment internationally, this would apply to all of us um Has everyone had the chance to review it? Yep And and just to share in some instances you may not be able to take equipment depending on the risk rating of the country And I just want to recognize kevin gaffer. Oh, he's done a fantastic job He's our senior converge engineer and he's been diligently working on all of our security policies including the two that are in front of you commissioners and The this particular policy is really driven From a couple standpoints one the data protection of You know of the mgc resources and assets and that includes data pii Any type of materials that will be taken also due to the high risk Of allowing connections outside of the us Not just mgc, but a lot of the other agencies are also doing Or executing similar policies or have already done so And so these risk ratings are really assigned by data and security privacy of the country that you're connecting from And there is a list that's currently updated Through multiple resources the us department of state the department of treasury and foreign assets control the fbi and the office of national intelligence So these are really well vetted For the risk ratings Questions or comments for katrina and kevin I have a couple um How much time and I can't remember if it's in the policy kevin Do you need notice if for if folks are traveling abroad? Really requested I think two weeks in the policy Okay, it is in there. Thank you. So you need you need some time. So that's an important um an important um They can't do it overnight guys, right? Um, and then my second isn't really a question. It's a comment Kevin you do superb work and um, it's reflected in the the policy the format of It the clarity of it. I know you have a great team and a meter in katrina, but um It's excellent work and I just really appreciate it. So thank you Okay So I think a vote will be appropriate at this point Any further questions or comments? Do I have a motion commissioner hill I would move that the commission adopt the international travel policy relative to it equipment As included in the commissioner's packet Second Thanks commissioner o'brien. Um commissioner cameron. I commissioner o'brien I commissioner hill I And I vote yes. Thank you excellent now. We move on to the um the trend So security awareness training and testing and this is I would like to compliment the it team on this as well Very comprehensive training and testing policy. This is our basically our internal mechanism to ensure that people are Doing what they need to do to keep our it assets in our system safe As katrina has explained to me that One of the greatest risk is just error people doing things they shouldn't be doing So training and testing is the way to address that risk So you'll see there is a comprehensive Set up for the training and the testing With respect to commissioners it basically includes the commissioners in in that In that those procedures and the training and testing. However, we did at note where it comes to the schedule of failure penalties specifically with commissioners for We there is no authority that the agency has over commissioners that's guided by statute and the appointing authority So we just wanted to reference that So I have um, you know katrina available for any specific questions on the Policy itself. I don't know if any comments on the policy that's similar to the other policy. We will be for vote to adopt it Yeah, of course. Um, I just want to clarify. So this is holistic security Not just technology or data or systems. This includes pii this includes Paperwork or materials or access to our facilities. So it is pretty robust. It's security, you know from multiple facets And the training does cover all of those elements and the program also will include social engineering exercises So there will be phishing exercises Um Testing of our employees because we want to make sure that this is a high priority for them And they're always conducting or doing their work in the appropriate manner. And so they will be Intermittently assessed at no regular period Uh, so to keep us on our toes Did everyone have the opportunity to review appendix a? Now I'm scrolling to that but so the good news there's lots of opportunity to fail But not endless but not endless. Well, yeah, I was thinking I hope it never gets to the point where you're on Violation After having this training. I do think it's really good that we're Adopting us practices here with both of these issues. But I when I looked at those violations I was like, wow, I hope it never gets to that. I'd be embarrassed if I ever got to the fifth violation Well, if anyone gets to level seven where they have to meet with Katrina, they're in trouble. Well, absolutely But but there's an opportunity still that's the good news. So But I I think commissioner cameron appreciated my pointing it out. It's a significant It's a really significant policy in training, right? So um, and I think the the good news From that schedule is that it's okay if you fail But there's going to be continuing training that comes with it. So um In other words, don't freak out yet, but really pay attention during the training, right Katrina. Yes Yeah, it's important because there will be a quiz later Stunting it's actually really um, it's a really good reminder because it's happening in in in Throughout our lives, right? Not just in our professional lives. So it's really really important training um You know, I I um, I wasn't teasing when I pointed out appendix a because I did think it was important for everyone to understand that you know there will be ongoing testing and It's important. So thank you But you need to vote on this as well and and I presume everyone had a chance to really look at it commissioners Do I have a motion? Madam chair, I move that the uh commission adopt the security awareness training and testing policy is included in the commissioners packet Second thanks commissioner. Okay any questions edits Mr. Cameron I Mr. O'Brien I Commissioner hill I And I vote yes. Thank you. Excellent work. Um Katrina to you and your team kevin. Thank you so much So that concludes the administrative update chair. I'm chair. So I'll turn it back to you for the next agenda item Okay, I think we're turning to dr. Lightham next. Um, good morning, dr. Lightman. You have multiple Um items for us today Always always interesting good morning So our first item is the city of boston's new um be together vaccination requirement. It meant in effect on january 15 and um Chip tuttle coo or suffolk downs Approach me about it when it came out um to let them know they would be complying with it um, it uh requires a first vaccine um by Uh january 15th. It's a phased in program. So by february 15th a patron coming in or an employee would need to have their second vaccine um the requirements for the business that's involved um is that they post the um information about it at their entrance And that they check the people as they come in um suffix doing that with their staff with security present um chip Has been monitoring it and has said that so far they're really haven't been issues. They've um had to turn right away um a handful of people The um Program allows for either a paper copy of your vaccine or digital copies. Um, it's all on the city website it's very clearly um put out exactly how you can um show your that you've been vaccinated They also have a be together vaccine app that you can um access on their website And put your vaccine on that to be able to show it to whatever businesses you're going into uh, let's see They also have an equitable um Implementation guidance on their website To help the businesses be sure that they aren't discriminating against anybody um, you know regarding um race national origin disability gender, um, etc and um coo title has uh Said that his um employees are all aware of that as far as um implementing that program um chip is on the um phone line if anybody has any uh further questions for Um Questions for um dr. Lightbound or um mr. Tuttle who's available Commissioner hill you all set Okay All right, very thorough. Thank you. Um, when you mentioned the website were you only talking about boston's website Yes, it's the um city of boston and boston.gov And it's one of the first items right when you pull that page up Great. Thank you I think you're we're all set on that. Do you want to move on then to the unpaid winnings? Okay, our next items um are regarding the unclaimed tickets and just a reminder that if somebody purchases a ticket of one of our tracks They have a year from the year that that ticket was purchased to cash that in And so what we're looking at now are tickets that were purchased in 2020 They become eligible at this point in uh 2022 and also just a reminder that 2020 was the first year of the pandemic Where we were actually shut down with racing for You know several months. So um the numbers are are a little lower than what we would see but Would primarily be due due to the less betting At the facilities during that time so Chad Bork our senior financial analyst has reviewed these numbers. Um, they've been he has verified with members of each of the tracks that his numbers Are in sync with what they have and so for um plane ridge the amount that Is due to come back to the commission is 93,620 and eight cents and this does require a vote Thank you. Uh Chad for your work. Good morning. Um, and dr. Lightbound is looking for a vote on and we'll do this One at a time Are there any questions with respect to just the the issue about the unpaid winnings? Commissioner hill, I'm not sure if you've seen this before but you I am well aware of it and ready to move forward. Okay. Do you have a motion for us? I move that the commission approved the amount of 93 620 and eight cents as the unclaimed winnings from the calendar year 2020 at plane ridge park as described in the memorandum in the commissioners packet And discussed today and further that upon receipt of the funds The cfao be authorized to deposit such funds into the purse account at plane ridge in accordance with chapter 128 a section five a second Any questions? We didn't really go over the um deposit issue Any questions on that? Okay, excellent um And i'm i'm sorry A commissioner cameron you seconded right? Okay, thank you. I did okay commissioner cameron I commissioner bryan I commissioner hill Hi, and I felt yes. Thank you So the next amount is for suffix downs and that amount is 90 864 and 66 cents And in this case it would go back. Um, it comes to the commission, but the um for efficiency purposes it would then go um back to sterling suffix correct so, um the Amounts come to the commission and then once the commission receives them they go back out for the two horse tracks those amounts go into the purse accounts of the tracks and then The amounts since there is no ray hound racing purse account anymore The legislature had created the ray hound racing stabilization fund And anything that would go into a purse account goes into that account now So the monies from wonderland and ranum would go back into the race uh grayhound stabilization fund. Yeah So for the one before us right now suffix and then That amount the 90 000 dollar amount that goes Right back to The racetrack. I mean right back to sterling is to suffix Into the purse account into the purse account. Yeah, it's a separate. Yeah. Yeah Fund Madam chair, I'm uh, I move that the commission approve the amount of 90 864 and 66 cents as the unclaimed winnings for calendar year 2020 at sterling suffix race course As described in the memorandum and the commissioners packet and discussed today And further uh upon receipt of the funds the cfao will be authorized to deposit such funds into the purse account at sterling suffix suffix suffix rather in accordance with chapter 128 a section 5a excellent second Thank you Any questions commissioner kim I commissioner o'brien I commissioner hill I And I vote yes Now we're on to the grayhound Yes, so the amount for wonderland is $1,740 and two cents and Does need a vote Can I just so Is the other more than one racing stabilization funds or is the only one we pay money into The grayhound The only one is the grayhound stable is racing stabilization fund. Yes But what happened was when grayhound racing ended there Was no more need for a purse account. And so They legislature made a separate account. They they have not done that With reds at this point. So that money is still going into A thoroughbred purse account Okay, thanks. It's per statue all of it Yeah So again the wonderland amount is um $1,740 and two cents Do I have a motion Uh, certainly madam chair. I moved that the commission approved the amount of $1,740 and two cents as the unclaimed winnings from calendar year 2020 at wonderland as described In the commissioners packet and discussed here today and that further a promise ceded the funds that the cfa We authorized to deposit such funds into the racing stabilization fund. Okay Thank you Any questions on that? Okay, commissioner cameron. I Commissioner o'brien I commissioner hill I And I vote yes for zero and finally And just to clarify because we got a little bit ahead of ourselves where um, we won't need to do the authorization now For the cfo to go ahead and pay these out because you guys are voting on that as you do the individual tracks but the reason why we did that was um, because Originally, we would have to come back After the tracks had submitted these amounts to us Then we would come back in front of the commission And ask for a vote to send those out to the purse accounts and the greyhound stabilization fund and last year we asked the commission if they would be amenable to Voting on it at the meeting at this time of year. So the finance department could go ahead and do that So that that's um, how that all came about So now i'll just go ahead and ask for The random amount is uh, 117,920 dollars and 92 cents Any questions for dr. Lightman or chad? Okay, then i'll have a motion on that one, please Madam chair. I moved that the commission approved the amount of 117,920 dollars and 92 cents Is the unclaimed winnings from calendar year 2020 at random tawton as described in the memo in the commissioner's packet and discussed today And that further upon receipt of the funds at the cfo be authorized to deposit such funds into the racing stabilization fund second questions commissioner cameron. I commissioner o'Brien I commissioner hill I And I vote yes. Thank you for zero Great work. And I then and the efficiency is clear. So thank you um Dr. Light down on that Now we're going to go to item 4f Alex and that also will be prior of vote Um, oh, I guess it's all part of it. It's all part of the way the way they wrote the um Yeah, the agenda. Yeah, that's already been included. So yeah, but I I should have just read through rather than Jumped just a letter. Thank you. So we're all set on your Your business of the day Yeah, very efficient very efficient as crystal imagined. So thank you. Um, Dr. Light down in in Mr. Cork always excellent work. Thank you so much. Thank you um Now we're turning to um mark. I understand this traveling So we have Marie Claire. Good morning It's uh, is that correct caring Marie Claire. Um, thank you. That's correct. Sorry. Okay. I wanted to make sure mark wasn't uh, phoning in or anything Um, good morning, Marie Claire. It's so nice to see you Good morning, Ted. That's fine. Good. Good to see you. Good morning, commissioner Um, so today we'll be releasing a public safety report assessment of the casino's impacts on operating under the influence or ui and or ui involve traffic collisions by christopher bruce Um, it's just a bit of a refresher. Why do we do this work and why it's important? Going back to the legislature section 71 of the expanded gaming act directs the commission to develop an annual research agenda to understand the social and economic impacts of casino gambling in the commonwealth Included in this agenda is an understanding of the relation between gambling and levels of crime Shortly after plain-reach park casino open, we've been tracking public safety impacts including crimes called for collision and Call for service and collision of our three licensees and a regular basis And one area that we and supported by jpax the gaming policy advisory committee Thought that deserve further attention Was the examination of the relation between the presence of casinos in massachusetts and operating under the influence Which is a specific way of looking at public safety impacts And christopher bruce who has done all of our public safety work today prepare this report Um, christopher bruce is a professor of criminal justice at house and university in vanguard may He's also a career crime analyst with previous service at the cambridge police department and the danvers police department He has been working as a crime analyst Consultant with the mgc since 2015 and has done incredible work Christopher is moving forward to other opportunities. And so this is his last project with the mgc And as mentioned mark is away today, but he wanted to extend his deep gratitude for all the work that christopher has done Christopher helped us build a solid foundation of public safety research and build a system for us to Ungoingly examine public safety impacts in massachusetts He filled a baseline understanding of public safety before the casino started operations and did regular follow-up This work is unprecedented and there really isn't a model anywhere in the us to do this type of work But christopher build that system and work closely with the commission With law enforcement agencies and with the research review committee to produce a total of 14 reports for us so far So christopher, we are very grateful for all your work And uh now i'll pass it over to christopher to present the findings of this report and then Open the floor for the the commissioners for any questions or anything else they would like to say to christopher Adam chair before christopher starts going to add a few comments to To the the very nice introduction that we gave to christopher As as marie clam mentioned this is the last project that christopher will be working with the commission and I just want to just Especially for commissioner hill This was a challenge when we started how do we because it requires all the police chiefs to work collaboratively to provide their data In order for us to analyze it and really figure out what's going on first as a baseline and then as as the casinos continued year after year to to build and um, you know, we put I remember our first meeting at plain ridge and You know meeting I set up the meeting with the police chiefs and it was an ask of them Can you help us with this? It's never been done before in the united states and one of the police chiefs at plain ridge Said look this is a tough one, but I know this crime analyst. I trust him which is critical for police chiefs and Jesus maybe he'd be willing to work with us. So that's how we got to this bruce and We're successful in building this entire program that as marie claire pointed out has never been done in the united states I was at a conference early on out in las vegas Where christopher presented and they said how the heck did you get the chiefs to buy into turning over their data? and And I said look we hired a crime analyst that they trusted And it's just worked really successfully over the years and i'm very grateful to christopher for the work He's done on behalf of this commission um and The buy-in and the collaborative effort from all of our chiefs from around the state who really did care about public safety and um operating under the influence of all the issues that we researched over the years and And they worked together very very successfully and that would not have happened without christopher bruce's reputation in massachusetts and his ability to Um convince chiefs to turn over their data, which is a hard thing for a lot of chiefs to do, right? So just a big thank you for me and i've enjoyed working with him for many many years and wish him well in his next endeavors Mr. O'Brien, I know that you've worked closely with um professor bruce on on particularly Last several reports and this one in particular if you'd like to comment as well Yeah, sure. I know mark was um, you know disappointed time and worked out that he couldn't be here, but um, I second What commissioner cameron has said as she can speak certainly to the early years when I was not here, but in my time here Two of the things that really struck me about christopher were as gaol mentioned You know, so the respect and trust that he had with the police chiefs and I think Um, one of the reasons that he had that was not only the experience that he brought to the table But when watching him in the meetings that we would have in verifying the information in the draft reports um that there was No arrogance at all his desire was to get the facts correct. And so anybody in these meetings that brought up Some local information or you know twists that maybe made him go back and revisit Um, not only was he willing to use eager to because he was always Eager to make sure that what was going into these reports was accurate and helpful. So, um, I think Commissioner Cameron did a very good summary of the experience the mbc's had with him and the quality of the reports, but I for my Two cents in terms of I think part of the reason he was that successful also had to do with his dedication to making sure What was going out was accurate And I'm sorry to see him go. I know he's got other opportunities and other commitments And so I wish him well. I don't want to you know, draw out everyone's ability to hear the report in the summary on this, but Um, good luck christopher going going forward Christopher and I'll just add in Right now. This is just a great introduction for a critically important report that you're going to present in Laser foundation of you being a trusted researcher and advisor and so we appreciate All that you bring to the the gaming commission into the public on these important issues So with that we will certainly um, we have the chance at the end of your Presentation to ask questions and again congratulate you on your tenure hearing. Wish you well That commissioner hill are you all set to hear from him? Okay, excellent. Thank you and thank you marie clear Good morning Up you're on mute My apologies Up, you know what? We're having a little tech issue. So I don't see you on mute from here Um, now you're muted Try again Let's see. Um, could it be on your computer itself somehow? Did you let me try this? Can you hear me now? Yes, we can. Thank you so much. Good morning. That said microphone seems to have died. I don't know what happened there So thank you. Well, that was very very kind of you for those words and and I am Sorry to To be moving on. I think my university duties just got to be a little too time-consuming But um, oh anyway, I'll talk more about that at the end But uh today I want to talk about drunk driving, you know Uh, if you can approve it, I'll go ahead and share my screen I assume you're all seeing the title slide now Yes, and I think we'll hold our questions. Um until the conclusion of the presentation So thank you. That will be easiest for you and and for us to manage. Thank you sure, uh, so what I did for this report was to take a look at all of the indicators that We had as to the the influence of the casinos on drunk driving um, as you can see I At the end we'll talk about some of the additional datasets that I wish we had but um, I think the ones that we do have point to a A common conclusion, which was that there was a predictable and um Modest, you know increase in in drunk driving as reflected in both crashes I end arrests in Not just the the immediate communities, but within the state um and that um The specific number is consistent with what you would expect given the Volume of attendance that you you get at the these casinos So there are three major datasets that I looked at for this report One of the first of which is the least sort of reliable of them Which is agency complaints for operating under the influence when I say Complaints, I mean both arrests and and summons is Um arrests are the most common of course, but occasionally An arrest can't be made On the scene and and the person summons to court, but they're recorded essentially the same way in the the different police departments datasets The second dataset was the last drink locations as reported to um, the alcohol beverage control commission from cases that are adjudicated guilty whether by plea or by finding And the third dataset are crashes that involved in pair driving And as again of the three the first one is the least reliable and indicator of where drunk driving actually happens, but I thought it was Maybe useful just to take a look at it. So we'll see the results of that in just a second But before I got into our data, I I did spend a quite a bit of time researching what had been previously written about this subject Uh about the impact of different facilities that serve alcohol on drunk driving whether it was casino or any other facility and basically the the summary of the research is that The number of locations serving alcohol is absolutely associated with drunk driving It varies quite a bit depending on the geography And it varies depending on the type of facility you can imagine for instance a hotel bar Probably has less impact on drunk driving because many of its patrons stay there at the hotel say Than a facility that people commute some distance to and are and and they're not staying there for the for the night so Those variances are seen in the in the past literature Casinos specifically has been shown to generate drunk drunk more drunk driving trips Then existed before the casinos were built and that's particularly felt at rural casinos none of which ours really are Um But the more the more the more rural you get basically the more uh, you'd expect An increase in drunk driving to and from the casino and it's been a particular concern in Connecticut Where the two locations of its casinos? You would not Really have much reason to go to those locations except for the casino. So Since all most all of the traffic coming and going from those locations is casino related The any addition to drunk driving is going to be caused effectively by the presence of those casinos All right, so I've already covered that and basically the The research, you know, I think more should be done in this area But it suggests that about one in every 625 drunk driving trips Results in a crash and about one in every 500 drunk driving trips results in an arrest And where I think the research isn't quite finished in that in those areas is a trip isn't a great way to measure that That variable it should be very measured in road miles driven basically um, and that that's one thing That previous research just doesn't have a good handle on but it's the best we have for now and I used it to make my my estimates so Some of the other variables related to drunk driving and increases in drunk driving Are the total number of people who visit location, of course the percentage who drive to and from the location the percentage of them who drink to the point of intoxication The any efforts made by the location to curb both intoxication and driving away from the facility Well intoxicated and any efforts in general to erase awareness and conscience about the effects Of drunk driving and those can include local efforts efforts specific to the facilities as well as national and regional widespread efforts like public service announcements and so forth so essentially my my uh Thesis here is that a certain increase in the number of drunk driving trips Is essentially inevitable when you're bringing tens of thousands of people Per day to new locations that serve alcohol and so I just threw together some estimates here some of them based upon Previous research some of them based upon actual hard data Some of them just guesses and these are some areas in which some additional research could perhaps help us So, uh, the 35,000 visitors per day. I think is a reasonable estimate given on figures reported by the casinos themselves figures reported to the media and previous data research and released by segment The 75 percent of them arriving by car is just a stab By me. I don't have any idea what the actual percentage is and I don't know that's been researched at all with any type of survey The same as the percentage the drink and the percentage you become intoxicated. So those are just guesses The whole the point of it is just to see What the formula produces and then, you know, you can see as you tweak those figures how the The result changes Now if all the the other assumption is that all those variables are independent. They probably aren't Probably if you arrive by car for instance, you're less likely to become intoxicated But again, we don't have any solid research either way on that But if those things were true It would translate to about 59 000 additional drunk driving trips per year Which based on that previous research indicating how many of those would result in crashes and arrests would produce about 95 more drunk driving involved crashes per year And about 118 more drunk driving arrests per year Which are relatively consistent with what we've with what I observed in the data. They're not I didn't nail it or anything, but they're within like an order of magnitude. So I think the formula is is a reasonably good guess and the more that we research exactly What different patron behavior is how many of them do arrive by car how many of them do drink and so forth We'd be able to tweak that formula and get a more accurate estimate Um, but part of the reason I wanted to offer this is just to suggest that I don't I don't have a dog in in this fight. I don't um, it's not my job to Advocate for the casinos or against casinos, but I don't want anybody to misinterpret my work either and There's nothing in here that I intend to sort of blame the casinos Uh My thesis here is that a certain number of additional drunk driving trips is essentially inevitable when you have facilities that serve alcohol and Unless we observe a number of crashes that is significantly above What we would estimate the total to be based on on the best research Then we can say the casinos are probably operating optimally and deterring as much drunk driving As they reasonably can Uh, that might I don't sorry. That might be a controversial statement. So we'll I'll take questions about that At the end starting with the arrest data Uh It's been very erratic for for all locations really and I only have one time period for for encore and two time periods for mgm All of this data is pre-covid Uh, coven really just changed fundamentally How we drive uh, and how often we drive and It changed that drinking and driving because bars were closed for for so often for so long rather and Even after they reopened people patronage did not always rise to the previous levels so coven has so fundamentally changed the the landscape that Try to incorporate that data. I don't know that that'll be a challenge for your next Research or I suppose to figure out how best to do that So this is all pre-covid, but pranlin playbridge park Was very erratic in how arrests changed in that area after a ppc open mgm Also very erratic it started low. I went high and on core. We since I only have one time period I can only say that the arrests And summons has increased 24 Percent in the one post casino time period that we had for that location that said This again is probably the most unreliable of the data sets Inter determining the actual extent of drunk driving because it's very reactive or it's very Responsive to what police decide to do essentially so a As a police officer told me when I was very new to the job He basically said look if I want to make a drunk driving arrest between 6 p.m. And 2 a.m. I can almost always find somebody to stop an arrest and That's true in a lot of places So the number of arrests is going to be heavily influenced by how much emphasis A particular police department chooses to give to drunk driving And if they know for instance a casino is going to be built and that might increase drunk driving in the area They might be extra aware of it and they might be doing an extra enforcement And thus we'd expect the numbers to go up even if The total number of drunk drivers doesn't or we might expect the numbers to go up At a level greater than the actual number of additional drunk drivers overall That we saw an increase across the three casinos. It just wasn't consistent for all time periods And much like with with crashes which we'll look at in just a minute. I think that the The changes might be heavily influenced by the geography So for instance at plain ridge park Once you leave the casino unless you're going south you're basically on the highway and out of the area even out of the Off the roads the state police Patrol in the the official plain ridge park region within five minutes or so I mean you you're just almost immediately out of there So there's limited opportunity for a stop and arrest to take place in plain ridge park MGM is about halfway in between and on core Has a lot you have to spend more time on local roads before you get out of the region if you if you're leaving on core and thus it makes sense that The numbers would favor The casinos where the drivers have to spend more time on local roads Both for this data set and for crashes, which we'll look at in a second Now the next data set that I looked at was last drink reports And these are collected by courts again during guilty adjudications My understanding and the understanding of the abcc representative that gave me the data Is that it does only represent guilty adjudications There was a question I can't I'm sorry I don't remember from who one of the commissioners about whether they also represented Reports from continuing quaffs continuing without a finding And the abcc representative said he didn't think so But I in order to find out for sure I would have essentially have to contact each court and I don't even know who to talk to at each location So I just didn't have time before this particular report But it is maybe something worth looking at in the future if some courts are collecting the data At quaffs and others are only collecting it for guilty adjudications that would bias the results Towards the locations that are collecting more data, of course But the results are probably biased anyway based again on on where police are choosing to do the enforcement There's also going to be a bias towards large locations. I you know, and we'll see the numbers here Um So in all three time periods that I looked at TD garden had the most reports Of people having had their last drink at those locations before they were Stopped at arresting But TD garden is a you know very large facility. Uh, and so, you know, none of the state is normalized by The number of patrons It would be tough to get that data to do that type of division. Anyway So any any place that's large like TD garden gel at stadium and of course the casinos are going to be represented Fairly high on on this list Even if they they're doing their best to curb people leaving in intoxicated But anyway, you can see from this data that uh during the the Plain Ridge Park years It was number four 2015 to 2020 On the list in the years that MGM was open It was second on the list of drunk driving reports and In last drink reports rather and in the years that in the one year That on cork Boston Harbor was open it was Tied with MGM for a second place on the list. So What this data tells us Again, it's not it's not a random sample or anything All right, it's going to be biased towards where police are doing enforcement It's going to be biased towards large locations And so the rankings aren't as important here as just the the knowledge that people Based on their own reports are leaving casinos intoxicated Uh, at least uh, so let's say for the the five-year period that we have there for Plain Ridge Park, we've got 20 Sorry 19 reports of people having been arrested Leaving the casino intoxicated. Now you have to you have to keep in mind That that 19 reports are only those found guilty or who have pled guilty So that that's going to be a fairly small percentage Of the total number of people who are arrested many of the people who are arrested aren't prosecuted for various reasons And then many of them are not Are not found guilty and that is only going to be a small percentage of the people who are actually driving Uh, unless we're crater naturally good at catching people specifically driving away from the casinos and a an arrest total of Let's say that this represented an arrest an arrest total of 19 Is going to be something like 19 times 500 people who are actually driving Away from the casino intoxicated in over a again a a five-year period So what this data does is corroborate the fact that people are successfully Leaving the casinos well intoxicated and again, I I'm not trying to to blame the casinos for for that I think they probably do the best they can frankly the um The blood alcohol level at which one is too intoxicated legally to drive Is fairly lower than the level at which one is visibly intoxicated for a lot of people and so it would be very difficult using fully subjective measures to Stop any everybody who is has been drinking too much to drive from from leaving the casino You'd have to implement I don't you'd have to have put a breathalyzer at the exit basically if you wanted to stop everybody So it's just a I think it's a reality that we have to live with I don't feel but I feel the numbers are predictable Given the total attendance that the casinos receive there might be more things that we can do and I'll talk about that at the end The third data set is the OUI involved crashes and they kind of mirror the Arrests in that they're a little bit unpredictable in plain reach park the other two locations At least they've all been Increased so it doesn't have the same Unpredictability of plain reach park, but again, I think it has to do with the geography The plain reach park is just not a location where You leave the casino and then you linger a long long time on local roads before you're You get into a crash say And this data only represents the data from the the contributing communities in the immediate surrounding area So the way to make this more meaningful would be to collect similar data sets You know wider area around the or for the entire commonwealth. It's just that it It's a difficult data set to collect it would be awfully difficult to do that for more agencies than we're Then we're already doing it for so basically to come up with these figures I had to do something somewhat unusual Massachusetts did not record alcohol as a factor A contributing factor in crashes on the state crash form until I could be a year off on this But I think it was 2014 So because of that, I I wasn't able to establish much of a baseline for what you'd expect But even though we started recording it in 2014 Recording has been sporadic of that particular variable Even the the people who managed the state data set Told me don't rely on that and when I look at the local agencies and their data sets For crashes alone, and I look at that particular variable. Yeah, it hardly ever gets flag So the agencies aren't doing a great job with data collection In that particular area. So what I had to do instead was look at calls for service That started as crashes that were reported as crashes and then Resulted in a drunk driving charge and that's how I determined Whether it was a drunk driving related crash. That's going to miss some reports It's going to miss any report where the the driver was just too injured Work or was killed and therefore wasn't going to be charged And it will miss others just for various data collection reasons. So the the numbers are probably overall lower than Than the actual totals, but I still think it provides a relatively good estimate Of the the changes and then we saw some modest increases in the mgm and on core areas in particular in drunk driving involved crashes and I looked at it geographically and Unfortunately again, I can't tie any particular crash To the casino. So I don't know for it, you know that this There's no data set that tells me that this crash here Involved somebody who was driving away from from mgm. All I can tell is that these crashes Again, they they were called to the police department as crashes And then the officers who responded later charged somebody for drunk driving, but the the spatial pattern Makes makes sense as far as the location of the casino It makes sense for a lot of other things too anybody driving away from anything In downtown springfield is probably going to hit these These same highways and show similar clusters Here we are with on core And here it's the the spatial relationship to the casino is a little bit more stark. You've got Quite a few additional crashes here along broadway and then If you're a week, I don't so I didn't have this data from Boston. Unfortunately, so I wasn't able to to include Them in this in this map or in this analysis But if you're leaving the casino and going north and then you hit 16 here Again, it takes you along state patrolled roads that shows a couple, you know clusters And then if you continue this way through Everett, we see some additional Oh, you might involve crashes So spatially the the data makes sense given the location of the casino in particular for for Everett and Everett does track um In its system whether an incident is casino related and I want to say it's in the report of the The six or so that we've got along directly on broadway here I believe four of them Were specifically flagged as being casino related as the It as in the person had come from the casino before getting involved in the crash So again more evidence that you know This is happening and again, you got to keep in mind you only get into a crash in about one of 500 cases in which you are Driving intoxicated. So you got to multiply these numbers by like 500 To get the true number amount of drunk driving that's actually happening in the area whether casino related or not ends up being somewhat scary when you think about it So my conclusions overall are that the available data suggests that we have seen increases in drunk driving trips as well as crashes and To a lesser degree arrests That are consistent with overall casino attendance But if we really want to understand this the further research that we have to do Is to get better numbers on total casino visitors. I was a little bit surprised actually how hard it was to get Hard official figures on that I would have thought that that was something that we would have had at our fairly easy disposal, but One casino wasn't able to give us any numbers at all apparently We also need to better understand the percentage of the casino visitors who drink And what other transportation options are available to them and what transportation options they take I would like In an ideal world to get last drink locations collected at a rest rather than adjudication that's unfortunately not stored in a Easy to access field in the typical records management system. You have to have access to the narrative And so that's a big project to do even even to the extent that the agencies are collecting that And then it would be nice to be able to to take those OUI involved crashes and get better figures statewide because Like I said, for some of these casino areas It doesn't take long to get outside of the immediate surrounding community as we've defined it And so we really need to be able to see what's happening Across the overall state now what these findings do support is Again, if you go back to my the the formula and the the different variables involved We just need to tweak those variables if we want to reduce the amount of drunk driving So one of the ways to do it is to increase the perceived risk of Of drunk driving and that would involve targeting enforcement on key travel routes Based on on local analysis of the best days and times and I would make that very public You know the idea would be not not to make a lot more arrests but to use that enforcement to deter drunk driving from Happening in the first place Any other types of campaigns that we can do to raise awareness and and the social conscience might have an impact I I feel like in some ways we're pretty saturated With that, sorry getting an emergency alert on my But there might still be stuff that we can do in that area And then again, I the casinos reported to Marie Claire that The different Steps they were taking to reduce the amount of intoxication and the amount of drunk driving From the casino and it seemed reasonable to me. I mean, they're all The gaming commission outlined in its responsible gaming guidelines a number of things that casinos needed to do And I don't see any particular evidence that they're not doing those things I would again point to the fact that it's very difficult to achieve 100 detection when somebody's Too intoxicated to drive In unless you're willing to you know implement Breathalizers at the point of exit so I think you should continue monitoring them to make sure that they're complying but I don't see any evidence Or haven't heard any evidence that they're not complying so far And that about wraps it up What are your questions for me? Are we just jumping in how do you want to do this madam chair? I'm just unmuting. Um, okay If um professor bruce if you could take your Presentation down, please. Yes, of course. Thank you so much um Great Very well done. I'd like to offer the commissioners an opportunity to To question, but I want to commend you for the the clarity Very very helpful um commissioner ryan you worked with Professor bruce here. Do you want to give any kind of a practice before we get into the questions? No, just to follow up on one point. Um Christopher, I was the one who Was torturing you with the the follow-up question about the quaw versus the guilty having spent time in district courts You know, I had memories of police being tendered in the courts and then last during question being asked um, and in addition to Just making sure, you know, what percentage of overall arrests or summons as we were getting in terms of the disposition number um I don't think i'm incorrect in saying the vast majority of particularly first defense OUIs in the commonwealth get resolved Not by a guilty disposition. So you're not going to get that last drink information That it's going to be called a quaw for continued without a finding in a probationary period um, I think one area and I talked about this with marie claren mark as well in terms of This has not been discussed in depth by the subcommittee the public safety state committee The subcommittee which one of the agenda items will be this report and one of the areas for discussion, of course would be What if anything would come out in terms of recommendations or action items for people that tend on that subcommittee? because The question of how we gather that information I mean christ's first point as you go through this report is You know, he can he can only do so much with an analysis You know, if he keeps having to make suppositions On some of the raw data And there's a lot of areas for improvements some of which we as a commission have control over But there's a large amount of this that is beyond our purview But we also have stakeholders should communicate and participate with us that we can talk to about it That particular area to me is one that I think maybe could be worked on If they are not getting the last drink information at a plea That is initially a quaff but ultimately becomes a guilty Um, the question is how if at all are they getting that last drink information because very often The quaff turning into a guilty does not involve an ADA would be a matter between the court the probation officer defendant and his or her counsel Um So that might be some area of investigation in terms of what is the practice that's currently being followed Can it be improved upon so that some of the data going forward? Can be more accurate and more in depth in terms of the real impact of You know OUI incidents and then their connection back to you know for our purposes um, I just wanted to Give a little more explanation to that um to Christopher's comment in terms of you know where that came from But I would about to other I fully agree that the researching A little bit more about how the data is collected in the under what circumstances would would help um But I one of the figures I didn't provide in the in the presentation, but it's in the report is that Depending on the year Only about 15 to 17 percent of those arrested for OUI Do end up resulting in a guilty finding So again the from whatever numbers you we actually have from The the last drink reports you've got to essentially multiply that Um, you know by an additional three to 85 percent to determine the actual number and then again, that's the only small percentage of those who are actually Driving and I yeah, I'm sure that they are biased The ones where we don't have data are biased towards those first defenders first type offenders All right Karen Thank you Most of my questions that I had so many Were answered in this presentation. So I appreciate the very thorough explanation of the data you provided Christopher But I do have some um some when you talked about You know the data of how well our licensees are trying to mitigate I just I kind of just wanted to add that Um, you know, this was so prominent in the legislation as well as how to mitigate harms all the harms right of casino gaming and And our licensees did pick up on that and understood that that would be really important for us. So You know when they were Competing for licenses they did spend a lot of time telling us how hard they'd work at this in particular How hard they'd worked at mitigating Um Overserving people at the casino. So that was something that I know they were You know, very well aware that that would be so important. So the other thing that I think is worth noting here Is our ge you and the work they do to get folks in a rideshare Um, that's not something I'm aware of that's done in other jurisdictions. I mean they really look at that as part of their responsibility Um, is to really identify those who are intoxicated and it really does make a difference, right? If um, someone maybe on the security team Identifies a drunk driver and you know suggests maybe they don't drive compared to Um, a law enforcement officer with police powers telling you hey, you're you know, you're too drunk to drive Um, so they've done really good work in that in that area and I've always appreciated that they kind of I don't we didn't instruct them to do that. That's something they realized was important to the commission and they've worked on that over the years Um, really really well. So there are Good efforts to to mitigate. Um, but I love your ideas about um You know a campaign of some kind to really We um, you know, kind of reiterate all of this information and maybe the time to do it is because of this report um, and um and part of that may be Talking there's a lot of new police chiefs, right compared to when we started this project Christopher and um, maybe trying to find out again And I know this would be for the next researcher When uh, if they're able to do whatever it's doing and identify that last drink Um, where that is. I mean ever it's done a really good job with that, right? And we've had robust conversations in the meetings with the chief and and um chief mazies been very well prepared for those meetings And knowing where the the data came from and which ones he thought were casino related So maybe that's something that could be worked on as well, right? Um, and I would I would point out that they're not just doing it for the drunk driving they They flag all anything that they can identify as specifically related to the casino. Yeah Agreed they do a really good job. Um I just wanted a little and this is a question not a comment. Um Is is the your information on um The bias, um, you know, you mentioned that of course there's bias from large locations um And in the law enforcement responsibilities, right? Location of the officers all of those things, but what how much do you think that affects your bias? Well, I don't think it affects the the the key point that I wanted to make which is that If you if you regard if you just ignore the rankings And just look at the the raw figures from each casino In terms of the last drink locations and then sort of reverse, you know, go through the multiplication All right, if this if this is the number of people who reported a last drink there Uh, you know, do the multiplication determine how many people have probably then actually arrested? driving away from the casino Well intoxicated and then multiply that by the percentage of people, you know who Probably weren't arrested you can go back to that original figure that I offered of tens of thousands really of drunk driving trips per Per year, I I don't um, I don't think that that is where I think it The bias comes into play is if you're trying to do some ranking and I frankly I did it I put a table right right in my report that shows, you know, the top 10 locations Um But uh, I think that's a little unfair because you know, obviously the bigger locations have more opportunities for for people to To leave intoxicated. Uh, there's probably also a little bit. I I see this in the in the media I don't know if it's a real factor But a lot of the locations that get some extra enforcement by the abcc because they show up high on the list complain that You know, how do we know they're telling the truth? Essentially, how do we know that the the people and they give their last drink are are are telling the truth? And uh, it's possible that if you weren't telling the truth That your mind immediately goes to you know to the one of the largest facilities that you can think of right? Oh, yeah, I was drinking the td garden. I was drinking at mgm And uh and not report on the local, you know neighborhood bar that you don't want to get in trouble or something like that I I don't think we have any hard data to know how much of the those reports are lies and frankly just I suspect it's not really high, but I that's just my gut feeling based on my working with this data for So many years and knowing how court procedures go and so forth But I can't say for sure So there might be a bias there in that the larger locations tend to be the ones people just think of when they're Casting about for for a lie So I wouldn't I would be careful if I say work for the abcc And and I was trying to decide who needed some extra attention Simply going down the list in order from the ones that had the most reports, you know to the ones that had the least Because I think you have to consider those additional factors But to just show that drunk driving is happening With people leaving these facilities Uh, the data does its job, I think Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. Thank you for that information and thank you the report's excellent and I know I learned a lot just you know Just reading it and understanding what the challenges are and what the opportunities are, right? right Thank you, we can circle back to to commissioner grind commissioner Cameron commissioner hill questions Um, not so much questions. It's been very educational christen. It's nice to meet you And and thank you for all you've done for the uh for the gaming commission I think a couple of my concerns were addressed, um, with commissioner Cameron It's the last drink reports and are they as accurate as we think they are I could you brought up an example of uh, you know, you don't want to get your your local bar in trouble So you said where your last drink was with us at the casino and I'm looking at some of the bigger, um Operations around some of these casinos, you know, for example, mgm has a convention center right across the street where they You know, probably have been drinking and then they go across the street to mgm for a couple of card games encore has fenway and you know, the boston gardens where a lot of our patrons of encore I'm sure go to the games and then they head over to the casino afterwards and of course Over ppc the Gillette stadium. They just take a little drop in there So that was a little uh concerning to me is is that accurate information and um, are we are we Are we putting something on the casinos that is true or not true? But you have explained, um to us The information and how you got the information and in some cases it's difficult I think what I uh would like to see a little, uh, maybe we can talk about this further as a commission Um, is what are the casinos doing? Like you you said they are doing something to try and help with Making sure people aren't drinking and driving and I don't think I heard enough at least for me To better understand what the casinos are doing to ensure that that doesn't happen Because I can tell you that when the legislation was passed. This was brought up a lot um, you know Primes increasing, you know, if we put casinos in massachusetts drunk driving and and other things It was a big topic of conversation when we passed the bill and I think i'm happy to hear if i'm hearing it correctly That it isn't as bad as maybe some had envisioned I'm considering the size of the operations And the amount of people that are going in I'm actually happy to see that you know one in six hundred and twenty five We'll get in a crash or one in five hundred. I thought that number might actually be a little bit higher So obviously the casinos are doing their job and so are the patrons. I think From what i'm here. So as a former voter on this bill I'm happy to see that the numbers aren't as high as I thought they might be But it certainly is taking a lot of work from a lot of people to make sure that those numbers remain low So it was an excellent report and I thank you for it. And I just think we need to Discuss this a little further and moving forward To ensure that we continue to see these numbers, which I think are pretty good I can clarify a couple of things first of all I want to emphasize and this is in the report that the estimates of the number of Trips that result in crashes and the number that result in arrests come from research from other states mostly I don't know that we've had any specific research and we have had any research specific to massachusetts in those areas They mostly come from self-report surveys. So Where people are asked essentially about their driving habits their drinking habits and then those are compared with with statewide figures on crashes and and arrests and So I don't think the numbers in massachusetts are likely to be wildly different But they could be, you know Within a reasonable tolerance at 25 to 30 percent even of those estimates So I just want to make sure it's clear that those numbers don't come from from massachusetts specific data But it was the best, you know that we had available in in the research in terms of what they're doing all of the casinos reported back that they Were Implementing the tips training uh, and you know training their servers to recognize Intoxication to cut them off to to report to to security when somebody Was visibly intoxicated My concern about that is is always that you know point 08 is a fairly It's a high level of intoxication when you're driving. It's a fairly low level of intoxication when you're out in the town Trying to enjoy yourself If we if we literally cut people off at point 08 it there would be riots in the street Right, so I mean I think we have to recognize that the level at which People are being flagged for being intoxicated is probably above the level Where they ought to be driving and it's within that gray area that we get the phenomenon of so many People potentially driving away. I don't know what there is to do about that frankly yet I don't think that it's It's really not consistent with the entertainment casino experience to tell people you can only have you know One drink every hour or whatever it is that that keeps you below that that legal level of intoxication, but it's It's something that definitely Deserves a lot of additional thought and discussion So thank you. Um before I um Ask my questions and make comments. I want to recognize that we do have with us today And forgive me. There are people on the phone, but we do have Chief the lattice From led loves the police department here. I want to recognize you and thank you for your Year service, um, particularly during these last couple difficult years um and Certainly, thank you for attending today. Uh in this important discussion I don't know if anybody wishes to say anything to the chief, but I wanted to acknowledge your Year here and good morning. Thank you. Good morning. Hope you hear me Yes, we can I appreciate the invite from Marie Claire and I appreciate You know what dr. Bruce is You know synopsis and his study I don't want to speak for all municipal police chiefs The I can I was trying to think of something I would say to to all of you that I say this to many police chiefs whether or not they're from a rural urban or suburban area Uh As a law enforcement practitioner right now in any community Irregardless of your density one of the um To me one of the greatest dangers that the public faces is that we have increase in impaired driving and uh, you know, you can have uh, you're going to have Following a sectivity you're going to have drug dealing. You're going to have, you know, some communities are going to have homicides You're going to have shootings. You're you're going to have those things, but the the occurrences just by the numbers People that are impaired every single day even just through medications that they have that they misuse or whatnot Is is a problem for every every police Official as well as as for their community. So it's a danger in every community. You're a senior if you're a small town so, um We we recognize that I try to have my officers yes, uh I should say proactive as you can unfortunately police chiefs are also facing the fact that We have decreased numbers of uh Of officers. We have a mass flight in the past two years and that's nationwide And we're trying to deal with our own our own staffing issues and then kovat just just made it Throw it another factor of the the pandemic scenario that you know, we uh theorized for 30 years actually happened we all we routinely deal with people that are uh stricken with with uh with maladies if you will and infectious diseases, but We just never thought it would get to the to that point. Um, you know in my own department, we had over 50 people that that you know That's deposited some or worse somewhere somewhere less, but thankfully no one no one passed and You know, so the I just wanted to say that if you could You know people all of you know people, you know legislators, you know We need we need as much funding as we could possibly get We as a police chief I send as many as my officers I can to a right training, which is an advanced detection training for a pair of drivers But we need as much funding as possible because the municipalities have difficulty in trying to To keep their police departments not only staff but for so I stress upon all of you that the As much funding as might as you can offer to municipalities to to uh, so that we can encourage officers to Engage in active patrols I could add on to my staff So instead of having you know, five patrol officers I might be able to have six or seven uh, we normally participate in grant programs anyway for other enforcement for other statutes and motor vehicle enforcement and traffic concerns a pair of driving and hand-free devices and whatnot, but uh, I greatly appreciate anything that That all of you could do to help to You know, as all of you know, it's incredibly important. So if police officers do not work for free troopers all for free so You know, I'm just trying to be as as candid as I possibly can. I appreciate your time. I thank you for um, recognizing Someone who is made hundreds of all your IRS and someone who is actually still working And I have good men and women here And there's a lot of honorable men and women Out there, you know overwhelming doing the job every single day to try to make everyone Make massachusetts or a common good place to live and for all of your families and for all of us. So I thank you for your time. I appreciate Thank you and thank thank you for honor efforts commission kill. Yes. I asked the chief a question Absolutely, which now I think With what we're seeing with uh, a lot of the pot shops starting to open up and you talk about impaired driving Can you talk briefly and again? This may be a whole nother discussion for a whole nother day But as we're talking about being under the influence of alcohol A lot of the patrons I see now going into a bar room, you know, let's use a casino since that's what we're talking about today They have come in. They've been smoking marijuana. Um, it's legal here now Can you tell me the coalition between? Let's say having marijuana in your system and then going and having a drink or two When you're testing somebody who's been they had one or two drinks, but have also consumed marijuana Does that show up in the testing? And are we seeing people who are impaired more now with marijuana than we are alcohol Moving forward and again, it could be a discussion for another day, madam chair But now that we're talking about being under the influence and we talked about what's your last stop Well, you may be going into an operation Under the influence of marijuana and then having a couple of drinks You know, I can thank you. I'm glad that like to address that and I'll be as uh, I'll be as succinct as I can so we are seeing an increase And there's a direct correlation with a different type of intoxicant if you will with thc So you're looking at more widespread use and I know that You know the national highway traffic safety administration estimates that it's a 50 50 split now that's changed in the 30 years that I've been sworn off since 1990. So that there was a lot different You know, I really saw heroin. There was a lot of crack cocaine I really saw heroin back then but now you have you have a prolific amount Of opioids and opiates and then on top of that you throw in you throw in marijuana and ladies gentlemen, I mean, there's no one that I've booked that There's no there's no narcotic user that I I've ever booked that That just does narcotics exclusively. It doesn't engage in thc or alcohol and they're all interrelated. Okay, so The difference is that you have with the legalization of marijuana you have An increase in the illicit my opinion The marketability of illicit marijuana just because of the profitability that there's where we used to engage in a raid and arrest a drug dealer or a midline broker that was strictly focusing on Plastic cocaine or or just heroin and maybe marijuana was was more In other with other dealers now they have a myriad. So when you go to these dealers, they certainly have marijuana because it's such It's so profitable. So we are seeing an increase to that. It's very difficult to detect You know, some motorists. It's uh, like I get like I said with 70 officers, uh, the ari training We have two dres in my municipality. They're invaluable It's difficult to recognize exports have some money court, but we do our best through Uh, through the tools that we have for an officer to To gauge as much as possible if someone is impaired and if we get an admission by someone that uh The following they have maybe some caravan a or also to Or engage or smoke Or engage in heroin what These are bad, but there is a direct correlation absolutely without a doubt It's 50 50 and my trips to the mgm because you know here in springfield have been limited my wife and I went on I mean The use is so prevalent. I mean the garage is an mgm. I mean in the stairwells. You could certainly uh It's very very prevalent You could smell the marijuana. So again, you know, there's a certain one of people that are gonna engage in that and it's legal as you stated. So It's it's just another task for police officers and troopers to uh, to deal with and you know We try to do the best we can and charge appropriately and and Try to stop and interdict when we can and then and then put it the courts hands but again any any any tools that We would love to have a we would love to have a portable test that That would help us out But it's going to be many years before that passes in catavilo standard and we'll be able to use that Right now we use as much circumstantial evidence as possible to try to to try to Do what we have to do. So and again, yeah, first off, that's how he lies You know, they're they're all quarks. So that that doesn't You get a bite at the apple and then usually it's the second and third say you actually see some type of But say police department say, you know, and also make this one last comment I I work with the people that every single day encounter people of them They every every one of my officers engages a subtype of harm and doctor council the people that they taught Okay, and a lot of times police officers are good avenue for for people who are overusing or are engaging in activities that they're That are resulting in negative aspects in their lives jobs and family whatever Violence and we try to help and in a lot of ways were We're a good conduit to get people out. So we We certainly advocate that and we're going to continue to do so. So again, thank you. Thank you chief and thank you madam chair Thank you Highlighting an important issue commissioner. Thank you chief Seems as though commissioner Cameron has a comment as well. I do I just I just wanted to thank the chief It means a lot that you took the time to get on this call today. I know how busy your life is and And and secondly, thank you for your department participating over the years this project this particular report and all of the crime studies would not be Couldn't know it without without chiefs willing to participate. So I just a big thank you it really means makes a difference that you took the time to get on and Um How you stayed involved over the years with with this project so big thanks and thanks for your service Thank you very much And chief if you'll stay on because you may want to comment. I have a few follow-up comments and questions um I just want to get make sure that we highlight that You've pointed out um christopher that there are many many variables Many of which you've used outside commonwealth data to and had to form assumptions because The data is just difficult to achieve and you've had to do that and with other reports and And you know as we started at the very beginning We have full confidence in the analysis based on sometimes the frustration of lack of of data But your solid assumption making so If I understand that some of the variables that you've highlighted is the number of visitors And it sounds as though you weren't even able to necessarily get a complete set on even the number of visitors from all three Casinos is that correct? I was I was actually surprised By that I thought that would have been data that anybody in the commission would have really just immediately added their fingertips, but Marie Claire had to write to each of the casinos to ask for visitor counts and I I guess One of them said they didn't have the Any data on that and I I didn't I don't even find that remotely credible that the casinos themselves aren't tracking the number of People that come through their doors but uh That would be an area for us to follow up on I suspect there might be some That might be some information that might be sensitive to them if it's drilled down in terms of particular facilities for You know competition purposes and may be protected under their NDA But I think it's an area we should explore and I agree I could imagine that that would have been a matter of surprise for you So I just wanted to point out. But the truth is is that these are huge venues and on a given day on core If um bruce band is still around us around I don't see him right now, but um caron and loretta On a on a given day on core um mgm springfield and even ppc have thousands of patrons um going through their thousands approaching tens of thousands collectively Loretta is that fair Sure, and you know certainly We've had experience with each of them tracking some of their capacity numbers in terms of coven. So, you know a different Different application But uh in the thousands would Would be accurate at least And so that's that's important Then you also mentioned that the number who drive and I think commissioner camera pointed out the very active ride share program That has been encouraged in the commonwealth I think it'll be really interesting to find out how cold it impacted that um And renewed hope that it will become as rigorous as it was Um in the past but that again is a variable for you Then the variable who drank to the point of intoxication is a variable and then I think the Chiefs that is really the intentionality around different Different departments because one they may not have the resources to put out as many Surveillance cars That they want correct Um Chief alattice that you may Wish that you could do more surveillance, but you just don't necessarily have the resources. So that varies. I think you pointed that out Christopher Then you pointed out the um The efforts at the casinos and I think we've got that as a to-do. We want to revisit that from commissioner hill I'm just putting down caren if you can keep track of the to-do list um We did hear back on the tips program, which is really helpful. They have advised us I need to have be refreshed on whether we have any regulation that limits the number of drinks per hour We do have the regulation on the Service during the two to four a.m hours, uh Chief i'm sure you're aware of that in at the casinos that um Service can be allowed if they're actively gaming between two and four I'd love to know more about the compliance during that We do get regular updates from the casinos on this, but I think we need to revisit it with some intentionality and then um The point that commissioner cameron pointed out as well the the variable around um public service awareness programs And you said something and you kind of let it Kind of slide in there just right. I want to maybe challenge it That it may be saturated and I wonder if there's an opportunity us to rethink how to refresh those public service awareness programs because I think commissioner cameron's nodding her head to That is a variable and you know, even what commissioner hill said with respect to and and what the chief mentioned It's it's alcohol. It's other substances that we deal with regularly. So just um another item for maybe our research folks to think about Or even who we partner with the department of public health um on on Awareness programs particularly as we're coming. Oh gosh, not god would as we're coming out of coven and and for instance the significance of using rideshare programs and and and And getting you off the road as a driver so I thought that the The variables were really important for me to reflect on because marie claire did such a great job translating And the headline when you look at it, you know, I see tens of thousands I think I can put that in proper context because of the size of our venues of our our licensees um And then all of these variables, but I do think we have some work that we can You've given us a little bit of a to-do list and I thank you for that Oh I think you went back on me. I read you. I read your lips though. Sure um, I think I I'm Can you hear me? Yeah, I can. Yeah. Okay. No, I was I was just silently saying thank you I didn't have any particular comment the um the raising awareness the public information I was thinking along the lines of maybe something Location specific literally, you know, something might reach the person while He or she was standing in the elevator going to the garage or something like that But I um, I honestly don't know if there if there's something like that already at work at the locations I had intended for an earlier in an earlier plan Before covet and and other scheduling issues to actually Go to the locations that you know a little field research I was actually going to you know order a few drinks and see what the you know, I don't know just Get a sense of uh, how much I was able to order and that kind of stuff But that all went out the window Well, one of the things I was going to check out is is there anything in the garages and the elevators and On the way to them that raises any awareness or provides any information about alternatives to To driving and um, I just didn't get a chance to do that So I don't want to suggest something that might already be there, but if it's not there that might be something worth looking at That's really helpful Really helpful. So now I just want to go back to your opening statement because I I Made many notes, but that one was incomplete If you could just Put it into full context. You said this is a It sounded as a modest increase In one that was sort of within reason of increase given the casinos now in full operation. Could you just Um elaborate on that statement just so that we have full context now sure when you look in the Let me get to the appropriate page of the report. Uh, probably the most Relevant statistic Is the uh the number of of crashes Related to to drunk driving in in the regions and I can't necessarily attribute All all of the any increase directly to the casinos, but Um But even if we were Yeah, even if we were to attribute how's it how's it look so we're we're talking about, uh, let's see in the Plain Ridge Park area which had some increases and had some increase it decreases it basically worked out to uh to a null To really no change at all but again, that's that only considers the immediate surrounding communities and That's where I would like to get more more data when you're talking about the MGM And on core for all the periods that I analyzed, I mean the increase in the number of Of crashes was in the area of a few dozen per year uh, so roughly between 20 and 50 depending on the uh the casino and the specific time period studying So we saw a detectable, but you know relatively small increase in the number of actual crashes that could be attributed to to drunk driving I guess that's where I was going for with modest And this again is one of those areas where if I worked the numbers backwards and and we I still think it does translate into In the tens of thousands of additional trips per year that would produce that number of crashes um But in all cases the numbers are consistent with We've got 35 000 people to patrons a day at these facilities That serve alcohol and a certain percentage of them Are going to inevitably drive away So By the word modest that I meant not I meant not really unexpected and not particularly alarming And that's a modest increase from no casino to the presence of yes. Yep Thank you. I think that's very very helpful and and I think it um I just wanted to really emphasize what commissioner hill observed is that You know this continues to be really relatively relative good news. Um, that the concerns that We're we're anticipated I'm not saying that they were not fear concerns to have But they may be being mitigated by some good measures too, right and it's taking a lot of different variables including additional police work including great compliance by the casinos Including opportunities like ride shares including public service announcements whether they're in the facilities or whether they're wide throughout the common So it's a lot of factors that may be contributing to what is a favorable report today Commissioner brian, what are you thinking? So the lawyer and me and the former prosecutor and me have listened to a lot of this and it's quite a task because even the conversation about OUI drugs versus alcohol. There's different parts of the statute in terms of penalty in terms of It's last rink at an establishment. You're not getting people's private homes. You know you're talking about protecting the bar You know People may give an answer to you know protect friends and family as well And I don't believe there's anything in the statute about, um, you know, where did you purchase? I mean their products If you've got something like cannabis, it's just not something that's been addressed and I know there's been conversation too just about How police can make the assumption that someone's under the influence based on cannabis versus alcohol It's a complex conversation. I mean you hear the topic and you think oh, this should be interesting We're going to have a baseline and then we're going to find out You know whether there's been an uptick and there are just a lot of layers to this. So to your point about Um Our tasks and the list of things to do. There's a lot of different Areas for us A lot of which we don't have direct control over and so it's really figuring out and giving suggestions and talking to people Who do have control over? No the data about the impact And I add on the to do you alluded to it but commissioner brian you do Um Chair or the public safety subcommittee that brings in really a broad array of law enforcement officials and experts So this is an opportunity to explore these broader issues And I know that the g-pack would love to you know hear what you can report back and then I think it's The subcommittees, you know, we hope that they'll come for recommendations To the commission. So there's some opportunity and we want to fully support you on that I lean so well, I think it's it it's more than just that subcommittee I mean because you have representatives to certain groups. There's one rep from the mbaa There is a rep from the mass chiefs of police, etc But I think getting the information and sort of the questions that came out of the report To the broader groups not just the rep that comes to the subcommittee Is going to be critical to getting any traction on figuring out if we can make improvements Subsidively and then also sub improvements on data collection Yeah, and I think that subcommittee will be really helpful in identifying that and we can be instrumental I think we've got follow-ups here so Commissioners do you have other questions now for either Marie Claire For christopher bruce and of course we have the benefit of a chief a lot of screen here No, just thanks again christopher and good luck. Thank you. It's been a pleasure to work with everybody and I hope that This isn't the last time I see everybody Well, I'll say that I miss I'll miss your presentations I appreciate always the transparency that you offer around the data the data quality the quantity and the quality of it so And and yet You always take what is available and with reasonable assumptions give us some very very good information Your analysis has been excellent. So thank you We have where they have the benefit of I didn't realize it was 14 reports now. So That's a volume Thank you so much be well and we wish you the very best in Maine and hope that At some point another agency like ours will will have the benefit That you've given us Thank you. Thank you. Marie Claire excellent excellent work today Putting this into a good perspective right up front just as we had hoped You would be able to do for us here and again achieve us stay safe. Thank you so much and thank you to all of your Men and women We'll serve we serve not long in the areas around. Thank you so much Thank you very much be well Yes, be safe. Thank you Okay, excellent all right So crystal it's it's noon So you were pretty much spot on in terms of timing Commissioners would you like to take a A short break now after that we'll hear from Chief Delaney and then we have a matter with Two matters for Karen and then a short matter from I mean Do you want to do a lunch break or a short break? What do you think commissioner brian? I need something longer than just a short break. Okay Um, then It's in it's noon Um, do you want a half an hour 25 minutes? Yeah, if we could have like 20 25 minutes that would be helpful Commissioners on the end date on the end time too, but yeah I have got to figure out a way to warm up my room. I'll tell you that. Um Maybe a tech a tech break for me. Um Why don't we it's it's noon. Why don't we um reconvene it at 12 25 does that work? commission camera 12 20 commission right 12 whatever commissioner o'brien needs is fine. We'll take that. I mean we can do at 12 20 is fine too Okay, we'll do 12 Okay So, um, David, you'll put up a reminder to the um, Dave, you'll put up a reminder to for the public I'm going to make sure not to leave the meeting But we'll just um go on on Mute and video out. Yep. I have a uh a graphic here that just basically says the hearing or resume shortly So I'll share my screen and just have that be the Excellent we can be in at 12 20. Thank you everyone and thank you for an excellent meeting And just let me know when to stop sharing my screen and we will be good to go Hey, thanks Dave Brad, let's see office. Nice and warm I think I figured out my issue I have the uh, I have the heater all cranked up Yeah, yeah So chilly this morning even my dog didn't want to go out Say the last few times I've been at the office. I was hibernating in catheter's office because it was cold I help you I help you're cranking it right up. That's for sure I need to just remember to leave your doors open while I'm in and we'd be fine, but I forget That's an important point Karen that during winter we need to keep the outside perimeter open for the folks here in the middle Right, we've talked about that because there's no heat in the in the no heat outlets in the in the center of the building No, so I mean my door is unlocked and the heat can be cranked up. I do that When I'm there, but I know that Long is on a family vacation now long overdue Yeah He's been in there. I bet it's been chilly and crystal was in so I know it's probably chilly chilly for them and Marie Claire so You know, it's cold when I cold Is that right Those fat people we like cold weather I don't see what you see commissioner hill very kind So Dave will take that screenshot down I can't see everybody Who's in oh great? That's really helpful. Thanks Dave Elprom and we're back Yeah Just see I think just waiting for A few not sure what the weekend is going to produce This may be it Kathy. I think maybe this may be all the people that are joining on the Video we may have watching online through the live stream My apologies. I didn't see commissioner bryan I'm sorry. There you are My apologies. I was waiting. I had missed. I missed my I missed you. Thank you so much Okay, we can get started then. Um, this is reconvening public meeting number 368 And uh, we had a very productive morning very interesting discussion now convene With the community's affair division chief delaney and mary thorough Thank you, uh, madam chair and commissioners. Um, so today we have for you three, uh, reserve community mitigation fund reserve application requests. Um, as you know last year we said that Folks had to get their applications into us by the end of 2021 which these Did so they will be getting their their funds for From their reserves So the first one in front of you is cambridge and They are asking for their hundred thousand dollars to Expand their blue bikes program Uh in east cambridge and let me just um Just share I just wanted to share Um the screen just showing you the sort of the locations of where Uh, where we are does everyone see that? I always love them at Joe. Thank you so much So here's east cambridge right here In the side of the red line And of course on course right here on this peninsula and you'll see sort of east cambridge is Kind of the closest place that we have to on core now on core Currently has two blue bikes locations themselves. There's one out on the harbor walk Out at the sort of the point and then there's another one on broadway right at the entrance to the facility And of course one of our the key things that we want to do is try to encourage people to use alternative modes of transportation and I think a couple of kind of Important points to make here is in east cambridge There is some significant development going on Sort of along the McGrath and O'Brien highway back in this area if anyone's taken the train in from North of boston you'll see that there if there's At least half a dozen high rise apartment slash condo buildings going in and some other businesses And of course the green line is being extended out from the leach wear station out to summerville So there's lots of things going on there and in addition to all of that the city of boston will be redoing Sullivan square and rutherford av In the next couple of years and they'll be providing bike lanes and multi-use paths and other things Which of course will take you Which will make it a nice easy route right up to alford street and then to the casino. So We really I guess we really just like the notion of this This project It does all of the things that we look for in In these types of things give some alternative means of transportation And therefore we recommend The hundred thousand dollars be awarded to cambridge for the blue bikes program So I didn't know if you want to take these one by one and vote them or if you wanted to do them all at the same time I think I I think it makes sense to do one by one. They're they're different and um, it'll allow for questions and comments Commissioners do you have questions or comments on this particular application? It's for the full one hundred thousand, right? correct, correct I just had a comment. I i'm familiar with that area the old courthouse used to be basically in between The two places where they're proposing to put these It used to be a very difficult place to get into Once you got there, you knew you had to reason to stay So actually knowing how close that bridge is To getting over and getting you down Toward encore it does make perfect sense to me if they're going to want to Add options this location. You know, this is a good starting point. I wouldn't be surprised if they put more in Yeah, cambridge already has a bunch in in downtown and the other areas Well, the one thing I did also want to mention is that we did do a very similar project to this with everit a couple of years ago Where we funded blue bikes for them to expand their blue bike program. So it's very consistent with that Yeah, no, I think it's great Yeah, I agree with commissioner brian great use to the funds. Um, cambridge is very big on the bike paths everywhere, right? They really have spent an awful lot of Money and an effort to do this. So I think assisting with this is is really a good use of this fund But I think it supports so much That the gaming commission has already funded. It's consistent with Our philosophy that we've extended to other communities. So Great. I'm glad that they they um Came up with this Proposal very very good Commissioner hill anything you'd like to add? No, no issues Yeah so We'll take a motion on this the cambridge reserve Madam chair, I moved that the commission approve the city of cambridge's request to use the hundred thousand dollar reserve grant funds For purposes of funding to blue bike docking stations and associated bicycles in east cambridge And further that commission staff be authorized to execute all necessary grant instruments commemorating this award in accordance with 205 cm 153.04 second Thank you Any questions edits on that? I'll set commissioner cameron. Hi commissioner brian hi commissioner hill hi And I vote yes for zero excellent Moving on to the next great. So the next one is east long meadow and they are requesting They are a hundred thousand dollars to develop an online resource portal for business permitting and licensing to help promote a business in east long meadow and You know promote economic development try to take advantage of some of those Opportunities that the casino represents and also to To address some of the the negative impacts of the casino as well Again, I will just quickly just share Just share my screen here. Just to show you Again east long meadow is is directly south of springfield if you see where it says south end here That's right about where the casino is And so they're just you know downtown is just a couple of miles from from springfield And this root 83 is kind of the main corridor through east long meadow Traffic from Connecticut comes up through there and then from the east from hampton and other points east May go through east long meadow and go into the casino So, you know businesses that are along that root 83 and others would have some Good opportunities to maybe try to intercept some of that traffic to come You know and avail themselves of businesses in east long meadow So one of the things that we were really That we thought they did a really nice job on was if you look at their application they go into a lot of depth and they looked at a lot of our Sigma studies and other studies to really pull out those pieces that Tie it to the casino and the impacts of the casino So they really Did a great job with that I think others could could look to this application and and see how they you know They quoted chapter and verse out of a number of different studies that show What some of the impacts are and what some of the opportunities are so we were really happy with that And the proposal, you know the idea here is they also work very closely with the pioneer valley planning commission On on identifying this which is another thing that we asked All of our applicants to do is to work with the local planning commission if if available To do that so they've been working with pioneer valley In developing this and the notion here is by making it easier for businesses to go through the permitting process It will hopefully encourage new business or expansion of businesses within east long meadow and thereby Allowing them to hopefully take advantage of some of those opportunities that the casino has either as a supplier to the casino or Just businesses attracting some of the patrons or employees Of the casino to come to those businesses So again, we've done a number of different projects like this Over the years and we certainly recommend the use of the hundred thousand of the reserve to Before this application Questions for Joe Um, I just had a question the application says 70 000 and then the original they they were a little uh Reticent to come in and ask for the full hundred thousand. They thought we might deny them for that Um, and we explained to them that there's you know that once these uh grants are awarded They have a fairly lengthy time available to them to spend this money So we suggested that they apply for the full hundred thousand So that uh, you know, if there's any cost overruns from their consultant or perhaps even after the consultant Uh completes their work. There may be some implementation things. They may want to use that money for Uh, we wanted to make sure that that that they took full advantage of the funds that were available to them Um, and it was just sort of a misunderstanding. So they they did I didn't include this in your packet But they did uh, send us an email requesting the additional funds Oh, so they ended the application to say a hundred Yeah, yeah, that that happened. Um, you know, we we had had a phone call with them and I had asked Mary I said hey, can you just get us something, you know a request there? Um, you know, we don't have An exact defined purpose for it, but they would obviously need to submit us a Scope of work of anything in addition to what they're proposing Okay, I was just making sure it was all Yeah, yeah Okay Other comments or questions I I know that we've seen some like this, but I think this is an excellent application as well um, and I did know How thorough it was and joe, I wondered if They came up on their own with that or is that some of the benefits of doing the workshops In your outreach I'm hoping it was a benefit of doing my workshops Yeah And and and this would be a good example for next year's workshop to share I think it is and I you know, and I imagine that their work with the pioneer valley planning commission probably helped out in crafting some language things like that, you know Groups like that apply for grants all the time. So they have a staff of folks to do that. So Um, you know, maybe we can we can reach out to them a little later and and chat with them a little bit about how How they want about it and how they you know, they did that because it's really it's a very good a very good example You know, literally when you get in there and you see the pulling quotes out of these reports Uh, it's nice to see that that that they're utilizing those resources Excellent So you need a vote on that one commissioners Uh, I'd be happy to move uh that the commission approved the town of easel on meadows request To use a hundred thousand dollars of the Reserve balance to develop an online resource portal for business permitting and licensing to help promote business and economic development As described in the memo contained in the commissioners packet and the stuff here today and further The commission staff be authorized to execute all necessary grant instruments commemorating this award in accordance with 205 cmr 153.04 Thank you commissioners, okay any further questions on this Again, very pleased that they submitted Um and such a thorough application. I know mary is nodding her head. She It took your work mary and we recognize that. Um These these outstanding reserves so excellent excellent job mary commissioner camman i commissioner bryan I commissioner hill I And I vote yes. Where's the around moving on to the final? Okay, the final one is the uh long meadow reserve application and again, I'll just quickly Set the stage here on the location. So long meadow right next to east long meadow and directly south of Springfield and against we see south end. That's about where the casino is so Their proposal is to do some design work on uh root five As you can see root five parallels i 91 um and does carry a quite a bit of traffic Heading towards the casino. There's um an awful lot of folks Who work at the casino live in long meadow? And also patrons and others who who would uh Coming from the east from the south uh would use root five As well And essentially, you know on something like this we have done multiple studies designs of Roots that carry You know significant percentage of traffic going to the casino You know several we did over in west springfield lago warm others very consistent with All of the things that we have done Uh and more recently up in chickpea The corridor study there. So, um, we've done this multiple times For other communities in that area and this certainly seems Completely appropriate to do so for this as well Any questions for joe and this application? It's nice that they're varied It's a good representation of opportunities Right Yeah, oh, I just want the you know just as I mentioned a long but it did use a portion of their Reserves or very early on To I think it was to identify Some traffic's earlier traffic study issues. So um Anyway, they they they are not requesting the full hundred thousand. It's uh the the 96 And change yeah 96 279. So that's that that was a small portion that they used for that earlier Yes, yeah Any questions for joe? Okay, commissioner hill, do you want to move? Sure I move that the commission approve the town of long meadows request to use 96 279 dollars and 66 cents Of their reserve balance toward the final design and engineering of route five Corridor improvements as described in the memo contained in the commissioner's packet and discussed here today And further that the commission staff be authorized to execute all necessary grant instruments Commemorating this award in accordance with 205 cmr 15 3.04 Second Thank you At its questions comments Commissioner kim I commissioner brunner I commissioner hill I I vote yes or a zero Excellent, great. Thank you. And just as always I want to thank mary on these ones in particular. Um, you know, she spent the last year plus Calling emailing cajoling and otherwise Working to get these folks to to try to utilize this money and um, you know, I think it's it was very very successful effort Yeah, excellent work mary I think there are only two that didn't end up Right, but yeah, there's only two two that will bram and ludlow. They just couldn't find the mitigation Yeah, so but they're still thinking about it. They know they can apply for other dollars if they Find the use Excellent. Excellent. Okay, good Well, they're watching today. Maybe there's some inspiration Thanks so much. Um Thanks joe. Yes, that completes our our report Excellent. Thank you I'm gonna move on to item number seven Karen and um um Commissioner o'brien So this is the uh another policy and this is something that the commission had already discussed in this Uh document, you know a collective effort to memorialize the commission's discussion so that you could uh vote it into effect today Uh, this uh clarifies the sort of hiring policy of the commission uh, the hiring is Overseen by uh the statutory authority in chapter 23 case sections three and four Four gives the commission broad authority having all powers are necessary to carry out and effectuate its purposes Including but not limited to the power to appoint officers and hire employees And then section three talks about the role of the executive executive director, which talks about that hiring authority Being subject to the approval of the commission. There's one exception. Uh, the cfao, which is uh In the statute to be appointed by the executive director So then the cut in the communication at the at the last meeting the commission recognized its authority, but uh, also sought to achieve efficiencies I grant the executive director proper authority to best advance the interests and operations of the commission So in the discussion on the process, there were some options and the commission uh thought was the best option Was for major policymaking positions, which is defined in 268 section one Uh, that that would be something where the Executive director would bring those openings toward in forward in front of the commission and the commission could make the decision On what on what they wanted to do So those policymaking positions at our agency include the five commissioners, which are obviously not relevant to this piece The executive director Head of the iub and then all the other divisions within the the agency including communications legal it finance racing Research and responsible gaming community affairs Uh diversity gaming agents financial investigations Licensing and in the office of the chief enforcement council So in your packet, uh that outline is um set up in the policy on how we would do this And we're just looking now to see if the commission is in agreement that this is how they'd like to go forward and potentially go on the policy Sure, brian. Do you want to add? No karen summed it up. I know there were some wordsmithing we we did we pulled it off You know the last time we were going to put on the last minute we did some last minute wordsmithing I think is accurately set forth the statutory authority and summarizes what we all agreed to and substance the last time we talked about it Any questions commissioner hill commissioner cameron? No, I think it you know, it's very similar to what we've been doing, but it is the appropriate to codify that right Okay, um, then I only I guess we should codify it with a vote Do I have a motion? Sure, I moved the commission approved the hiring authority policy that included in the commissioner's packet and discussed here today Second No questions comments commissioner cameron. I Michelle brian I Christian hill I My vote yes four zero. Thank you Um nice to close that up appreciate your work taught on that and karen's work in commissioner brians. Thank you All right Now we have um by statute obligation to review our executive director Um, I'll have a commissioner o brian go through the steps that have been taken thus far And karen karen you can Is this a time for you to pour yourself a glass of water? All right, thank you commissioner brian Um, so this is the second time we we tried to get on the cadence annually Switching switching to a calendar year assessment for the executive director position last year We did this in the end of february So slightly less than a year in terms of the relevant time period, but um as we are all aware Karen completed her own self-evaluation that was provided to us through hr earlier in the month Um, we each then individually completed our assessment of karen both talking about um Whether or not we thought particular areas and her overall performance, you know met or exceeded Um, the expectations for the position and summarizing it. I know those were forwarded to her I believe by monday night And she has had an opportunity to review those I spoke with her very briefly about the one that I did with her I believe and I karen correct me if i'm wrong I believe she also understood that she had the opportunity and the right to Reach out to any of us individually if there's something more in depth after receiving the written evaluations that she wanted to talk about one on one We have not seen each other's evaluations obviously You know looking at making sure we're complying with open meeting law and everything But this is our opportunity to publicly share with each other and with karen and everyone listening Our assessment of her performance over the last calendar year And in particular also at the end looking at How she achieved the goals that she and the commission set for her last year and then looking forward to setting goals for performance Next year So I don't know if you want to go round table in terms of summarizing or how you'd want to Go through this chair in terms of order, but well, I think um, probably will take the approach that um, I'll start without any details, but my overall assess assessment is that karen has been exceptional in her job And um Without going into all the details karen and I haven't sat down we meet regularly and we'll discuss There's a couple of things that probably May be helpful for us to discuss in person, but generally I think the team Will not be surprised by a very positive evaluation Karen has demonstrated to be a very empathetic and active listener And that empathy has been so meaningful during this period Difficult period stretch beyond the year that you've been in this formally karen um it's You've had to balance those who are both Nervous about coming to work and those who are lonely And that's a balance that is difficult to strike in Private entities across the country and Public entities across the country are struggling with it. And you've done that very very well it's been Very important to me to see the growth in the organization with respect to individuals supporting one another Being the team of mutual respect Excellence and I really credit you and your voice for that so in terms of The communication piece that we look at I think that it's communication, but it's much more and that really resonates throughout your entire evaluation um you know We always talk about being nimble and I think the entire commission does that very well and has demonstrated that throughout these last two years but it takes your leadership to to make to really Make sure that that flexibility Is used in a way that still advances important goals and important work You've had to balance that Because you want to offer the flexibility that covet Requires and demands from a humanity point of view and from a professional point of view, but you've also understood their important Responsibilities of the commission. You've done that beautifully In terms of your management skills, I indicated that they're exceptional and all that others go on in terms of detail Um But again, I would say that I love how you have worked hard to invest in the development of your senior staff that you really have Encouraged and improved cross departmental interaction. And I think that's so important for culture and also for Really advancing the mission and then you always encourage the professional growth of the team I love how you watch your team members Succeed particularly during these presentations. I like seeing you enjoy that And I know that they feel your support You know that you approach things collaboratively and not with Authoritative style and I appreciate that very much with one caveat Um, there are times where it would be okay For you to clearly tell me My fellow commissioners the whole team Exactly how you're feeling and you do and when you do it. I love it It's always with wisdom and sometimes I watch you almost painfully having to You know, you're navigating for maybe five commissioners points of view um as well as all your team and That's why you have that job and I have a different job I love how you you really do that so collaboratively And I just want to give you permission to always say halt This is how I feel too And and I know that you've seen it in In your written document I have in terms of interacting with others I find that to be where you excel I mean you excel across the board, but primarily That's just one of your your most wonderful strengths And I have seen You really make progress in that goal of that cultural Goal that you wanted from the very beginning I feel it and I sense it and I I see you integrating new employees into the team Seamlessly and all the other team members making them part of the team not with skin and the fact that we don't work together Um, I can only imagine how it will be when we do start to be more physically together And I look forward to that. So my um in terms of your goals I um note that I felt you had accomplished your goals as you had described in your self assessment And I um very much appreciated the three that you identified um and I note The regulatory review is one that will take um A good deal of management and I know that you have those skills to make that a priority. So Finally in terms of your professional growth and development I support whatever you want and I'm you know available for you as As you may wish Thank you We'd like to go next push it camera I agree with the chair about the exceptional work that was done by executive director wells Uh this past year under as you pointed out such trying uh circumstances um, I loved your analysis about um You not only just listening to the people but listening to how the team members are feeling about their job I think in this past year, um, that was particularly important for you to recognize that And there are many many examples of how well you've done that. Um, I think I think that was really extraordinary. Um You know effectiveness We managed so seamlessly from Remote to hybrid to remote and now we're managing it again to go back to remote And I I see because I have the pleasure of You know under your leadership of serving on the working group And how you navigate various opinions and you know kind of some mixed public health advice and But but you just work toward gaining That that consensus for what the appropriate next step should be and I have appreciated your leadership Uh with this particular Challenging issue right because there are lots of opinions lots of fears Challenges and you really do navigate it very very well um I think we're fortunate to have you as a leader under these times frankly and this is This these challenges have really um given you an opportunity to shine with with your leadership qualities Um, yep. I I also mentioned the uh positive how how well you work to positive To foster a positive culture within your organization that's a parents and I I talk that's how I gain information right I talk to lots of people and Continually they they talk about your leadership and how much it's helped them navigate their responsibilities So that's uh, you're to be commended for that as well um, I think your team really does Does appreciate the leadership and that's not always the case with leaders um I think your efforts to um to really embrace the diversity challenge and And intentionally worked with that. I know there was a team and and everyone's to be credited, but um, But you know, that's not always something that a whole team buys into and I see this whole team buying into We think it's important to be more diverse as an organization and exceeding the goal of 25 percent is something this commission has never been able to do. So I I do commend you for that as well um, you know your goals of course for next year you're you're never satisfied with uh with Your own level of growth and you want to continue to you know, uh provide training high level management training and the relationships Uh, Karen you do that really well as it is but to to mention that you'd like to improve that Is just attribute to you that you're you never stop learning And um, you're going to work tirelessly for this organization as long as you're here. There's no doubt in my mind. So um, I I agree with the exceptional, um Evaluation for this particular year and it certainly has been a pleasure working with you over the year scan Thank you Brian Sure. Um, obviously I agree with what's been said already. Um, I'm not going to reuse the word. Um, it's Exceptional I'll shift. Um, I think she's really done an outstanding job under some pretty trying circumstances in the last year We've had as you've mentioned You know, one of the goals from last year was hopefully getting us back from a hybrid into the work or at least from work you know, hybrid somewhat consistency and To do that go back to remote again working on getting back hybrid to the point where everyone feels heard Uh, to your point either wanting to get back in or really concerned about going back in. I think you've done a really good job um Dealing with the working group dealing with listening to what everybody wants and then what the reality is for the needs of the organization on the ground Um, I know you have a preference for the live I think a lot of people maybe have preference for live when it comes to speaking and presenting But I do think there was improvement too this year. I think Everybody's sort of getting used to this format But I do think the town halls that you continue to do And trying to find ways to engage people and and keep the office going. I think you did a really good job with that Um, I know you're probably looking forward to being able to do it in person And dropping some of those massive zooms uh each meetings, but I do think you did a good job on those um The commitment to diversity, etc. I liked My experience in terms of that and who was brought in to think about particular positions and then Think about the audience for the posting and how are you going to get it out and let the people within this office? Am I frozen or is I mean frozen? He's frozen Okay, thank you crystal. Um, we'll just give we'll wait to see if if she catches up Sorry, that's okay. I lean you. Um, I think right on the diversity piece on the on the Yep the position My co-office person is on a number of different meetings right now You didn't freeze in real life. It was just a technical freezing Sometimes I think that wouldn't be so bad, you know No, the fact I liked the the manner and I saw some First hand how that was done behind the scenes in terms of reaching out to getting more diverse pools in the door Um And I think one of the things that most typifies all the stuff I've been talking about is the act of listening that carried us before Trying to come up with a solution. There's not a lot of knee-jerk reaction There's a lot of you know, listening to what's going on thinking about what the agency needs are That help her come to the best conclusion and solution she can um Going down to her goals specifically I also Because I came from a procurement background and some of the compliance background. I did Like to see as part of that working group too some of the progress that's been made on Really solidifying our procurement practices making sure we walk the walk Um in addition to talk the talk in terms of we're asking our licensees to do this and function in a certain way and we Are now making sure that we're in line with that. She's done a really good job in that regard The other pay equity analysis making sure when we didn't have on the ground We reached out to get the resources to make sure that we're looking internally at equity in that regard as well um And then really selfishly from a function standpoint I very much appreciate the improvement in the timeliness of the documentation that has been getting to us So we can get ready for meetings in a way that doesn't feel like a firehose Um staff does the best they can but I do feel like That's been a priority for you this last year and and I for one definitely want to say thank you in that regard. I think You did a tremendous amount to help for that um In terms of the goals again, I think Procurements a long process. You're still working on that. I think there were substantial strides made. Um Hopefully, you know, the last one of getting everybody back in the office will happen this year through no fault of your own You had to go through that twice um And you know as Kathy and gale have said the goals you set For the agency and for yourself are entirely appropriate And obviously whatever, you know, we can do for you as commissioners Let us know but I think you've done an outstanding job this past year in Circumstances that continue to be more than any of us expected Thank you Mr. Hill you've gotten to know caren over the Your tenure so far Well, she's been very impressive. I can say that uh with the utmost sincerity and Bringing on a newbie can't be that easy and you have made it seamless for for a new commissioner to come on board Um to make sure that we get all the information and I've gotten all the information that I've needed And that's been very impressive Impressive I too I give you very very high marks. Um in your position as our executive director I have talked to many of my former colleagues and and certainly Many of my friends in state government And I actually hold you up as somebody that all of state government Should want to be This agency is one of the most professional Agencies I've ever seen and I do believe that in part it's because of the leadership that you have shown I've been so impressed with your communication skills and your ability to build good relationships with the entire staff You have been very precise In your directors and you effectively communicate What I think you expect from your team members And from what I can see from the team members They look up to you They they don't feel uncomfortable Coming before you And your willingness to listen to every point of view I think is so important I think it's not only appreciated by the entire gaming commission staff, but As one commission and I hope I speak for all We of course appreciate that as well You always gather I believe the necessary facts and information before finding solutions to what can be And has been this year from what I have seen and from what I've heard very difficult problems I think one of your best qualities is our executive director Is that when you're faced with a problem you listen first Take into account all the information And then you try and come up with a solution And practical solutions, which you have done time and time again just in my short time But from what I can gather From the time before me You've done a tremendous job in that fact You continue to display a very Highly consistent level of performance in your work. I mean, I I can't think of a negative and and I tried You try you give these exceeds expectations and you have exceptional and you you want to be able to say But you need to work on this and I and again I've only been here a short time I haven't been able to find one of those things that I could criticize you on Which I think is great and you've always you're seeking opportunities. I think to be more productive and your positive attitude Which is what I love Encourages others to perform well as well So, you know, I feel like a very detailed individual and You really it reflects positively on all the work that you do Um, and finally, I think Karen shares her knowledge of the industry trends and best practices to achieve Enhanced outcomes in your job and I as a commissioner and I think all the employees feel The same way. So again, nothing but high marks. I'll think of something negative maybe in a week or two But for for today's purposes I'm so proud to be able to work side by side Thank you. I really appreciate it Karen before we go into the further discussion Do you Do you want to comment Eileen? I didn't mean to To was that on your Are you planning on asking Karen to do that? I didn't mean to go out of line. I'm sorry No, I didn't want to put her on the spot. I figured she would speak up if I wanted to say something, but um, it's fine I think I think I I want to convey my genuine Gratitude to the commissioners for their support. This has this has been a tough year. It's been a tough two years um, so I could not have done that without the supportive of the commissioners and uh, they've been tremendously helpful to me So thank you to all of them And then as I think anyone in management knows you are only as good as your team And I think as brad has picked up right away. We have exceptional people that work at this agency Uh, the management staff the senior staff I've never seen anything like it across the board and they just continue to excel in in all their areas Not only substantively But also just proactively working with each other We have not only intelligent people and As sophisticated people, but they're nice people and that I've been so grateful for that And I am really grateful for the support of that team Over this past year in the year before So I really just wanted to say thank you to them for helping me because you really did excellent, um So, uh, I don't know if gail or brad Um Are going to have an opportunity to discuss the evaluation. I don't think there's any formal process You know, we have the opportunity to chat with you all the time, but certainly that's available to you always You know, even if it's an adjustment of goal setting or whatever, um, all of us are open to that But I lean we do need to discuss compensation to by statute We must do this and in in public at our open meeting Brad, you're familiar with it from your days, particularly as a select person, right? So, um We had the opportunity to review a memo I mean, where do you want to start with this discussion? So if you want I can I had asked tripti to pull Last year, um, you know karen was newly appointed and with the uncertainty of covet We didn't change the salary. We when she shifted to permanent There was a discussion of salary and then we didn't do adjustments shortly thereafter when we did the review Um, I asked her to update what she had done for us then to sort of give us an internal historical picture about this position And then go look out look at other eds Within the commonwealth looking at some of the other gaming jurisdictions as well I believe everyone's Had a chance. I think tripti gave it to all of you and you've had a chance to look at it If you haven't let me know but Just to briefly go over that again The tripti comes up with a range that she calls them bans in terms of Numbers salaries that are positioned particular position falls within The band that she calculated most recently for executive director at our agency would be anywhere from 129 6 up to 207 400 That would be the range. Um, I believe the existing salary is 185 That was consistent with the departing Ed prior to when Karen came that was ed when he left Looking at other agencies We took higher education out of the analysis It's sort of a different creature and the money pay that comes from them that scale is sort of beyond the pale for most agencies in the commonwealth There was I believe an outlier at Division of licensure. I didn't know what them What the information was behind that that was pretty substantially also off the scale from other agencies, but I think a couple of the relevant comparisons would be You know Enrique Zuniga going leaving Austin going and taking executive director over at the new post commission, which is getting up and running um His annual salary that was recently set was 190 um, and then the executive director over at cannabis created, you know, somewhat contemporaneously with this commission Is I believe currently at 201 880? um, and I don't know whether they they have been giving bumps of about 3 and if they were to do that Again, and they reviewed their ed this year that annual could go up to as close as almost 208 I think 207 936 Would be the potential for the ed over at cannabis um the Ranges for the other jurisdictions are really there more for informative purposes every commission in other states is so different from what we have Um, so it was there To see if there was any uniformity that there really isn't there should have a cluster down in one area, you know, Nevada not surprisingly is you know Standing alone in another direction, but um, none of the numbers we're talking about here I think are beyond the pale when you look at other jurisdictions So I don't know if people want to comment on that or whether you know, we want to talk about numbers I I think you know at a minimum What Karen does looking at her experience and then looking at Post and cannabis in particular You know, I have a sense of sort of a tighter range of where I think she should be going effective 2022 but You know, I don't know if we want to talk individually about ideas and ranges before I throw numbers out So, sorry I think also I can't remember if it's in the memo if truth be advised on it, but just a reminder that The staff did have an increase but can did not so if you could just clarify that and then i'm sorry So there was um For the mgc Last year for 2021 The somewhat marrying what There was a retroactive and a one-time pay that executive employees received The mgc did something similar. There was a pay increase of four percent for staff retroactive to the start of the fiscal year Her calculations were that as applied to Karen salary that would have put her up to 192 four Had she been given that bump? Uh, and then there was also just a one-time Flat 350 bonus that was given out So had she been given that it would have been 192 750 for last year And she wasn't given it because because she had She was less than the time frame for consideration from going from acting To full-time executive director. So she'd already gotten the salary Change and title change within that zone. So she was not given that I couldn't remember if brad if you were here when we did the 4.0 percent retroactive increase. So that was just an important um Important clarification But honestly, I think I thought that Karen had gotten it. So I was um, this helped remind me of where Karen was at that time so If I could comment on this, um You know, I I I understand the technical rationale there with with acting But when you're acting you're doing the job. In fact, you're you're doing it to the extent where You're kind of in a trial mode and to do it the way Karen did it And I know last year we we were cognizant of our licensees not Having their full capacity. So we were not we were being very serious about our budget But I I'd be willing and I think it's appropriate frankly to consider both years not just one here Although we did hold her but the reason for that was was really related to Our sensitivity to the casino. So I I I'm very willing and I think it's appropriate to get her up to the very top of that um more experience than other executive directors who are making more money and In taking into consideration didn't get the four percent. I'd be I I'd be Advocating to get her up to the very top of that limit. I think she deserves it Um, I can't imagine we'd have another executive director come in and do Do what Karen has done. So that's just my thought on the matter And if I could just clarify tripped you just let me know she reminded me to part of it was Because of the annual basis Karen is on Other employees aren't necessarily tied into the timing of performance review and salary discussion the ways Karen's is stash tourally um, so it's not like Talking about that was deemed off limits last year. It's just we didn't They didn't put it in there because it wasn't something that they would have done with regular staff So I would agree with you gail in terms of looking at both years as we're talking about coming out of today in this number You elaborate. Um, gail. Are you saying at the top of the range that? troop D is established are you talking about the top of the range of the The other comparables. Are you talking about doubling like presuming that she Quite honestly, we we did pay Karen the same amount as the former executive director and I think we all acknowledged that She probably came in with with more relevant experience. Um, and it was a covet um A fact covet factor that Karen agreed to Agree generous on her part. It's the right on that, right? Um, and it was our recognition not Karen who said we understand that she came with a different Um, uh set of skills and experience. Um So but we kept it at 185 Am I hearing you I guess I'm seeing there's a few different ways to think about it The 4% didn't apply then but that would have brought her up to 192 I think I've been saying to Karen when you like Nick when 192 is laughing like no chair I don't but she never didn't want to correct you my point. My point I love that. I have an example right there Karen. So thank you. So, um, so 192 She got the four and then another four on top of the 192 which I'm not now my friend beyond my last skills. Um 97 would have been giving the 4% and the 350 that everyone was given No, that would be the 192 750 for last year but if we had given her the If if she had come in At an amount that was more appropriate. Let's just presume it was 4% higher Then we would give another 4% on that one 192 7 minus 350 400 right right Then that would be basically an 8 increase over time or I mean that's just one option I'm thinking of uh gale as you were going through what's going on in your mind because of two years thing Are we thinking in terms of the overall spectrum? I'm not really sure how to think about The cannabis executive director how long that person's been in office or whatever, but I just wanted to know what we're where we're thinking. I'm open to all options right now Well, I mean if the top of our band is 207 and You know with the appropriate not that we have to compare cannabis and skill sets and anything because that's probably not You know, we just that was a good it's a good right It's a good way of just knowing where the rest of the state is but it doesn't have to be It's not apples to apples with us, right? So but I just think um and and and I would think that probably next year We have to revisit bands right because they were made at a time when salaries were less that top band but But I didn't I didn't have a Other than to think in my mind that she should go to the the very top of that band I did not do the numbers like you just tried to do chair and 4% plus this I just I just believe she should be right at the top of that band Because of the last two years and the extraordinary circumstances and the the performance, frankly Oh, so sorry and the band was again 207 at top 207 for is the top band number currently So if we were to do the two years at four and four, I believe she'd be making just under 200,199 It's a change or not if I'm not mistaken with my Calculator if I did it right Right. Thanks, Brad. So she would do making just under 200,000 if if we've done 4% of 4% Which I think gail is asking right? Well, no, I'm actually thinking it should be higher than that because I do appreciate the chair's comments on the additional experience To start at 185 with that additional experience. I'm actually thinking I'd be willing to go higher than that closer to the top of that band because Of all of the circumstances we've each mentioned here today Well, and I think there's also the option of two conversations, which is one is you know effective January of 22 What are we going to bump it up to and then is there a retro discussion that we have that acknowledges That we were in an You know settled picture when she took over And so we were going off of historic numbers and then everything kind of froze Waiting to see how we came out of it and staff came out of it So I do think there's an adjustment to be had going back And then there's the conversation about and then where's the base going to go from here? So That's a more appropriate way to look at this To think about last year is last year and this year is a new year and separating the two out and and the retro so We have I have gotten a little bit of intel so 200,000 416 includes the 350 bonus and the 4 above the 192 What was that number again? I'm sorry 200 and brad is and crystal is helping here too. Thank you, crystal brad 200,460 includes the 350 dollar bonus, which she didn't get that was a coveted bonus gave more for those who are Out in the public feeling like our horse racing community and the The gaming agents brand in case I can't remember when you came on that And we had an amount That was limited that we distributed um And so that would be the 350 So that That would be going into the third year if we would add four percent She'd be right up at that right around give or take That's what I was getting at. Yeah, I wondered if it about a 12 percent overall. Yep So All we could do is maybe make it retro active Yeah, I mean, I guess I was conceptualizing a retro figure going back to last january and then another new going forward salary as of gen 1 22 And it takes into account the percentages we've all been talking about those four percentages and and the Looking at some of the comps in terms of where some of the other agencies are that haven't That they weren't in our position of sort of freezing salaries the way we did We can we can go back to january 2021. That's what you're saying, right? um so what um I mean uh gill and I have sort of spoken if you have um Ideas brad what you're thinking Well, I If i'm understanding everybody correctly Do we go back to january of last year 2021 so which would bring I think bring your up to almost 200 000 And then you had another four percent going forward Who would bring a rate around and I don't have exact numbers the 207 400 I'm okay with that Now the only the only comment I have is the four percent is pretty standard And I actually look at the work is is far above standard Um, and that's my only thought on making it a little bit higher because you're really We're in a position where we can value the work that was done not just the percentage that Seems to be the going rate around the state I think it's eight percent though if you do it twice it would be a if you went back like that eight. Yeah That's the difference gail. I think I because I appreciate that that's where um But it's one year four percent the next right and then four percent again. I think I understand we're talking about three times I'm missing explain that one to me eileen. Yeah, I'm trying to do the math right now. So If you were at 84 and did the four percent it's the 7400 to 92 four Another four percent on that Um Would have been assuming she had been given that during the year and then If we hadn't held off when she became full and not acting and then you gave her the four percent everybody else got Then she would be closing out the year at I know right. You said 99. I got 98 696 Um, and then to me it's a conversation not necessarily tied in percentages as much as Um, to me that would be the retro acknowledgement and adjustments And then I'm thinking going forward, you know Not just percentages based on it But what do I think are appropriate corrections going forward looking at some other agencies and looking at what she's done And I come down at that upper end, you know 206 207 I think is a more appropriate number Going into 22 and then doing the retro that would have made up the difference of 98 696 for last year So the eight percent would be the retro right then rather than The highest amount going retro gale. Does that I think I think As usual commissioner brian was able to really articulate what I was thinking And just compensating this year for Not just four percent because we were stuck on the 185 but really recognizing Where the number should be moving forward. So I fully support The recommendation by commissioner brian And to be clear I think we all know the 185 was the wrong number. So I think The four percent was just kind of a number. Um, but I think it really gets to eight percent to sort of bring it up Where it should have been and then the retro back to just january 2021 but because it's eight The four percent is it is just was a kind of a Right place to start the conversation Um, and then so then that would take care of the retro And then now we just want to get the set amount Going forward and that would be back to january 2021 2022 Of this month, right the calendar year, right calendar year of this year Okay, so what's that that number we I'm hearing different ones So the upper range on the bands we have is 2074 Um, and I think it should be at least 205 and I'm fine going up to 2074 But that was the number as I was going through all of this myself that I came up with I think it's in that range Yeah, I had the same analysis not to the penny, but certainly But the top of that band was was appropriate for this year and we'll be forward I'm fine either. I guess I wonder what you what the 205 was versus to What made you think 205 nothing? I'm just defaulting to I don't like 202. I think it's too low And then I'm looking at comparatively where it is 205, but the band 2074 to me maxed is To your point. I mean she came in with a tremendous amount of experience Not only internally with ieb and then the acting period, but you know undersecretary ddub She came it not to diminish You know Edward dorsion's experience. He had tremendous experiences as well But I do think she had a lot of relevant experience that she brought into this position So if we want to go to the cap of 2074 for this year To your point we talk about ranges needing to be revisited anyway We had a hesitancy. I know I did earlier talking with salary ranges for anybody While we were in covet because we didn't know what was happening But I think everyone you know Karen was no small part of that Worked with them. They seem to be coming out of it quite well And so I don't think it's beyond the pale to set ahead of the Agency the executive director and for staff that way at all I agree. I can support that Let's do it. We have a motion right All right So madam chair, I would move and we may need to clarify this if HR Derek is on and telling me we can't do the math this way Yeah, I was looking for Derek. He just doesn't happen to be on right now I think we can do this. I do too. And I think we just decided very well the treasurer here She's saying we can I I think I know I'll take that responsibility. I think we did it appropriately a lot of Discussion around the reasons for this. It wasn't a thin air conversation It's yeah, the retroactive only goes back to january One first of 2021 But it's rounds out to about 8% And then starting january 1 2022 the number that you're proposing Is 207 for so If I can make a motion on it your honor and we can your honor chair Having a time work I would move that we adjust the executive director's salary starting january 1 2022 to 207 400 and that we also implement a retroactive adjustment of 8 going back to january 1 of 2021 And I believe that adjustment figure then comes out to About 11,096 dollars. So just in case there's any Math errors we need to clean up after the fact I believe that with that's the intent of the 350 Delta does that include I know that is not inclusive of the 350 But you want to add the 350 in for the um retron right? Yep, so that would be 11,446 would be the retro I believe I second that motion and I I appreciate Commissioner bryan's map and I went to law school for a reason so don't The math numbers if we need to come back and adjust everything to make it work with what we've intended Well, I just want to comment that this um salary discussion is is um Wasn't difficult for us to do in public karen It it's easy in terms of your qualifications and your experience. I will also note That it does not mean any successor 30 years, right? Would necessarily be compensated the same way you have earned this as an individual Based on your experience based on what you do based on what the expectations are for next year Which could include a significant expansion of responsibilities? so With all that I note that Um, but this is a reflection of karen wells as our executive director not as a position that's That is now salary defined. Is that fair commissioners? Yes, yes And that's an important An important observation and important statement Um, so with that commissioner hill, do you have any questions or edits? Okay, excellent Do I have a second on that? I seconded that how you did before I I I interjected. Thank you. Commissioner camera. I commissioner hill I commissioner bryan I And I vote yes for zero Congratulations karen on an excellent excellent year and we look forward to You know your continued excellence going forward next year in this year and in your leadership So thank you for all that you do and all that you will do Thank you Okay Anything else commissioners I know we have one item for commission I'm gonna get out my constant here Lots of paper here it is Karen anything that you want to add before we turn to I know that we've also consulted with you on this next matter anything else you want to add Before we turn to Just just my gratitude. I think you're being extremely kind and generous and uh You can save this tape What's funny is I my father texted me yesterday that you know, I see on the agenda that you're doing a performance review So I don't I don't know if he's watching but I'm like My daddy If he's watching he's very proud. He should be very proud. He should be very proud You know, it's and the and also I'm sure he appreciates. It's a difficult process but it's in public for a reason it holds all of us accountable and You know, I can say that all four of these commissioners are independent thinkers right we're all independent thinkers and And hold our responsibilities very seriously and so the fact that we I think we're very aligned on that demonstrates that This is not something that is anything but fully earned Thank you All right, we do have another matter And I think um commissioner cameron and commissioner hill you received a copy of a job description As everyone knows um the executive assistant to the commissioners Um position is vacant because our long beloved jamie ennis has gone on to a new position But we've had the benefit of jacklyn net Excellent help But it's not her job forever And so we need to fill that position and thank you to truthy and Natasha for giving us a good draft I mean and I had a chance to go over it Karen too looked at it and We're we haven't resolved the salary range, but apparently in order to post we have to have that I mean, what do you want to add right now? And then we'll go Find out what the commission other commissioners are thinking I think I don't think I really have anything to add other than I know they've looked at the draft You and I had gone through that in terms of really trying to think about what jamie had done For us, you know, there's been a little bit of you know Restructuring in terms of how we're getting support, but trying to make sure it captured everything I don't think we missed anything, but I'm most interested to hear if um Either gala rad feels like there's some support in there that's not in the description for the posting Um, I I was sent this I read it and couldn't think of a thing I thought it was very well done really captured all of the even the smallest responsibilities none of them are small right, but just Really it was a thoughtful job description that really captures everything I agree Okay, so um, we do want to post it, but we've got to nail down that salary. I think if if um, you all agree To allow I mean, and I work with Karen and trooping on that because ultimately as you can see the way we've said the salary For this position was set by the executive director in coordination with recommendations from the commissioners I think if you if I like to hear from you in terms of How you view this position It's executive assistant to the commissioners for a reason Because it is a confidential position um It's an elevated position uh because This person supports the five commissioners so When we're thinking about salary, I want to make sure that Our team takes that into consideration. Are there other things you want gail? You're nodding your head. What other things do you think of that? Shouldn't you know We've all worked with so many wonderful executive assistants and they come in with different levels and they have different responsibilities Can't feel this is a big one Commissioner Cameron. I agree and I think um with the advent of two new commissioners coming on board. This will be Someone who really has to um Be able to support Someone that doesn't have the routine down yet and and is looking for that level of support. So it's I agree it's a very important position with a In particular with all the current responsibilities But the ability to support two new people who are going to have to really learn their positions and will be relying on that support so That's I agree with you Commissioner hill you You know you had the benefit of both christen and jamie's assistants coming in as well as of course carons and team but what I was just going to Agree with gail and say how important this position has been for me um And like you said two new commissioners are coming on board and without that assistant Things would have been a little rougher for me to be honest. So I I agree. This is a very very important position It's also one that we really have to rely on integrity. Um, I rely on on This position to do my time Accurately and and you have to gail. I know Yeah, and and expenditures, you know down to the penny keeping track of anything that we're re-inverse for so that We are impeccable in terms of our accountability and ethics um Anything else you want to add because this is helpful guidance for karen and in truth is they think about That range karen. This is something you want to ask us, sir No, I mean, I think that you know, we we did some research and There is a wide range depending on the the person and the uh and the position So, uh, it is helpful to get some feedback I guess what might be helpful Do you want a broad range in the posting or should we try to narrow with narrow the range in the posting? Because you could put a post in with a broad range or you may want to narrow because the problem is if you put a broad range You could get you know the superstar with tons and tons of relevant experience and then years of work experience That you'd want in the high end But then are you setting expectations if someone sees the posting that they think they're going to be In that end and then they would be coming into a job a little disappointed if if they're not getting that salary So it's it's it's tricky you know, I think the suggestion that That the chair and commissioner o'brien work with the team. I'm very comfortable with that They know they know what it takes. They they understand the position very well And I think that may be other than us just throwing kind of throwing out an answer right now um You've all been in the weeds with this one and I'd be very comfortable Delegate well, it's not even a delegation. It's just I'd be I'd be grateful if the two of you would work with them and come up with that number that you think is appropriate If we get stuck or something we're reconvening in february 10th, but I think our hope is to get this up, you know in advance, so I think we'll come up with a range, but Karen's point is a good one um So thank you for that. I think that's probably an efficient way to go about it and I I have um Complete confidence that Karen Tripti will give us some great guidance. I mean, are you okay with that? Yep, that's fine Okay, good. All right, so we'll get that going. Um again Kudos to hr. They've had a lot of fun, you know Different positions to bill and You know as as mentioned before um with Really the entire commission's intentionality in karen's leadership. We really Are doing well on the diversity end and we're also just Really fortunate at this time that We're getting some wonderful candidates, you know, things are you know, they're in flux right now across the across the country as to Employment opportunities and you know, I just want if anyone's listening about this position. This is a great team to join. So you know, we're We're excited as new members come on and very excited about The opportunities ahead for everyone so Karen anything you want to add Oh, thank you Okay quarter two Crystal, you did a great job timing this out today. Thank you. Um Need a motion to adjourn Todd's so ready And there's Judy, thank you Um, all right to our legal team. Thank you We know you have an obligation to stick with us and we appreciate it Got a a motion to adjourn on the table. I'll take the vote. Commissioner karen. I Michelle bryan I Krishna hill. Hi And I vote yes, excellent meeting. Thank you everyone for all your efforts and thank you karen