 Good morning Austin. Thank you. We're calling to order commission meeting 282 of the Massachusetts gaming commission on Thursday, November 21st 2019 at 10 a.m. At our offices here at 101 Federal Street in Boston We will start with item 2 commissioner step and approval of our minutes. Sure. Thank you, madam chair In your packet you have the meeting minutes from the November 7th meeting down at Plainville I would move their approval again always subject to any immaterial corrections or typographical errors Any edits questions a second all those in favor I All those opposed Five zero Todd. Thank you Moving on to item number three our administration administrative update from Executive director, Bertrosian, please. Thanks. Great. Good morning commissioners. I got a number of items for you First I want to tell you about some recent meetings that have happened since our last open meeting At which both staff and commissioners attended so I'll just give the highlights then if commissioners want to film later They can The g-pack gaming policy advisory committee met on Tuesday, November 12th up at the State House In it among the items they discussed was a sports gambling update from our own associate general counsel Justin Stempeck administrative update on the region of status of region C and Racing was also done and John Did a update on a community mitigation fund John's yeah So in the chair was there so she can say a little more later. She thinks that was not enough We had also had another meeting of the public health Trust fund executive committee, which was literally in this in the space right here And that was this past Monday at 2 o'clock They received the same presentation that you received previously on the Boston China's down study. They also got a gap analysis On gaming treatment services gap analysis from the folks at Cambridge health Alliance And they had a DPH communications campaign presentation and they have some standing items that they address at all their meetings So and I know a couple commissioners one was On and one was in attendance in addition Both region B in region a local community mitigation meetings happened This past Tuesday and Wednesday commissioner Stevens was present a lot of our staff was present The region B was out in Pioneer Valley Planning Commission out in Springfield and the region a was here I attended a bit of the region a it would say there was some very Robust discussions about the guidelines for next year, but I don't want to steal John Joe's thunder for the next meeting in front of commissioner or commissioner Stevens thunder But those were meetings that have happened since our subcommittee meetings have happened since our last public meeting Okay, so other things that have happened Last Friday the 15th as we do every 15th. We published a gross gaming revenue for the previous month I've been reminded that I still owe you and I will work with John's Yemba on this a letter to the legislature just reminding them both about our Bill for racing and the statutory Deadline now, so I will get that done. I apologize, but I've been reminded about that. I will get that done Let's see Next week because of the holidays I think we may move agenda setting from Wednesday morning to Tuesday afternoon If that works for everyone so we can get that done In appropriate time and give people because we'll also probably lose some people Preparing for the public meeting afterwards and it gives a little more of what I call a runway So I think we're good and we will obviously post that in compliance with the open meeting law Okay Speaking of next week next week is the last week of harness racing at Lane Ridge Park casino and They will be racing they actually race today Tomorrow and then next week they'll be racing Monday Wednesday and Friday and a little bit of trivia next week is the only Wednesday race of the season Obviously because of the holiday, but it's the only race of the season. So excuse me. You gave us the answer though Well, I didn't okay other than I'll I haven't let I have another trivia question for you that I will do later Okay, okay So You know, I want to thank our staff Oh, we have a really dedicated seasonal staff and those folks, you know, if you look at the racing schedule It starts in April 4 o'clock races this number of days it transitions Later in the year to 2 o'clock races Sometimes there on Sundays sometimes there so we have an incredible seasonal staff and full-time staff who work You know in snow and rain and mud and all sorts of all sorts of weather and conditions and do just a great job So we are very very fortunate for that So just a big big shout out to them. Thank you very much So, okay speaking of trivia Tomorrow is what Tomorrow Eight years ago tomorrow Your law was a gaming act was passed eight years ago. There you go. Okay. All right. Yeah, that's it But of course because of our ethics rules, I have no price No price. No price So that is it so Just a quick question on one of your notes the the racing letter that you mentioned You know, we should give some thought to and I thought we had talked about maybe having it on the agenda for the next meeting Being a letter that the five of us sure can sign off on. Yeah, not that your signature doesn't carry a lot of weight But I think it I think it helps remind folks how closely we're watching Yeah, we'll put we'll get one that we can put in the packet for the next meeting I think it's still timely enough that we get done by the next meeting be fine Yeah, I think in the beginning of December with the reminder of the deadline Helpful yet that is all the same one as they have the questions No, thank you. Thank you So moving on now to item number four We have mr. Delaney today our construction project oversight manager meeting the on Budsman's report starting with just flipping our agenda a little bit our Folks from Encore Boston Harbor are here and the MGM will follow once they arrive Hopefully safe safely a little bit of black ice today. So good. Thank you commissioners I'm pinch hitting for John Siemba today. He sends his apologies for not being able to be here As much we have two items on the agenda The MGM Springfield and the Encore Boston Harbor third quarter reports So first up is Encore Boston Harbor's quarterly report. This is their first report now dealing solely with operations So a little new format for this report from what they what you've seen in the past, which dealt mostly with construction We have with us today Brian Gullbrant's president of Encore Boston Harbor Jackie Crumb senior vice president and general counsel and Eric Krauss senior vice president for communications and public affairs For this report there was certain information Regarding vendor spend that wasn't available when we went to press for the You know for the packets So Encore will be providing us with some supplementary information regarding vendor spend There'll be some discussion about it today, but we'll get that and present that at a later meeting So at this point, I'll turn it over to Brian and the Encore team for their presentation And Brian before we get started we want to welcome you congratulations on your new position This is your first time here as president. So congratulations from I think I can say from all of us and also Eric welcome We um, thank you and look forward to your Continuing reporting in terms of the quarterly reports. They're always very very helpful and Continuing a very healthy regulatory relationships. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you And if I could just ask Brian and Eric to introduce themselves and give a little bit of their background information As this is the first time that they're appearing at this in this context Thanks, thank you chair and commissioners. Good morning. Thank you for allowing us to be here And thank you for greeting me and thank you for welcoming me in just a little bit of background I've been on this project whether you're aware or not since we broke ground I've been here for a little over two and a half years My original role here was to oversee operations. So I came in as executive vice president of operations I've been with the company at eleven a half years. So nine years in win and encore in Las Vegas running non-gaming hotel operations their resort operations and Four weeks in the job And we've got our hands full so we've got quite a bit to do and we're going to report today on some of the changes That we're making and the direction that we're taking and looking forward to working with you and Making sure that everything's in line the way it should be. So thank you very much Now turn it over. Thank you Brian and thank you for the warm welcome chair and In the commission. I'm Eric Krauss. I do not have the illustrious tenure at the company as Brian I'm two weeks old and But I've been in the Boston community for quite some time Started my career as a reporter at the Boston Herald and I was chief communications officer for the Gillette company And then I left I took Tycho healthcare public and created Cavite in in Mansfield, Massachusetts And then was chief communication officer for both Bacardi and Hamilton Bermuda and then back here in Massachusetts For clean harbors before joining Encore Boston Harbor I was chairman of the board of select men for six years in Walpole, Massachusetts where my wife and I still reside but I am absolutely thrilled to join on core and Help progress what we're trying to do both internally, but most importantly Externally and continue to work with the communities continue to work with the municipalities And then obviously with Jackie with all bodies that are external. So I'm thrilled and thank you for having us today Okay, okay So we're gonna start with the gaming revenue and taxes. I know you've already reported out and we've reported out publicly Just to kind of run you through where we've been and where we are and where we're going We successfully opened our facility back in June 23rd We're now focused on stabilizing our operations and really refining and growing our business As you can see 48 million 52 million 48 million gaming revenues Producing 41 a little over 41 million in Massachusetts state taxes We're at this point really growing our business and we're I mentioned some changes We've had some changes in leadership some changes in marketing leadership. We've added Eric to the team we added Jenny holiday recently to the team and We're really listening to our customers right now it's about making sure that the customers in Boston and in the local areas Enjoy our place and feel comfortable in our place and a lot of the Initial barriers that we set up are being taken down and let me speak to some of those We thought we could charge for parking here in Boston and we were wrong We have now made self-parking free for all all guests 24-7 We thought we could charge for some of the transportation like boats and premium bus buses We were wrong and we're now making those complimentary or at a very low price We've also looked at our floor at our casino floor our gaming floor and talked to our customers and listened to our customers and our demand far out Wayed our supply of tables when we open and we had $50 minimums And we were watching social and listening and responding and talking to customers now We have $15 tables always so we value everyone's money So we want to make sure everybody has an opportunity to play We're also in introducing new slot product to the floor We're rearranging the slot floor to better meet the needs of the customers so they could traverse back and forth easier But it's really about making sure that our f&b offerings our room offerings our non-gaming amenities are meeting the needs of the customers The last thing we want to do is be a Vegas casino in Boston. We want to be a Boston casino in Boston We want to be greater Boston's hometown casino and we want everyone to come and feel welcome And feel like they can have a great time there whether they're playing or not playing Frankly, we have outstanding restaurants and non-gaming amenities You don't have to play to come visit us and we'll talk about some of the events We've done that are non-gaming related that have really I think exposed our facility to people that wouldn't normally come to our Place and you've all been out you've seen the facility It's actually a nice place to stay in a nice place to hang out whether you play or not Obviously our focus is on gaming revenue as well But we just wanted to make sure you understood that we are making every effort to grow our business Something that we also I think maybe fell short on when we opened we launched our red card program But it wasn't a tiered carded program that really we figured it figured out quickly. There's a requirement So we will be launching a tiered card loyalty program January 1st That will give different levels of benefits to different levels of players and customers And we believe that that along with some of the promotions and some of the different marketing messaging that we're doing Will help grow the revenues as well as help grow our business and be much more inclusive of everyone Not just the top 10 percent. We want everyone to come and have fun So With that I would like to talk about lottery sales unless there's any questions Yeah, actually Brian can just just some revenues of course a couple of things. I remember a Prior presentation that a good early indicator was the rate of signing up into the red card Are you still seeing some of those? You know good rates in terms of you know, what's what's the potential we are sign-ups are still in the Thousands as each week progresses ahead has slowed since opening because a majority of The hoopla and excitement was right at the beginning But as we launch our tier carded program We'll also have a tier match program so that customers that are at the silver level at some other Facility will automatically be in the silver level at our our facility people that are in the top tier can come and be Automatically brought into the top tier and I think that will have sent additional sign-ups. We've also partnered with a lot of local agencies Facilities we've partnered with the New England Patriots We've partnered with the Wang theater. We have facilities now secured at Fenway TD garden Gillette the Wang making sure that we're meeting all the right people and Introducing different groups of people to our facility in our business So we're going to continue to do everything we can to grow that number because that loyalty program does in fact drive the business for Sure, great question One of the other things we heard early on it was you know kind of wanted to get the bugs out before you really marketed internationally You didn't mention that is that something that? will You'll start to do more frequently. Yes, absolutely we have a Very significant VIP business in our other facilities and we have built this facility to Take care of those customers the few that we have brought in I don't want to say prematurely, but on the early side of our business have been blown away I do believe our staff is at the level they need to be now And I do believe it's the right time to start bringing in our international customers and our higher-end customers I hope that you all have the opportunity to come out. I haven't seen any of you recently, but at opening When you start with 4,700 brand new people that are all learning their jobs in a brand new facility It could be a little challenging and for some of us it was quite challenging We're now at a place where we've stabilized and are continuing to refine now And I think we're at that place where we can start bringing in international clientele, but great question Yes, it will definitely impact our business. Thank you. I Appreciate it the context of your theme about listening to the customer and how that is driving some pretty proactive changes I would just suggest on You know some of the changes you made to parking and transportation. I think Understanding the marketplace or at least an expectation in the marketplace When you open, but I also think some of those things that you were doing We're also driving people to get out of their car and look at the additional modes of transportation to be able to access Because you know without driving their car solely so So as you've made those changes, I think it's great I think it's timely because people have gotten somewhat accustomed to getting to Encore Boston Harbors through some of the other transportation options. They've all figured it out focused on And we're gonna help help the ones that haven't figured it out yet figure it out And I think by lowering those barriers cost and price People go, well, maybe I will jump on that boat if it's free And it's an amazing arrival experience. So why wouldn't you you don't have to sit in any traffic, right? Any other questions on the evidence could you just update us on The convention business, I know that there's When you had start up there were challenges of getting that in are you able to so the business is growing our prospects and Definites are growing on the books But we were slow at the beginning This is a business that books 9 12 18 months out You don't decide you're gonna have a meeting for 400 people tomorrow or even next week or next month Although there is some short-term business. It's usually smaller the larger groups and convention business has a much longer booking window So we're really seeing great activity for 20 and 21 And that's starting to materialize now and we're adding to the sales team So it's important that we have all the horsepower we need in sales But we certainly have the facility the team is doing an outstanding job So we're really looking forward to that on the short-term business though We have a great facility for catering and holiday parties and that's just exploding right now So really excited about the short-term opportunities, but to your to your point on convention It's really a long-term play and it's a 12 to 18 month booking window that we're working on right now We just had a beautiful wedding there Yeah, so social events and different things that are happening and we'll touch about some of that later in the presentation course With respect to the lottery sales We started a little slow at a hundred thousand, but in August we went to 241,000 now that is with the addition of Kino that happened in August up and on deck burger bar Where we offer that and then September 186,000 we continue to work with the state lottery to make sure that We're maximizing their sales and that we're refining the processes with Kino Which we've made some adjustments there and making it easier for customers to see the numbers and we're displaying them now on very large TVs so it's much easier to play much easier to see the results and We look forward to continuing that relationship and we've committed to a quarterly meeting with the lottery to review the numbers to see which machines are generating what profits and To make adjustments as necessary to continue to grow that business On the compliance side We've put in a lot of initiatives since opening designed to keep miners from entering the gaming floor And if they do manage to sneak in to prevent them from gaming and consuming alcohol For example since opening we've added stanchions So that our customers entering the gaming floor are required to go right past directly past a security guard And we've given all of our security guards hand-held devices which they can use to verify identification What we've discovered is the hand-held devices aren't Wonderful, they're not terribly efficient or accurate. They tend to result actually in more false negatives So what we're doing now is looking at whether we can hardwire The veradox or another company's machines that we can verify the identification right then and there Another initiative that we're we're looking at and implementing immediately is a number of our younger guests have more youthful-looking guests have complained that they've been carded in multiple locations and while we certainly want to encourage our cocktail servers and our Dealers to to card anyone who appears to be underage We did want to respect that these guests shouldn't be carded eight or nine times in an evening So what we've implemented now is a system where they can go to a central location and show their identification Get it verified get a hand stamp and that hand stamp will Demonstrate to whoever else comes into contact with them that they are permitted to be within the gaming floor Jackie can I ask you in terms of the miners intercepted gaming do you have a Shortest time period longest time period median in terms of the time that they were actually gaming Yeah, I mean we've been tracking all of that and we've been working very closely with the GU Most of them are very short term frankly. We're catching them fairly quickly It's obviously easier at the tables than it is at the slot machines So we're working on trying to get what we call the rovers We have rovers in every quadrant of the casino who are going through those slot machine areas to try to Intercept anyone who who may have got past our security at the do you know what the actual numbers are though? I don't but I can get that to you Out of that 41 you just talked about the breakdown between people you're catching at the table people you're catching a machine We would hope you know there's More that are sliding in somewhere on the slot machine floor and not actually facing a person Standing behind the table So out of that 41 you have a sense of folks that you caught at a machine and folks that you caught at a table We do have a full breakdown of all of that information which I will supplement this Filing with we'll get that to you this week Thank you You may not know the answer to this question either then I'm looking at the five miners that did consume alcohol Yeah, and if that was a fictitious ID or did they just not get carded? So on these ones these were people who did not get carded So what we've told our staff is what we're trying to encourage our employees to do is to look at an ID Try to verify it through our verodox machine To the extent that they do actually check the the identification We're trying to not penalize them if they do not check the identification Or if it's blatantly false then they are then they are subject to discipline But to your point on false Fake IDs it is an issue obviously and I know the nightclub deals with that as well There's they're probably the biggest target of that And something that with the right technology you're a bit better off So we are looking at different technology as well great So so going forward Joe Perhaps you can work with Jackie to make sure we have those Segmented metrics because that's an important part of the discussion. Thanks So on the operating spend Unfortunately, we owe you more information on this to we are we are short one procurement person. So Unfortunately, we weren't able to compile the data In the format that I know Joe and Jill have asked us to do So we are working very diligently on this We started with a number of companies that we already had contracts with in Las Vegas To maintain sort of the brand image to the brand consistency So we're looking at those contracts to see what we can pull out and do locally and what needs to have that The the wind branded Consistency So here's just a few examples of some of the local and minority and woman-owned businesses that we have been working with these were sourced locally through our procurement team here and We've entered into long-term contracts with each of these companies Jackie I had a chance I think to meet the folks from Dpv transportation and this is obviously a business relationship. That's really transforming their company and they were Extremely excited about the business opportunity, but at the same time Nervous, but at the same time. I know director Griffin actually worked with them in your Spending team to get some payment issues worked out So right and we're continuing to work with them to make sure that it's sustainable for them as well Like may I comment on Dpv real quick? These two young guys are fantastic Minority owners have really done a great job for us partner with us. Well, we didn't see ridership coming from certain locations They were quick to respond and we said let's let's go to Patriot Place and let's see what we can do there They've gone down there. Let's go to this other location and they've reassigned equipment Redone their operations They've really been a joy to work with and they're great partners So I'm glad you brought them up because they're two really in their young guys. Nothing wrong with being a young guy They're doing great and we look forward to a long-lasting partnership with them. They're great. That's great. Thank you So on the employment side we as of November 12th had 4,674 employees And we're continuing to hire so far this month We had over 50 new employees go through our two-day orientation including Eric So he can give a blow-by-blow of that orientation As of this morning we had 68 Open job postings in hotel food and beverage retail marketing customer service and sales So we're continuing to recruit and to hire. We also of course have our tenants in the building We've got big night entertainment that run mystique in memoir. We've got for telly and Dunkin Donuts And of course each of those have their own employees. So that's another few hundred employees from those tenants in terms of the Minority veteran and woman and local Breakdown We're very pleased to report on the minority side. We had a goal of 40% and we're actually at 54% On veterans. We're meeting our goal at 3% on woman We need to work a little bit harder and get up from 44% to 50% and that is something that we are focused on in In terms of local hires, which is defined as within 30 miles of the casino. We're at 87% compared to our goal of 75% I'm sorry Jackie. I lost track. Did you do did I hear you say that the goals because of what you are expecting? Did you just say them and I missed I missed that sure so on the minorities We had a goal of 40% 40. I couldn't hear that. I'm sorry Veteran was 3% 3 Woman was 50 and Local 75 Jackie may not be able to answer this because it's probably on the HR side of the house, but It's timely because as we think about workforce pilot training programs in the next round of community mitigation funds are there challenges that keep coming up in terms of Skills or training that you find good candidates So I think what's we do a lot of training in-house and we can we can train People who come from different industries from restaurants a lot of our a lot of our food and beverage are people who come from restaurants Not other hotels. I think the biggest challenge we're having is we're 24-hour operation and a Lot of people aren't used to working a night shift We are also pretty strict in terms of our work rules. So we have we expect people to show up We expect them to show up in a timely manner And if they don't we have a progressive disciplinary process and I think that given the unemployment rate in the current markets and a lot of these Employees have come from sort of more local restaurants. They weren't accustomed to the sort of rigid Process and so I think that's taken a lot of adjustment. We are starting to see that Level out and we're fairly pleased with our attrition rate right now So, you know, we're we're in the 20s to the high 20s attrition rate Which is what less frankly than where we thought we'd be And so our employees are definitely learning our system as well Yeah, you mentioned skillset. I would I would say we still Would love to have more dealers We are continuing with Cambridge College and our partnership and our dealer school So that is one of those at least for the near future. We'll continue to do that Until we feel like we're fully ramped up in the casino side You're aware we've added tables because of demand and so as we add tables times three shifts You need more staff and so and our our business is really peaking on weekends, obviously And evenings so it's it's more difficult to staff everybody on two days and then have a more level playing field The rest of the time so I think dealers will be one of those focuses We have for quite some time because there aren't a lot of Bostonians that have a tremendous a tremendous amount of experience in dealing so we're helping on that side and certainly Recruiting from everywhere and dealers need to be 21 We are acquiring And with respect to Cambridge College and Debra Jackson is lovely as president I am I'm wondering in terms of the pipeline are they getting attracting the students that they need is there any promotion advertising issues for them so and is it a Positive pipeline for you in other words. Are you able to hire a high percentage of their graduates? Yeah, it's still an effective Operation for us certainly we could always have more And I don't have visibility to exactly the recruiting methods So I can get back to you on that with more information. I'm just wondering want to make sure that The pipeline is healthy on both that pipeline has been very healthy In fact, we've had a waiting list of people so as we open up new programs We send out to those people and let them know that we're starting a new program And so we've been very very pleased with the participation and then in terms of the graduate Who you're able to hire Over 95% 95% and then in terms of Scholarships you're not finding a financial barrier so much in terms of the program We haven't we obviously gave out a lot of scholarships at the very beginning We haven't heard any Just but I'm turning to in terms of our community Mitigation to that you're not hearing that Financial barriers are keeping students out. I know that we are hearing that out in the Western region I'm not I'm not so much sure about the Eastern region. Okay. Thank you. That's really helpful And just one more thing to add so as we've sort of stabilized now that we've been open for a little bit We're able to we've been able to implement our leadership programs And so HR is rolling that out so now we're able to take the managers who've been running at a million miles every day and Actually give them the training that they need to be better managers and to grow in their positions too And I think one of the important things that we're focusing particularly on the diversity side is making sure that we get women and minorities through those leadership programs and into the Higher roles that are available. I suspect that my fellow commissioners will be asking for those numbers. So I Suspect as much. Yeah Along along those same lines Because you did such a such a Very good job with the construction phase and incorporating women Have you identified any barriers to your overall hiring or specific job? Jobs that women may need to be encouraged to you know, they can do those jobs or have you I mean, that's an important step I know you said you're working on that But identifying barriers is a critical piece. I just wondered if you had any any Statistics on on those things We have identified certain departments that have less women in those departments and what we're trying to do much like we did on the construction side For example What we call PAD which is our public area cleaning crew Anything outside of the rooms Correct So, you know housekeepers we have a large percentage of women But we're not seeing those same candidates apply for our PAD positions So what we're trying to do is if we don't have a housekeeping position available We're trying to talk the candidates through what we do have available in PAD Hoping to transition them into a role which they wouldn't traditionally think that they may be able to handle The other department that we're working very closely with to make sure that we get more women in is our security department which is a really large department and Rich Pryor our director of security has has done a really great job in the last few months of really identifying Woman that are are meet the criteria to work within the security department Or how we can adjust our criteria slightly so that we get people in who can be trained Thank you Jackie again kind of staying on this topic any update on the The daycare services. Yes, so very good Commissioner O'Brien through me Excellent news we actually got our certificate of occupancy on the daycare center last week We have moved in older furniture in fact My assistant to new chef has spent the last two weeks at the daycare center helping them move the furniture in So now they're going through their process of trying to get everything done on on ABC's ABC ABC on their end to make sure that they can get up and running first thing in the new year Moving on to marketing and entertainment Brian So we had July August September Quite a few different promotions and ramped them up Sequentially so July was really a launch of the red card program Which is our current program that will morph into something different the end of December launching on the 1st of January as I mentioned That went out with a lot of free credit and got everybody excited and brought people in and it's about trial and acquisition and Making sure that customers can come and players can come and try us out In August and September it started to become much more promotional and we had our first car giveaway It was a 2019 McLaren, which is a nice fancy car and a resident from Melrose Actually one you can see him in the bottom right corner very excited with his Fenway Winning a $220,000 sports car, so he was very excited. This is after he did a race back from Mike's roast beef This is hilarious. So you had to be present to win a Friend of his text him and says hey, they just called your name. You're the winner and he says nah and This is another friend called him. He's running down Broadway from Mike's roast beef to get there just in time To claim the prize, so we were very excited to hold the car for it Within the rules. Yeah, doesn't he have the sandwich in his hand right there? That would not be the sandwich That's the price How much time did he have to get back how fast can it run it was 15 minutes But that's that's quite a run yeah But I think it should be duly noted that he was taking advantage of a neighborhood enterprise to grab his sandwich One that's well known. That's a great job of the cottage industry. That's right Many different promotions, but the car promotion so successful that we did a second one in October Also very successful with a Porsche But we'll continue that on a regular cadence And we're really introducing quite a few additional promotions in different things that will report out next month or next quarter And you'll see this grow more and more to be more competitive in the market We also turn the page had a few concerts and we started doing special events to really drive incremental traffic and Introduce our facility to different customers Tony Bennett a true icon. He was phenomenal Really did a great show show was sold out. We had invited guests there. They all came in and then Scooted into the casino and had a great time. We changed the music that night in the casino. So it was a lot of fun We had Casey in the sunshine band. Yes Some of us still remember Casey in the sunshine band It was a great night for everyone and then we had earth wind and fire When we kicked off things we've had Paul, Anka. We've had some Asian concerts. We had a Vietnamese concert We had a Taiwanese concert Making sure that everybody has something to enjoy and bringing in different groups of people So it's been a lot of fun. We've learned that boxing is very popular here in Boston in the greater Boston area We've had two Friday night fights Championship pro boxing both with Murphy's boxing and both were very well attended and The evening went very smoothly We had extra security and we had extra police detail just in case because Everybody gets excited at a fight and there's a certain activity going on in the middle of the room that would Might inspire people we had no issues Everybody was very civil and it had a great time, but there was a lot of hooting and hollering. So it was a fun night The next page a little different than fight night. We had our first high tee this was really for the LGBTQ T plus community and the event was on a wonderful Saturday afternoon as you can see by the pictures it was Beautiful weather and everything was still green and glowing, but we had a great reception We had a couple thousand people show up Not all with batting community But with residents with customers that are just walking by here in the music and the DJs going and it was a lot of fun We all got to kind of go down. I hung out and it was a really enjoyable afternoon so much so That the LGBTQ T plus community here in Boston wants to have additional events with us And we're talking to them now about what we're gonna do next to up it even more and make sure that We're the right facility for all so it was a lot of fun And I did not know I have to tell you a quick quick story It's high tee and that's what we build it as and About a half hour before the gates open and before the opening. I saw six Ladies probably in their fifties or sixties and they were beautifully dressed with beautiful tee hats and their pumps waiting And I and I asked them if I could assist them and they said we're here for afternoon tea I explained now. Let me let me fit forward real quickly an hour later. They were on the floor They had the best afternoon tea and afternoon they've ever had and it was really something that was to be seen and enjoyed by all So it was a wonderful afternoon Mentioned briefly earlier that we've secured suites For all of our guests at Fenway Gillette TD garden the Wang and we're also very proud to announce Our partnership with the New England Patriots We are now the official hotel of the New England Patriots for several years to come What a great organization And have recently met with some of the other sporting associations and organizations here Really making sure that we have the right strategic partnerships here in the community and that we reach out to all But all of the venues have been very supportive and welcoming so it's been great and our guests are certainly enjoying all of our winning teams I think any questions Any of the promotions or any of the marketing that we're doing you will see us come out more strongly with Boston's hometown casino and again We want to be Boston's casino not a Las Vegas casino in Boston And we certainly welcome any input that you have as well We want to make sure that this is a partnership and we move forward and grow our business for the benefit of all so thank you on our community relations we We engaged in a few cleanups a cleanup of Jordan Boys and Girls Club of Boston and Stone Zoo and We also had about 110 participants in the 5k run that benefits disabled veterans In other community highlights we are proud to announce that we are the gold winner of the Massachusetts economic impact award Which we will be receiving on Monday. It was actually a pretty amazing competition We went in and had to pitch there were about five other businesses from eastern Massachusetts in that room And they were pharmaceutical companies that have developed drugs that are really saving lives There they were There was a company that can track every Social media post so in real time they track Twitter Facebook everything and they're able to give a company real-time information about what's trending right now and How to respond to it and there was sustainable farming projects so pretty diverse group of companies that that were participating in this and we were really surprised and shocked and pleased to be the winner To date this year. We've donated 2.5 million to local charitable organizations and our employees have Volunteered 4,200 hours our goal for this year is 5,000 and we're on track to getting there I wanted to turn it over to Eric just briefly to talk about community relations going forward and well We have the 10 year we have the four-year commitment of 10 million dollars for tracking Well with a quarter of that in year one I think what you're going to see from on core Boston Harbor going forward is No matter how much we're going to give it's never enough and we want to probably transition of trying to do a lot that then You don't give as much and you don't have the impact with a single Organization so I think we're going to go from a shotgun approach to much more of a strategic focus in Areas that are important not only in our host community and Everett, but in greater Boston as well So you'll see at least the commitment of our money remaining But where we channel that will probably change in some cases dramatically Employee volunteer hours we are committed to hitting the 5,000 threshold and Our employee base in all the companies that I have worked in is probably stronger here than anywhere on being in the community But we have ongoing meetings with Boston and the surrounding communities on what's important to them And we're going to continue to do that as you may know we partnered with the Connors family office and They have been terrific in identifying where we go We have implemented a new committee internally that the three of us sit on so any dollar going out needs our approval and Hey, we're four months into this and we're only going to refine it and get it better So any questions for us? Well, maybe just a comment. Hi. There's a lot of great signs and I'm Substance to the report today. Thank you. I would just I look forward to future updates, especially On the table game play it's it's good to hear that you're reacting quickly to what you perceive to be Higher demand that anticipated on table. I know that carries a number of logistics Not just additional hiring, but you know, in instances, there's slot moves and and perhaps camera coverage So it's really good to hear that that you responding quickly As everybody knows we do we will do research on patrons a patron survey and other things and We'll be I'll be interested in seeing how much of that market is being recapture money And you know that that's leaving the state How much of it might be just the market dynamics that you're in because you're competing with other Massachusetts licensees and how much is the overall market really a growing which is something that we're also interested in in ascertaining But thank you for the report Just on that, I'd like to say thank you to Bruce and Burke and Lewis because we've been doing these changes almost constantly And they have been unbelievable to work with they've been responsive. They've been helpful They've we couldn't we couldn't thank them enough for for being so prompted in their response Good to hear A couple of questions On employment, you know, thank you so much for the provision of both full-time and part-time. I know that you're going to get back to us on Really looking at the minority breakdown and the goals a little bit in further detail but as you know, this is a The measure of number of employees is an important one for the community Right now the combination of full-time and part-time is forty six hundred seventy four We know that you started it with a high number. I think it was maybe like fifty eight hundred for this one Really your opening Jackie you were here. I believe I was not When there was a submission for your application. Do you remember the number of? What you anticipated for employee number All off the top of my head and Joe said he's got it right there It was significantly lower in our application. I believe we were at thirty eight hundred Joey. You want to correct me the See if I can find it John just sent this out to me Yesterday, I think it was forty three hundred and change Was the number? I think it was thirty eight hundred yeah, and I and I think that's an important number to have on the record and then secondly I Believe that you are keeping track of local taxes. I've seen one article again I think that's a really important measure. We recognize our licensees as economic drivers So do you have off the top of your head any numbers that you want to share? Or could we at least plan on that coming in the future in terms of hotel and meal taxes? so we actually had a meeting with the city of Everett on Tuesday and We're working to get that information. They get it on a quarterly basis We obviously know how much we've paid in but we're trying also not just to see what we paid in but what? But what the impact on other businesses within the community they did have one they only have one other hotel In Everett, it's the Envision Hotel lovely hotel And so we're trying to try to break it down and see are we helping the Envision? Are we helping Mike's roast beef? Are we helping some of the other restaurants McDonald's down the street from us? And so we will be able to report on that and give you that information as soon as we can amalgamate it all from With the city of Everett that that that would be a really helpful metric. Thank you Yeah, I would I would echo that you know, certainly it's something we've had a Conversation with you know Mark Vanderlin and our research team about to look at some of those local trends and those local revenue sources Seeing what kind of impact we're having any other questions Thank you so much. Thank you again welcome We we knew you were already here in the Boston area, so we don't have to say welcome to the neighborhood, but thank you Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so next up we have MGM Springfield We're joined by Mike Mathis president of MGM Springfield and Mike has quite a crew with him So I'll I'll step aside here and he can introduce the his folks for their quarterly report Don't go too far Joe How was your trip? I see or not so I see not too bad. Good. Do you want to introduce your team Mike? Good morning, madam chair commissioners morning Michael Mathis with MGM Springfield I think it might make sense to let them introduce themselves as they they report out on their respective sections And apologize for the delay and want to thank the on-court folks for switching up the order So and congratulations to them for for a great opening quarter It's interesting to hear some of their their growing pains They're growing pains that I'm sure are familiar to you because we've reported on the same items obviously we had the benefit of a long history of regional operations So we got ahead of some of those issues just by nature of those operations, but we're learning as well as you know, so So wish them all the luck So I think some of this we touched on last quarter because because the lag effect or always in or always in We've got new information even as we're reporting on prior quarters But just a refresher on our one-year anniversary I think for us especially in this third quarter the one-year anniversary is significant because we're laughing ourselves And as we lap ourselves we're able to really Take a look at the things that we saw in the market in that month and the kinds of changes We've made to track our progress against those prior months Still you get a little bit of that opening effect from those first two or three months So for us, I think the real the real year-over-year comparisons will become more meaningful the farther You get away from that that new that new shiny toy opening impact that both us and on-court enjoyed in those first two or three months But that said had a great one-year anniversary We talked about in the past celebrated not just the community But really our employees as well and just to remind you one of the one of the great experiences bottom-right photo is a Our floor supervisor Mike Davis and table games and he had worked the night before until about 4 a.m He was part of a pool of 200 employees We had made a commitment at our Grand opening with our employees that anybody who had perfect attendance at the Called the the supervisor and below level the hourly level would be entered into a pool to win a car and Incredibly, we had 200 individuals that qualified for the raffle and Mike Davis who had worked Until 4 a.m. The night before His boss asked him to come out to volunteer to support the grand opening event We're a little concerned he was gonna tell us a pound sand having worked till 4 a.m. Which would have been awkward, but he was a trooper. He came out and we're myself and Jimmer and our chairman awarded him a car He's a Springfield resident as well. So really really great story Just to highlight a few changes and you know, we continue to tweak and evolve our program The photo there is our stadium gaming which we opened about right around the anniversary And it's been a huge success. I think one of the things that we've learned About the market is that you've got to provide different products that for a high frequency customer and give them an opportunity to engage and With with the product in a different way what the stadium gaming does for us a few things One is it allows us to give them a lower table limit You heard the encore folks talking about dropping from 50 to 15 We had the same experience dropping from 50 and 25 down to 15. We're now getting requests for 10 and 5 and because of the stadium gaming which is staffed by two dealers who are able to basically serve a 24-seat table if you think about it We're able to provide a five dollar table limit because of the efficiencies on the labor and They're able to play multiple games as well. So been a great product very communal and We continue to expand that look at expanding those opportunities Mike how is the market, you know, your customers responding to that? Stadium gaming very well. It's it was tracking above, you know, we call it the house average on the machines and We've got one more game that we've added to the four screens that are available So, you know, it's always interesting about these machines as well as as we track average bed It's the perception of choice that people want they want a five minute the five dollar minimum But I think our average on those machines are somewhere in the fifteen dollar per per bet So it's it's it's working quite well It's been very profitable for us and the customers love it because they're really multi-tasking, right? They could switch between one game and another that's right rather quickly Yeah, exactly so yeah, you're able to play roulette and blackjack at the same time and there's a there's a customer that wants that opportunity This has been a really a great opportunity for us. We just this past weekend Opened our VIP lounge off the hotel lobby and in terms of lessons learned We thought we we could get away with not offering a VIP lounge and our customers told us that they really wanted one and We converted the old Starbucks space off the hotel, which was underperforming We're trying to understand a little bit more why we think a lot of his location But into this really beautiful space and it really gets gives a Chance for our VIP customers to get away from sort of this the stimuli of the casino floor And to get some quiet space, especially with their family their spouses In a nice beautiful space and you can see it's done as well as we've done the rest of the property And I think some of you have toward it and very excited about it. We had we had a grand opening Event for this this past weekend and had six hundred or so VIP customers In that space and then spilled out into the lobby But really great feedback about you know, most of it was directed at me and was it like about time you gave us this So but great space I had a chance to be in there the other day for your reception with Officials from the surrounding community, but they were impressed. I was impressed. It looked great. Thank you Looks great. What are what are those things that appear to be hanging on that third picture Mike from the ceiling? Yeah, they're they're in keeping with the theme that is throughout our property Especially in our hotel lobby there they're hardbound books that have been opened up and played open and the pages have been curled over and It's it's it's a very neat installation and gotten a lot of comments about that that particular chandelier Looks like MGM is having a direct impact on the brimfield flea market. That's right For sure we will try to track that And then you know some of the things that are under development we had our groundbreaking about a month ago for Walberters about a month and a half ago and Construction permitting is underway with the city. That is a June-July planned opening That was the last piece of our development, you know on the campus as you will recall That will bring between 25 and 50 jobs based on the estimates we've received from the Walberters family and it's going to be Their first Walberters and this side of the state and I think you know part of what we're trying to do is is Obviously bridge the gap between Western mass and Eastern mass I think bringing a brand and with the Walberters name out there. They want to be very active in promoting it It's an important location for them And I think they recently announced a Western location as well So clearly they're invested in trying to build build a brand across the Commonwealth They were excited to partner with them and then really this is we're on the heels I think about two weeks ago. Madam chair was out for an incredibly exciting announcement, which is we are bringing the Red Sox winter weekend to Springfield It's been in with a Connecticut competitor who also had the green monster branding opportunity When we took over the green monster as MGM part of that agreement was to also bring winter weekend to Springfield So Sam Kennedy the president of the Red Sox came out brought the trophies And it's gonna be the third week of January and this is part of a long-term relationship so Tickets went on sale. I get periodic counts on how that How that event is selling but they estimate to be as many as 10,000 a rabid Red Sox Fans coming to downtown Springfield in the third week of January Incredibly exciting. It's gonna be a game-changer for the region and if you talk about economic impact there You know that is more people than we can feed certainly more people than we can lodge and the The hotel blocks reach all the way out to Worcester The restaurants are gearing up. We've met with our CVB to get ready for this for this group of folks to come out It's a two three-day experience. We're gonna Have a bunch of activation around it Interestingly enough that same weekend is also the Hoopal classic, which is one of the nation's top mature high school basketball Showcases happens to be the same weekend. It's sponsored by the basketball Hall of Fame Dwayne Wade and LeBron James's sons are playing in that showcase So there's the opportunity potentially for those folks to be in town at the same time as the Red Sox So it's gonna be one of the bigger events that side of the state seen since probably our opening So we're very excited about it and all the opportunities that that will bring Is that a three-day weekend? Is that Martin Luther King? It is wonderful Yeah, so it's a it's a great weekend And we work we meet weekly with the Red Sox folks to make sure that the whole city is ready You know, we call this a city-wide and in Vegas you have city-wide This is gonna be more than a city-wide. This will be a region-wide because the impact That's a great opportunity to showcase Your facility to showcase Springfield and all the area So we we know that it's a very much a joint regional Effort and I think that if we were guessing when eight years ago when the expanded gaming act was put into place They were imagining exactly that for the region. So Good luck. Absolutely and in that sort of regard the In that vein we've we've got another really exciting opportunity later in the year. It's the Basketball Hall of Fame NBA enshrinement We hold it every year in at Symphony Hall and this particular year the class includes Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett This is gonna be a tremendous year probably the biggest year since the dream team went in So again imagine both of these events in downtown Springfield in the same year And it will be the same type of preparation and it'll be really more than a city-wide. It'll be a region-wide We're very excited about 2020 and Exposing a lot of new visitors customers to downtown Springfield the MGM resorts obviously product, but really Really the region so very excited about that I'm just gonna close on this section madam chair you You asked the encore folks about local tax impact. I know I mentioned the impact and and what was a great business development event that Commissioner Stebbins put on a week ago and Introducing all the licensees to different businesses, which I thought was great I'm getting a lot of emails from that and a lot of activity. So I appreciate the introductions But I did a deeper dive and at this point we can compare fiscal year 18 to fiscal year 19. So July of 2017 to June of 2018 what the city collected in meals and occupancy tax compared to the period of July of 18 to June of 19 and Very proud of the results. I think for many for many for the few naysayers that talked about The our licensees being cannibalistic of the local economy If they were right, then you would expect to see our MGM revenues Offset by declines in the other and those numbers will be flat, right? If that would if that were to prove their case, that's not the case We we said that you know a rising tide lifts off boats. We believe that we we size our campus such that Visitors would spill out of our four corners and go into the local restaurants and go into the local hotels So here are the numbers from fiscal year 18 the city tracked 2.9 million in combined occupancy and meals tax in fiscal year 19 that number jumped and only had 11 months of our impact by the way, right? Because that started in July 3.8 million is with that number. That is a 30% increased 887 thousand dollars of increased economic activity You hear anecdotes about our businesses is our you know our local business is feeling the impact of MGM. It's been great Our business is down. It's hard to hard to sort of siphon through some of that Anecdotal information to me the data speaks volumes We estimate we're probably 50% of that increase because we're obviously Pushing a lot of meals through we're pushing a lot of occupancy through at a higher ADR Which impacts that tax rate, but the other 50% is pure lift to the remaining businesses in the community And that's something we'll continue to track, but we're incredibly proud of that and as well as you should be that's great Thank you for that Mike Thanks for urging me to track it down. I know that was something that you reached out about At this point talk about revenue taxes and lottery and then we'll switch over to compliance So you can see our our quarterly gaming revenue, you know, we are Settling in we're not certainly not Not satisfied with it, but we're settling in in that low 20 million sort of Monthly gaming revenue for me I think what's meaningful about this is these are the first three months with on-court in the market. They're very formidable Competitor certainly and they've done a wonderful job and and in terms of a month over month comparison I don't have the Q2 numbers, but I know these these numbers represent flat or flat to up over the Q2 period and that and that substantiates for us that we have a very strong local market We have a market that appreciates the MGM product we certainly have some great Boston customers and we've seen them come back after trialing on-court and They've told us that it's a great experience, but it's a different experience and we like the MGM experience Just as much as we like the on-court experience before different reasons. So we're gonna share some of those great customers certainly some of the great Springfield customers in the Western Mass are gonna we're gonna share with on-court as well, but we've we've been able to absorb that the introduction of that that strong competitor and in fact as We're sitting here today. October numbers have been already been released. We're in the middle of November We're seeing a very strong fourth quarter. I think that speaks to us getting into our database making the improvements like the VIP lounge and some of our marketing changes so I think the future is bright and We can coexist in a really hopefully vibrant commonwealth market Mike just in general Same comment that I had for for the the people from Angkor as we move forward and I do we do more more of these research I'd be interested in just how much you think you're growing collectively the market and how much might be Your success in trying to recapture some of that play that was leading the state before you came in Sure, you know, we're we're always a little sensitive about some of the proprietary analytics that we do But I think you know one way just as you think about the size of the market is what we look at is If you define the market as as the commonwealth Licensees certainly the Connecticut the two Connecticut operators depending on how you feel about Upstate New York we sometimes include connectivity the rivers Folks in there and then you look at Rhode Island the Twin River and Tiverton operations All their numbers are public. So you you put that all into you put that all into a table and Whatever the increased revenue that you're seeing from the new operators you look at what the decline is in the other competitors and when we came on board certainly you saw a little bit of a Decline in some of our competitors, but our new revenue far outweighed the declines I think you're seeing with with the introduction of Angkor that we're not only not down But we're up so you can see what maybe the declines aren't some of the other competitors maybe outside of commonwealth, but The introduction of MGM the insurance introduction of Angkor is growing the market In a whole there's a little bit of cannibalization But there's new customers coming and they're spending and there's existing come customers are coming They're spending more time and more money in these facilities. So we believe that we believe we are growing the market significantly Thank you. Yeah the lottery Performance, I think You know these these looks in some way similar to what you saw in Angkor. Obviously, they had a very large August as did we I think You know, we're excited about the lottery opportunity part of it. It really goes to how we We had sent our customers with different promotions and some of our better promotions have been around lottery ticket giveaways So what these numbers don't speak to are the lottery tickets. We actually buy ourselves as a customer I think these are just the terminals But we we believe we've got a robust business We're going to continue to promote the lottery in our and our in our different customer promotions to drive a little bit Of more awareness to the terminals, but it's a pretty healthy business and I think it's performing quite well I For whatever's worth, you know, whether they do or don't I believe Playing which does include what up, you know in their lottery reports, whatever they might purchase for giveaway Okay, well, we'll look at that. I didn't believe we were but perhaps perhaps where we are tracking them in these numbers And I think that's why I asked Last at our last commission meeting whether or not it They had Kino because it There's a suggestion here that it's the lottery tickets. That's the I see Kino Is it just from the machines that you think or does this would this reflect Kino as well? It would it it would include Kino, which I think we generally Provide in the tap Sports part Okay, so this definitely is not just the past it's a Kino as well Yeah, I believe so, but I'll make sure between that question and then our own purchase and then your own purchases I'll verify for the next word and Joe if we could just make sure that all through, you know PPC and on court everyone's measuring the same way I mean to me it's a it's it's an impact, right? The positive impact if you're purchasing them to give away The lottery still sold that ticket. That's right. That's right Well, and then the good news is that the numbers show Great sales for the lottery Thank you At this point, I'm going to turn over to Daniel Miller our director of compliance to talk through our Q3 numbers for on the client side Thank you, Mike. Good morning lady chair and commissioners and as you said Daniel Miller I know we met briefly in the last quarterly meeting, but I'm the new compliance director took over from Karen McCrae And yeah, I'll happily walk you through our numbers regarding the underage You know participants fat sadly either on the casino floor gaming or Consuming the alcohol Like July even though the first number seems pretty high Again, it speaks to how we're detecting and quickly removing these people from the gaming floor and I know if you remember but from The last quarter's response as well June was pretty high July appears high August appears high We interpret those being directly related to school being out college being out and Opportunists as it were between probably the ages of 18 and 21 Trying to get onto the gaming floor and we're finding them But in the month of July we had no table games Gaming and we had no alcohol consumption by any minus either So that we thought that was some very good numbers there Regarding August and September there were a little bit of both on that front There was one table game player in August and then the three Consumptions of alcohol one of them was the table game player as well And then there were two and two in September in all but one of those cases They were to your point earlier commissioned a Cameron fake IDs were used in that case One particular situation in August was someone in the poker room They were questioned the ID was shown to GEU and even they couldn't tell at first whether it was or was not a fake ID To its degree, but are you using some of the technology the verification technology? Next as it as of September late September in this particular slide You can see the security officer standing behind that podium We have three brand new podiums at the main entrances to the gaming area and each one of them now has a verodox system Where they're scanning at the very least any one that they feel is under the age of 30 So it might be questionable and then when we go into our checkpoint Program where we shut down to just one entrance night. They're checking everybody for ID at that point And what I I either cannot cannot give because it's actually cute for is as of October We've managed to prevent six people from getting on the casino floor Because of going through that checkpoint and their IDs running as being fake or bad Which were then turned over GEU and they confiscated those those fake IDs So it sometimes difficult to see through the numbers themselves, but I think we're doing pretty good overall So I'm gonna ask you the same question that I asked you on court earlier, which is do you have Either a shortest and longest period of time before interception on the floor and or a median before you said you quickly remove them But I'm just curious what the timing is. I don't have specifically with me now But what we're seeing when it comes to say someone that sneaks between two slot machines and gets into a slot machine type Area is is arranged somewhere between three and ten minutes is the average that they're found picked up and removed from the gaming floor Do you know what the longest was? Anybody who managed to evade for an extended period of time I think there might have been one in there from memory. There was maybe like 35 40 minutes something like that That's about all I can think of that didn't have fake IDs, you know So some of them were managed were able to stay out a bit longer because they offered these up and people checked them Think they were good Because they were already on the floor, but yeah, I think that's probably one of the numbers that sticks sticks out in my memory We could get that for you Yeah, Commissioner Ryan, I look at the same number because you know, we have such a porous floor as you know and on the slot machine side It's there's gonna be incidents, but it's how long were they able to stay there? And I'm always I marvel we'll get to the numbers, but I marvel at how many of them are four minutes three minutes five minutes You do once a while see a 30 minute and you try to figure out what corner was that that abated our rovers But the one thing I'll say about these numbers is they come as a result of an incredible focus by our team And I want to recognize the 130 security officers that Second to making the place safe. This is their 1a priority We have we have really focused on this the one the one table game incident and we're shooting for zero tolerance We had one in this quarter Was unfortunately a parent who bought in on our big wheel and allowed their daughter to bet I mean, it's it's really unfortunate the kind of The kind of behavior we're seeing from parents and we're seeing that to even on the slot machines So just know that the one is unacceptable at that But that was the circumstances around the one otherwise we would have a flawless Quarter in terms of the table game piece Mike some of the changes that you've made the floor the the new bar of the stadium gaming kind of was in that back corner where It might have been a better place to hide. That's right. Do you think Clearing out that space making it more visible is kind of maybe try some of these numbers down a little bit I Think it has and the other point there is it that's one of the areas that we've installed one of these podiums So we now have dedicated security on the entrance from the salon area that's there on Main Street There's one as you come in from the hotel lobby 24 hours a day and then ultimately the one from the valley, which is where we get most of our Entrance and exit foot traffic Thank you, and it's a redesign of the podium which we introduced to you at prior quarter I think it's made a big difference that no one can walk by and not recognize that this is a perimeter And it it's it's made a big difference and we continue to try to tweak it The verodox is another great addition to those podiums That's everything I have for you unless you have any other questions commissioners Thank you very much for your time At this point we're going to hand over to Ryan Geary our director of financial operations to talk about our spend Thanks Mike. Good morning, madam chair and commissioners. Nice to see you again I'll briefly go over our diversity spend for q3, and then I'll get into local Couple of highlights this quarter Bittable spend is is up 3.1 million quarter over quarter You can see we have 12.5 million in biddable spend for the quarter and We're beginning to kind of climb that ladder For the WBE spend where we have a slight uptick quarter over quarter As well as with NBE, which has been one of our You know areas that have been a challenge historically so far. So we have a slight uptick there as well with an increase of Just about seventy five thousand dollars quarter over quarter in that category VBE slight down tick although That down tick is is really in terms of spend very insignificant. It's about thousand dollars There's really only two vendors in that category right now again. We're trying to grow that But the main supplier in that category is is supplying all of our disposable for food and beverage for inventory So that kind of ebbs and flows with with that business Any questions on diversity spend before I move forward? I Mean, I would just know and I think you hit on it and I'm happy to see that You're focused on it. I'm aware of it, but you know the NBE numbers. They're pretty disappointing right whatever we can do to Reengage our stakeholders to see how we can help you out most definitely we continue to sponsor the GNEM STC We hosted their their expo this quarter, which I'm going to cover in a later slide At MGM Springfield. It was a great event. I think you guys attended We we actually ended up meeting some NBE suppliers there that we're we're now doing business with So it's an area we can continue to focus on We were really, you know, continuing to do outreach every quarter and you know, we're just It's challenging to find, you know suppliers that are in the pipeline That are that are registered right now. So as we find them, you know, we're certainly giving them opportunities And we're just we're partnering with with our certification partners to really try and build that pipeline If you haven't met them, Nader Acevedos you're from the Hispanic American Institute You might want to introduce yourself before you leave. Definitely, you know on that now do we This is a part that, you know shifting between Licensees would be a positive. Do we have a List gel of everybody that is licensed or have done business with any of the licensees That is also a certified NBWB To share with others that, you know, if they're doing businesses in any side of the state They could potentially do it elsewhere Maybe we can put open that. Thank you. So I'm not. Thank you. Thank you All right, moving on to local spend. So a couple of highlights this quarter We did have an increase of $3.2 million quarter over quarter for For our total spend and we continue to maintain Our commitment to to local spend in More than 50% so that's a 1 1.25% increase quarter over quarter of spend with Massachusetts suppliers So that's that 9.4 million you see at the bottom and and Which I'm even more excited about is the next number, which is the Western mass spend so 7.7 million dollars in payments to Western mass, which is a major uptake of 9.6% quarter over quarter in Western mass and that is largely driven by Springfield spend and largely driven by Suppliers that we are doing business with for capital improvements across the property So as you hear and Mike talked about the new VIP lounge, I think we've already talked about The new casino bar on those are projects that we're leveraging and continuing to leverage local suppliers to execute on All right, I have a special guest speaker with me today to talk a little bit more about the supplier diversity program with MGM International and also with MGM Springfield Her name is Rebecca Merigian she is the owner and president of Park Cleaners one of the oldest full-service dry cleaning companies in the state and She currently supports our our dry cleaning at the property and she's been with us since pre-opening I believe and she is one of the suppliers enrolled in our Corporates supplier mentorship program. So she's been working with some people Not only in Canada Louis's office and our supplier diversity office but With some of the partners that we have through that program. So I brought here today to talk a little bit about her experience Give it some history on her company and and kind of how it's going with MGM Springfield Good morning to the committee My name is Rebecca and I'm from Park Cleaners in Springfield, Massachusetts We've been around since 1935. It's been in the my the Taquarian family, which is my family the entire time So the more recent history of my company it has been a struggle and Basically it was just a dream to be sitting here right now today about four years ago So we're very proud to be part of this project Could you just tell us a little bit how business isn't improved with this? With working with MGM our sales have doubled doubled. Yeah, I've been able to hire 10 employees from our Forest Park neighborhood Which has been great. I think that's my favorite part actually is when working with the community The mentorship program that I have been introduced to has been an incredible help in for the process of growing the company We've always been you know, just kind of sustaining so now to be growing is a kind of a new thing for me so to have the support of MGM is Well, I think will ensure the success of my company hopefully for another 84 years Great Can you say the total number of your employees? I have 14 So you went from four to 14? Yeah, I can't do that math that quickly So that's excellent and are you a Wve I am Registering I'm in the process right now of the certification for this state That's what I'm gonna ask. I am on a federal level. I think I did it accidentally in the beginning and I registered On a federal level which in turn gave me a Department of Defense contract, which is also very helpful to the company So the accident actually helped worked in my favor, which was good So maybe this is actually really helpful because one of our questions often is is how does they a company? Become certified. So you're going through the process with OSD right now. Is that right in the state the state the WBE to the state WBE and you're just starting so you I finished the application process. It was actually Easier the second time around So I was I was able to complete the process in about 30 days. So right now. I'm just waiting for the response So the good news is that? You've gone to the process. It's a little bit easier than you may have expected and you're waiting. Well good. Yeah There are partners in the state. We want to make sure that there's not Too much friction there so that we don't ever discourage actually. I was very impressed with the process. Yeah Excellent. That's good to know. I know that there's been a lot of work done on it So you're finding it to be not overwhelming not at all I was very nervous about it in the beginning because it took me a long time to get certified in the in the beginning You know running the business and trying to to meet the requirements was was a challenge for me It took me almost a year to get certified So the federal for the federal. Yeah. Yeah, and then It it when I started the process, I was amazed and how quickly it took me it was very very simple Rebecca can you can you just talk a little bit more or or the people are from MGM about the mentorship program that you Quickly mentioned the mentorship program is wonderful. It provides me a pathway to get questions answered You know for the growth of my business You know, I don't want to make the wrong decisions. I could easily, you know go out of business by buying, you know the wrong equipment or Making a bad decision. So to have the support of of this company is Is assuring to me to to be able to make the proper steps So it's MGM who provides that yeah, sir. Yeah, so so Rebecca and and part have Have been in the program. I think since January of this year. I started so I think the first step we Connected them with a cycle of success Institute and they did a full SWAT analysis, right? and Through that process they did stay mapped out business processes. They identified I believe is up to 50 items and categorize them and and did a An analysis on that to really prioritize What did he want to focus on to to grow the business? I think one of the things was like SOPs and what else did you guys focus on? the training for the people really because it's It's such an employee-based industry that I have so getting everyone to work to the proper standards every single day seven days a week was my biggest challenge and we were able to get that under control with The cycle of success in this Institute, so it impressed me And since then we've got her partner with an executive sponsor in Anthony Carrizolo our VP of hospitality, so you guys have been you've met once I think you're meeting again soon So anytime there's any questions or continued support that's needed Rebecca has a point of contact on our executive committee that she can go directly to And then there's I think you said you mentioned some online courses too. Yes. I'm taking a class right now. Thanks to MGM Fundamentals of business management and what that's doing is Teaching me kind of how to structure my business, you know more of an executive level, which is important because You know I'm gonna be meeting help in that area So it's hard for me to make all the decisions all the time right now I'm the president and I'm the vice president and the treasurer and the secretary, so how do I split that up and this is Leading me very well, so that's it very good. I'm excited about it So you're you're not only Much larger than you were before but you're also more efficient more effective. It sounds like much more. Yeah Great All right, any other questions for Thank you for coming in and talking to you for having me All right last but not least just a recap of our outreach for q3 As I mentioned earlier we hosted the GNEM SDC annual expo at MGM Springfield. There's a two-day event We had a great event great turnouts there was a Luncheon supplier expo there was a bears den competition, which is a little bit like a Shark tank that they did live which was which was very interesting. We had to hear from some Some dynamic companies that they all made pitches and at the end one of them received the bears den award and Kenyatta Lewis was also on hand to to host a Speaking engagement about how to implement a supplier diversity program and also sustainability At your company. So a lot of the attendees went to that and listen to her speak on that point And then while she was in town Also visited with Rebecca at Park Cleaners We'll check in and I got to see all the the great things that she's doing and Things that she's implemented and her operation And then finally the local team went to an art craft vendor fair in Hadley mass belief was a matchmaking event. So met some new suppliers in the region and Really, you know Tried to continue to build our pipeline out here So I have for today any questions No, thank you missioners. Thank you So at this time, we'll move on to our employment readout with Jason Randall our director of human resources Good morning, madam chair and commissioners. Good morning. It's great to see you again Jump into our numbers with our progress on our hiring hiring goals We continue to exceed our goals for Springfield residents minorities and veterans and our staffing numbers With continued focus on growing the number of women in our workplace as well as discussed with With the folks Moncourt earlier, you know, we identify similarities as as they are seen now in the security realm Where we could see increased participation We've been able to focus some of our recruiting efforts by attending focused job fairs particularly with criminal justice students most recently at Westfield Westfield State University where they hosted a criminal justice job fair and we are able to meet their students and share our story with them On our next slide here, we have our quarter over quarter numbers. So our total employment number as the end of q3 is 2040 73.3 percent of which were full-time and and the total number of Employees of vendors that we saw on property. We saw 108 in q3 In large part of an increased quarter over quarter due to the programming that we were able to put on our plaza To to just support the events that were going on in there But just see the the changes quarter over quarter on this slide Are you Jason are those vendors? You know the food trucks and others the what you have in the armory I'm just just just yeah a little bit of food trucks But more so supporting the concerts that are on the plaza the yoga that we're able to bring in these sort of vendors that would We'd have on a weekly basis on on the plaza Commissioner I think the Landscapers and some of the outdoor cleaning and security are included in that. Yeah Our q3 recruitment efforts We we love hosting students on on our our facility and showing them kind of really what it what it looks like to work in an environment like ours We're fortunate to have about 45 students from the University of Massachusetts They're hospitality and tourism program come and tour the campus as well as students in HCC's culinary English as a second language program Where they got to see front of house operations back of house operations with the culinary students to really see what our kitchens look like and and meet some of our our cooks and chefs and Hear their story a little bit about what they could anticipate in workplace like ours We've been able to translate that into interest in positions You know immediately following tours or following the the programs as they graduate or complete interest in joining our team We we supported HCC's East soil culinary program with mock interviews providing those candidates with feedback It was a great opportunity to give them exposure to how our company conducts interviews and giving them feedback on their resumes And you know in a in a true fashion and letting them know We know what if they wouldn't have ordinarily gone past the first stage of interviewing with us what they could Do to improve so those students were able to embrace it And in one who actually came back and was hired by our company, you know following the program So so it was good to kind of see her journey and give her the feedback that she needed when she was in front of the hiring manager to get the position that she wanted and a Bunch of initiatives that we did in q3 and I want to highlight to you that our team is really proud of we hosted a veterans resource fair In July on our campus. We partnered with veterans Inc. And brought in a variety of resources We saw just about 50 Veterans that came on campus to either explore career opportunities with MGM or to gain Support through resources that are available in the region to them So we saw positive comments from members who who are veterans who who left the event Really with no interest in in maybe joining MGM Springfield But did get the connections that they needed to perhaps support some medical needs that they had through That they would get and found resources available to them that they otherwise weren't aware of so so positive impact by hosting this event Internally we launched a launched a English as a second language Program for our employees. We partnered with the Springfield Public Schools who provided us with a teacher and in our students we made it available to all of our our employees to come in and is a Really an interactive program where the the the students could kind of learn at their own pace And engage with the instructor to to meet the the needs that they were experienced in the workplace to be able to support our guests Very positive feedback and great partnership with the with the public schools on that program and we'll be Launching our next session with that group following the new year again partnering with Springfield Public Schools and our workforce development initiatives and Many of these kind of bleed into the and Q4 for us, but I do want to highlight a couple that we've found great Positive reaction to we've re-engaged with Westfield Technical Academy to the high school school in Westfield, Massachusetts Focusing with their their culinary program We'll they'll be on campus with us for a student tour to see our facilities shortly, but our team our food and beverage team made a donation of Hardware to the to their culinary training program that the the students were very appreciative for their their school put a Facebook post up that got a lot of traction a lot of their alumni to the school that like that are Like seeing that MGM was interested in their students knowing that quality students are coming out of that program to either enter the workforce or transition into Continuing education. So it's a great partnership that we are able to to re-engage and reinvigorate and We've already had our executive chef on campus with the students since our initial kind of re kickoff with the school to Talk to the students. So it's exciting to relaunch that internally We we we are our we launched an employee network group called inspiring leaders for our employees who are Interested in networking and the growing themselves They wanted a one of their meetings focused solely on resume review and interviewing skills So a few of our leaders came in and we did just that where we could help our employees where they can improve their resume But coach them and how they could interview for that next position In the brand with us So it's a great way for for them to hear from the hiring managers themselves of what they look for and how they could best approach an interview That they may be nervous for or or may think they're not as well prepared for So great feedback for for our existing employees to hear that Are you tracking those internal promotions? We do track our internal promotions this group. So they understand that they have opportunities Absolutely. Absolutely. It's great stories that we could share with them of you know individuals that were reviewing their resume and how they came along through our company and have promoted in various Various instances along their journey that they could share the message that you know You're in at at the level that you're in now and to prepare yourself for that next opportunity It it could it could come around the corner tomorrow and in having your resume and your skill set Prepared for you to take that journey. It was a great story for them to to hear We we did this resume view last month So we know a couple of them that are very eager to Explore their next step with the company and kind of watching them through their application process in that journey now Thanks That's right We did want to spotlight a couple of employees that we had we we hosted three interns in our Hospitality internship program, which is a corporate MGM internship program Primarily housed in Las Vegas, but we wanted to house our own interns here in Springfield So we had three students that That we accepted into the program and hosted this summer one student from Cornell one from Westfield State and one from UMass Amher's all three completed and graduated the program and they were Situated in disciplines like food and beverage finance and casino marketing in The the feedback we received from them with their experience was fantastic We have one who has already applied to our management associate program. So she may be Heading to Las Vegas upon her graduation from college to do a year-long rotational program To expand her her career with with MGM and lastly just want to leave Share the opportunities that still exists at MGM Springfield if you went to our careers page today We have 50 active postings listed on there in total They would equate to about a hundred and fifty total heads that we're looking to fill Like encore shared we do we do see continued need of table game dealers as well So that that's probably our heavier Single posting position that has a lot of headcount that we're still looking to fill and for those roles Chasing the same question. I asked your your counterparts at encore Tight labor market, you know, we hear a lot of the kind of conditions out there that make hiring a challenge But as we think about uses of our workforce pilot grants in the next round on community mitigation funds What kind of obstacles are you hearing from potential candidates? Or what are some of the hurdles to get over and trying to find the right people? Certainly? And I think as was mentioned before I'm the tuition for the gaming school is an obstacle in our region I'm certainly MCCTI is aware of the of that they do have scholarship programs that That are very focused right now And I believe they're looking to you know expand the scope of Whom would be scholarship eligible so we could see increased attendance into the program and I think over over all with with the gaming school and There's a lot of marketing and awareness of the school But I don't think our region has quite grasped on onto the career opportunities that exist within that pipeline of Of work of being a table games dealer and kind of where where your career can go from there and we MCCTI has Recently launched an initiative with with SDCC and HCC And other community partners to to share that message further So we joined them earlier this month We're able to kind of share the journey of a table games dealer career wise to about 80 Participants that they've that they brought in through various community partner programs to hear the message and then be able to See what training opportunities would be available to them Great. Well, thank you Jason. I know we're running a little long So I'll breeze through some of the other sections Because you've seen some of this material before On the marketing side you can see our quarter was heavy car driven same sort of model that Encore has seen as well But I think it's important in to keep the these promotions Fresh and unique so we're doing a a cash vault Promotion where you get to punch in a code and potentially open open a door for a million dollars Which has been wildly successful? So we continue to mix it up We're starting to make sure that to the extent that there's a perception That there's not enough winners on the floor I can guarantee you there are many winners on the floor and for customers that won't let us promote them We're we're getting more active about making sure that people recognize that there's this big jackpots one on the casino floor So just a little bit of our our marketing effort there with largely locals and then on the entertainment side, you know Unfortunately with the with the onset of winter. We had to close down our wonderful outdoor Plaza Music venue. We did 40 shows as part of the MGM live the good news is that's an annual series So we're gonna bring it back again next spring summer The the tent is now the covering is now off the the armory and is now open Getting prepared for our skating rink. So with one season Going out. There's another fun activation out there and we'll be opening that up I think this weekend soft opening of the skating rink But continue to program entertainment now looking into the 2020 calendar, but a very successful outdoor summer series Mike are you gonna be able to activate the pause up for the winter weekend somehow? Are you are you am I asking for no, no? Yeah, we're literally in those conversations with our team and with the Red Sox So I think we're gonna leave the skating rink open Longer than we normally would have for that very reason because we expect to see a lot of families that that winter weekend So yeah, so we are we're in active discussions internally about that great. Thank you. You're welcome And then and then just a little bit more the Plaza activation. We did our first outdoor boxing It sort of reminds me of the old Caesar Palace days that predates me But when when outdoor boxing was very active and we try to return that to To downtown Springfield so we had outdoor boxing in our Plaza the food trucks have been successful We had the food truck Fridays our first three Fridays got rained out Which was incredibly depressing, but we persevered and it was really wonderful and I think it's becoming We're getting a nice little following and then our company show and some of the outdoor activation You can see in the photos and then on the entertainment side just more the same We've got obviously the the wonderful Aerosmith shows you can see the photo of what the NBA basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement looks like on the top left And then really tapping into our relationships in Vegas. We had boys to men come out boys to men are part of our residency out in Vegas The Aerosmith is part of our residency out in Las Vegas. So we leverage those relationships and then a really fun Then we had was Steve Martin Martin short and that spoke to a whole different group of people And people that you know, we we sort of pulled where we're new to the resort Really wonderful night showcasing Symphony Hall and just trying to keep diverse fresh entertainment going through the different venues And then just give you a sense of the up the upcoming calendar through the end of the year very robust and what this doesn't show are the Are all the Thunderbird hockey games that are that are kicked off across the street and Mass Mutual Center And those are some of our biggest Friday night Saturday nights that the team is doing wonderfully which has increased Attendance and we are working with the red with the Thunderbirds We've now got their jerseys for game nights on Friday where we put I try to put a lot of our employees in the jerseys to really create an experience so thunder You know really branding the whole facility Thunderbirds on their big game nights and then going into the first quarter and more more acts to come but Red certainly red sauce when a weekend will dominate the month of January for sure and Then I think close it out with community engagement with Jose Delgado who is our director of government affairs Hey, good morning commissioners morning So as Mike said, I'm Jose Delgado the director of government affairs at MGM Springfield I'm also a lifelong Springfield resident and I'll probably be working with with the company One of the things I wanted to mention is that MGM resorts strongly believes that the success of any business Starts with the community that we operate in and for us from the beginning We've tried to integrate ourselves into the Springfield region Western Mass and throughout the whole state I think we've done a good job of doing that to date And so one of the things I'm privileged to highlight today is some of that community involvement in Q3 It starts with the employees Without the employees their energy their excitement their their willingness to get involved We don't have as much of a robust impact in the community So I wanted to highlight some of the opportunities that we had in Q3 The first picture you see on the left is some of our folks volunteering in the Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival It's an annual event that happens right in downtown Springfield right in the historic court square Great event a lot of folks coming from around the region So we were happy to have some of our employees get involved in that The middle picture you see is some of our employees including myself I'm the person in the right with the hat on and glasses Although the picture makes me look a little bit more buff than I think I am But we were happy to partake and kind of celebrate the heritage of the Puerto Rican community in Springfield and that parade Which was a great event And then the third picture you see on the right is a picture of our of our folks Volunteering the Connecticut River as many of you know the resort is located Just just don't throw away from the Connecticut River which the city was founded on back in 1636 So we're super excited to support the Connecticut River Conservancy and their efforts to continually keep the River clean and hopefully Keep it nice for future generations to come The last photo you see on the bottom is the biggie We're happy to support the biggie that the annual big New England fair that happens every September We actually offered a free shuttle service from the property to the biggie that folks were able to take a part of and Actually park in our garage as you know parking is free So we were able to kind of hopefully help some of the load of traffic going through West Springfield during those few weeks at the biggies on Jose or Mike Are you satisfied with that sort of volume? Do you think you saw increased volume out of that biggie shuttle in terms of patronage of the casino The short answer is no we we saw good volume But we just believe with a million and a half people coming through there that there's more opportunities across markets So this was a great first step and we and we tracked the Participation of these free shuttle riders and if you had a stroller you were peeling off and going to the garage Which obviously makes a ton of sense, but if you were if you're an adult you went into the food market You went into the the casino So we want to up our shuttle runs, but really just figure out how to how to engage those customers in a different way The challenge I think in September is it's sort of the last days of summer And I don't blame folks. I want to spend it outdoors versus indoors But that's you know those that's You know, that's really the mission is try to figure out how to how to create a little bit more activation out that group And the last piece I wanted to highlight on the volunteer side of things is I've been to several of these Volunteer events and the one thing I do like about it is that every time I go we're able to identify Some of our team members are employees who actually are showing leadership skills by you know Stepping up and actually wanting to be the point person for each one of these volunteer events And so we're seeing a number of our folks Really just showing their leadership skills through these volunteer events. So which was which is great to see Any more questions on on that piece? So this next slide here we're super excited to support The thank an artist event. This was put on by the spring field cultural Project that it's a mixture of the city of spring field spring field cultural council mass cultural council And the spring field central cultural district and this event We hosted it right on our plaza and it was able to highlight and celebrate many of the local artists in the spring field region And the creative community in spring field and and as you guys know Our CEO Jim Murray is a huge fan of of the arts. He's actually an art history major himself And that's evident through our whole property in terms of some of the collections that we have on display from the spring field museum So we were happy to continue that kind of theme there with this event And some of the pictures that you'll see you have students from the community music school kind of showing off You know the skills that they've learned at the community school right across the street So again another great event that we had Back in september right on the plaza. We were able to kind of Engage that community. So super proud to support that And the last slide here, I might be getting a little ahead of ourselves This technically didn't happen in q3 actually happened a few weeks ago But since we're kind of coming into the holiday season, I thought I'd throw it in there and get everybody some holiday cheer Um, we hosted the bright nights ball a couple weeks back And for many of you guys that know the bright nights ball This is kind of like the premiere event for the city of spring field or in the city of spring field This goes to support the spirit of spring field that Has their annual calendar of events that they do throughout the year which includes bright nights through forest park Includes the big uh, big balloon of parade Big excuse me parade of big balloons and the world's largest pancake just to name a few and so this event was chaired By congressman richard neal who's the chair of ways it means and uh, CEO of mass mutual roger krandall So they were able to raise funds that night to support a lot of those events that many folks in the region get to enjoy So another event that we were proud to to host on property is actually the second year that we hosted in them So I just wanted to throw that out there I know my kids have been begging me to put up the christ mystery and I try to at least wait to let Thanksgiving get done and over so uh, so super excited about this and getting into the holiday season And hosea i'll just point out if you go like that bottom right photo You see the two neon lions Those are those are now relocated to forest park But they'll be part of a new mgm installation on the bright nights tour through forest park where you know tens of thousands of people Annually come through as part of the bus tour So it's a great leaping line installation that we are going to present It'll be it'll be one of the in my humble opinion one of the cooler installations out at the park But great great branding and talking to a great audience Thank you. That's all I have Thanks hosea and then just to close it out. Go ahead if you click it for me click it for me hosea Just on development update 31 elm which obviously has taken some time to continue to progress along Uh, I was with the the folks from mass housing in the last couple of weeks We've been distributing a master agreement between a bunch of parties who are involved in this agreement And uh, I think there's a a call scheduled for the next week or two to confirm that we're all done And start coordinating signing the document. So hoping i'm not jinxing it because it's been a work in progress But it feel very good about um progress along those lines. I know Uh, that the city has done some work to keep the building Spend some money in the building given the winners coming to make sure that we're ready to to move forward with um with The construction so short of a formal announcement, but we're getting very very close So, um, that's the update wall burgers. We're in the middle permitting with the city again We expect a summer of 2020 opening of that facility Armory we're pretty happy right now given the different developments going on to keep it as that flex space We've got weddings booked in there. We've got the comedy series It continues to be a great space To to show off to the community Solar panels are being erected up on the top floor of the garage I think we are going to be ready to turn those on in the next 30 days In fact, we're looking at a potential event around that. So that project is well underway If right now if you went to our garage, you would see a ton of activity in the valley area because we are expanding free valet and and and Um, we're expanding paid valet and free valet for certain of our customers up to our second floor So it involves putting in some infrastructure with swing arm gates, etc So a lot of activity in the garage and then sports wagering. I can say we've had some uh, Continue to have good meetings with the legislature. I know your staff has been in some of those conversations And we feel we feel like it hopefully it's a matter of when and not if Legislation is passed to allow us to move forward with sports betting There's a consensus with the with the leagues and with Some of the fantasies fantasy sport operators as well So some of this has been consensus building But I was in a meeting where we're all represented And we're able to say that we've got alignment on 90 95 percent of what we believe are the issues. So We're we're continuing to push forward, but we think there's good progress and momentum there as well And with that that concludes our q3 report, but thank you for all your support And um, it's been a wonderful year. We're looking forward to delivering yet another wonderful year great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you joe and thank you mgm Good job rebecca. Thank you And yes Safe travels back I think at this time it might Would everyone like a five minute break? And what i'm anticipating for the agenda now would be We'll take a five minute break for my fellow commissioners and me And then we will look at Trying to get through items Five six and seven before we break for lunch at approximately 1 p.m While i'm hoping that we could get through seven as well Before lunch, uh, it's legal. It's the regulations and then it's great Okay, we'll we'll see if we have five minutes. Thank you. Mr. Mathis. Thank you so much We'll see thank you Okay, we're reconvening today's meeting And we'll start now with item number five director wells, please Good afternoon madam chair and commissioners um the uh item before you now It came about because uh, we just got an inquiry from investigators This is not something where we'd had a case or there was a particular A specific instance we were asking for but um given that we've done a lot of investigations now One of the questions that came up was from investigators Well, what are we supposed to do if we get information about conduct? Uh that uh resulted in a criminal conviction that was sealed Um, are we supposed to disregard the conduct or information about the conduct whether it's from open source or Media articles or any kind of law enforcement connections law enforcement databases? Their question is uh, are we supposed to disregard that and because the record had been sealed or is there a way to to use that and there was uh No particular position in the inquiry So uh given that I was asked that question it seemed appropriate to get guidance from the commission on uh the interpretation of regulation 205 cm r 134.09 Subsection one, uh, I do want to point out this whole issue would not apply To exempt positions. So we have uh, I think it's something like 2700 uh employees right now. So those uh positions if they turn over if there's additional registration requirements Or licensing requirements. Oh pardon me. It would only be registration requirements That would not be an issue for those employees because if they're exempt, they don't go through our uh background process But for the uh positions that are non-exempt registrate registrants and for licensees these are the gel Uh key standard or key executive level. The question was What is the commission's policy directive to investigators with respect to information about conduct? So we have presented You know some hypotheticals. We don't necessarily need Specific answers as to the hypotheticals. We just put them out there because it helps with the thought process Uh and make sure that the investigators are following the direction of the commission the um You know one thing we are um Suggesting is that we just sort of lay the the issue out for the commissioners at this meeting Just so you're aware of the issue. We've been in contact um with not only the legal department, but also Jill griffin because she has contacts in the community the issue of getting people to work who may have Some criminal history was a a big issue Earlier in the commission's history and a lot of those community groups had a lot of interest in what the commission's position was on that So one of our recommendations is that We give it some time after this meeting for For jill to contact those groups to let them know what the issue is and see if there's any feedback There may be Information that i'm not aware of or the commission may not be aware of that we may want to consider So for right now, I just wanted to alert the commission that we had this question Just want to make sure that investigators are following the uh directive and Just to clarify what the intent was behind the regulation. So that's where we are right now Before we start comments Loretta, are you going to be addressing this in any more detailed? I had not Planned to offer anything, but certainly i'm here. Uh if questions come up from any commissioners and I would try to be helpful Okay Well, is this the uh Are you asking that we talk about each of these scenarios now? Are you asking for our thoughts on? Risk and the analysis of risk or i'm just not sure The timing of this if that's We did intentionally did not put it on for a vote today So it's not as if we need an answer to these hypotheticals we and we put the hypotheticals in the memo because it it Without understanding the scenarios it's hard to to speak about it in the abstract So, um, I think generally What the IEB is looking for more than anything is clear direction that we can apply during Investigations both fairly and consistently because we want to make sure that similarly situated individuals are treated the same during the process You know ultimately it could be an answer of We as the commission Our intent is that anything that's sealed should be out similar to a motion to suppress even the conduct itself Don't consider it or you could say Hypothetically that on the other extreme that while the records are out if there's information other information about the conduct that may potentially be used Although I will point out Without the record of the conviction If it was what would have been an automatic disqualifier Because the record was sealed it would no longer be an automatic disqualifier because we're not entering that Information into the evidence at a at a hearing So it would be discretionary whether it would potentially tip the scales in uh, you know But it's in that discretion Wouldn't that be considering that information? Correct. So that's what I want to make sure Well, the it's it's a it's a tricky distinction You would not enter information about the conviction so hypothetically Someone stole something you wouldn't enter into the fact enter into the record at a hearing the criminal conviction for stealing But you might have information through an open source or the individual might have made a statement Or there could be an information that there's an admission Yes, I stole and I stole from my prior employer and this is what happened and then I got fired which you So it's a tricky distinction. I just want to make sure that The investigators are following What the commission's directive is because you have the discretion to tell us how you want us to handle that to just and just to extend that The if the employee said during an interview I I stole something I was then terminated But then doesn't go on to say and I was actually convicted of theft Then you're saying that there would possibly be an option to consider that That but it would not be a disc could no longer be a disqualify correct So we want to know do you want us to consider that or do you want us To put that information to the to the side To and and use whatever other information we had to make a licensing or a registration determination And then one one other really just to clarify on sealing records If you could just explain the process about Sealed records, I know many people believe it's in the context of juvenile records only Could you explain sealed records generally? Generally, there are statutory provisions that allow individuals who have been charged And or convicted of criminal offenses To have their records sealed Convictions may be sealed in an administrative process that does not go to a court And there are time Uh constraints and measures set out within the administrative sealing statute. So for instance misdemeanors That occur occurred in a three-year Lookback window felonies that occurred in a seven-year Lookback window without any open cases at the time of the sealing requests or intervening cases With certain Exceptions for certain crimes that the legislature Determined should not be subject to the sealing statute If the individual satisfies those time Eligibility requirements the individual is entitled to this administrative sealing There is another provision of the sealing statute That relates to court ordered sealing and that allows individuals In non-conviction cases who have had their cases for instance dismissed Or no prost or no billed with a grand jury voting not to indict Allows the individual to go to court To have try to have those cases sealed And in those instances a court must make specific findings on the record that sealing is necessary to effectuate a compelling government interest We this commission is not involved in actual sealing efforts that falls to other state agencies Sealed records are not destroyed. They do remain available to law enforcement agencies And also for instance courts Can and do look at sealed records in sentencing instances In for subsequent cases So that is a very general overview of the sealing statutes just And that's helpful. It's helpful for for me to understand. Can you just give a rundown or Any kind of list you would think of as to why a person would make an application to have their records Well, I think one of the if not the main purpose behind promulgating the Sealing statute was the notion of second second chances So I do think that individuals go through that process for employment purposes for employers also the sealing statutes themselves address licensing agencies and Direct that licensing agencies like ours May not consider the sealed records themselves and that individuals who have sealed records Can answer no on applications for licensing purposes As to whether they have a criminal history. They may lawfully answer no if their record is sealed Housing may be another Type of situation where an individual might see it might seek to have a record Sealed so you're talking about in the context of a second chance if I was an individual I went and got a record sealed If I continued to be a bad actor or continued to Have some incidents pop up It's not let do you get second third fourth chances to kind of keep going back and resealing Additional information or is at some point those administrative bodies say? Yeah That's enough. I think you can keep going back and on that administrative sealing You know they look at the they take off the years and they have to look at whether they were intervening intervening crimes And you can keep going back and they do it almost like a mathematical equation is my understanding You know I um If I if I may just start a little bit I'd like to hone in on the regulation on two key words that I see here And that is the considered Um and they shall not Everything else is really good background for the purposes etc And um and the scenarios are pretty helpful that you put in but I think they speak to other things they speak to means of investigation And requirements of disclosure if we wanted if we had wanted to to write something to the effect in which Applicants shall not be required to disclose and then you come up with That information some other way Then I would believe that there is There's room for that, you know to consider that that information Because you didn't they weren't required, but you are able to consider it um there's also I would argue In this regulation I think there's an assumption that you actually may come into these records Um You may but you shall not consider them. Well, we're trying to differentiate between the court records So the records of criminal appearances and criminal dispositions would but for lack of a better understanding The documents at the courthouse Versus other information about what happened that led to That incident for example Because of our world it would be if something came up on social media, right? If it was documented in a newspaper article Or it's all these open source information that Will address a conviction That really is not sealed off The documents at the court are sealed that information is out there We all know there's a lot of information out there And what could happen as I understand it is that inadvertently or purposefully in a in a licensed review Information could come out about a sealed case that we didn't anticipate And what you're looking for is guidance as to Because I think as I understand that the word information Seems to be connected to the delinquency But not necessarily with respect to the records of criminal appearances of criminal depositions Is that right? Right, right. So we're just looking for clarity on that. That just that just feels to me And I know this could be written in many different ways And I know there could be We could have put any at the very beginning of this And I know the qualifier but but but as I as I read the regulation The at the very here really is shall not be considered When making the suitability determinations I think it's the noun that we're struggling with It's the noun The records is it records of criminal appearances? criminal dispositions and information concerning Accident delinquency, I think what and maybe you I don't want to be preaching to you But I think that the issue is if there is it doesn't say information In front of records of delinquency. So if one of our Researchers or investigators find some information outside of the record the sealed record. What do they do with that? Is that cool? And you know, I don't think we need to you know be too particular on to the reg Because right you have the authority to change the way you tell us what you want to do So this is more just a sort of a policy understanding What do you want us to do under the circumstances that that we have presented where there might be information? That's not part of the court record That is not technically sealed as part of this sealing process What do you want us to do with that information? We can disregard it We can how do you know how do you know that it's tied to the record? So the investigators will know that a record sealed so we may so hypothetically you may have something where there's a news article about an individual was involved in a series of break-ins and houses and that Individual may have been Actually convicted of that and then but if the investigator looks at the media article It may take a little digging to figure out. Oh, wait a minute. This is tied to the record that sealed So then what does that investigator do with that information about the break-ins? Does the investigator Disregard it because it's been sealed and that's the policy of the commission Or is there you know if they make a statement about it? Is that part of the analysis? So that's all we're asking Yeah, and and my position if i'm not already making it clear I think that as it says here, it should not be considered It's it's not a may it's a shall. There's a strength in the shall if if I could just It doesn't say that and it say it has to do with the records of the court not the facts surrounding it And this comes up not infrequently in investigations and prosecutions Where even in the motion to suppress example that director wells gave the information that underlies the motion to suppress That it's allowed isn't gone forever and is not usable in any circumstance someone testifies And basically testifies in contradiction to those facts I could as prosecutor cross examine that individual with that suppressed Statement there are other vehicles in which that that information and evidence and facts is in fact allowable and proper So when I look at this first of all, I disagree that it's that it's written as you're interpreting it But moving on to the fact that they're we're moving toward guidance to them There is another layer to the purpose of what they're doing in terms of background checks and in terms of patterns of conduct so in the scenario of Yeah, I stole I get terminated in it whatever that may in fact help someone Talk about what happened in terms of their employment history that gets them to suitability So there are reasons that it may come in and there are reasons that we may direct them These are the narrow circumstances in which I want you to be able to use this or not But there is a distinction as a matter of law in fact Sealing is court records. It is not expunging where it never happened So we are in a circumstance where the facts are out there Whether you get it from news source facebook the person themselves It would then be in the possession of the investigators And it is not simply because it's sealed you you shall not it's that is not what is happening here. So right But with that said for right now you're looking for guidance because One how to interpret what is written right and then the policy correct because the We didn't bring up this scenario when the regulation was Developed because we hadn't been doing these investigations and nobody flagged the issue So you have the discreet, you know regardless of how you interpret this particular Language You may have a policy matter on how you'd like to do this and we just would like that to be clarified for us So we're following the direction of the commission Because to be fair to commissioners Zunika obviously if we're not all seeing it the same way Then that points out that the regulation needs clarification at least as to the what we want the underlying policy to be Yeah, and I would love to speak to the policy And how I see this issue So, you know, obviously the the to me the The the type of license matters if we're talking about a registrant You know without a lot of ability to control And and and much less risk You know, I see this issue differently and If there is just what I am always concerned about are the patterns, right? So if we have one sealed record even though we find information about that sealed record You know, I I I would certainly Tend to say okay, that's sealed so we learned about it this other way But the whole purpose is to give people employment opportunities I I I don't see A risk I see okay, this person is going to to move forward They did what they had to do so I you know, but when I see a pattern which is very different meaning They have one sealed record and we found out the we found out the the circumstances through another source But then there are several other issues involved maybe misdemeanors You know just a number of other that's their record is is Is something that we really do feel like wow There's some risk here with this individual through this investigation. So that's where I see You know a pattern and And using all of that information in the appropriate way Commissioner in that in that scenario shouldn't All the other misdemeanors Establish a pattern by themselves Well without you know without this record couldn't we I mean the suitability standard is high Um, and so if you have even a couple of Feeling the blank you could establish the pattern in your scenario without even needing to consider the the sealed record I I am or are you talking about only one more? To establish a pattern. No, I don't it's not that simple when you're an investigator. It is nuanced. It is Um It is this I don't think it's a good idea and you know that you say, okay, you have one you're good If you have two you're not I I don't agree with those. I think when you're looking at some an individual You need to look at the whole which is what I believe they do and I know that's not answering your question exactly But I what I don't like to do is take a tool away from someone when it does lead to something else But I don't want the one thing to be used. Okay, so we found out a different way It's almost like, you know, you live in a you live in a Big city and so they're not going to publicize the burglary But you're in a small town and guess what everybody reads about the burglary So I don't want that to be a case where we're treating people differently based on based on One incidence so but I do think if You know, you get something that's sealed but you find out about it. It got a lot of But then there's a whole history of other things I believe they should be able to consider the totality Of the situation and assessing risk and I think that is possible without the seal record if you are at looking at other things It's not the seal record we're talking about. Well, I understand that. No, it's just it just I think that that that's a really key point is that what I think is before us is this consideration of there is Information that comes and and I don't think it happens frequently No, and I would like to emphasize that when we're talking about the universe of investigations that we're doing and we've done For licensing of employees well over 8,000 of these so once you start narrowing the funnel um I would expect the situation where you're going to have this would be very very few and far between and the Situation where it would potentially impact a decision on licensing even fewer So we're talking about probably a handful of cases. We just You know, these are these are people that you know that we're dealing with in their lives and their livelihood So we want to make sure that we're doing what the commission's Directive is so that we don't have to get up to an appeal before we understand what we should have been doing so that's why I appreciate that I think just to emphasize again To what we're looking for today is Perhaps you would like some direction not necessarily to resolve the underlying policy question But some direction as to next steps and I'm not cutting off the discussion But I do want to emphasize that it that rather than the sealed record Uh, it is this dilemma that we have such Open market on information now You know, it's not in our headlines every day And so the same thing and I think uh commissioner Cameron's example is it's very real the small town police log could have Information about the arrest and not the conviction that would have been sealed So you'd have to so we'd prefer it be consistent that People are treated the same what uh, so based based on what I'm hearing what my suggestion would be now is that This isn't necessarily an easy answer and we've been thinking about this for months as we prepared the memo and did research so You know, given this is the first time you've had an opportunity to think about it My suggestion is, you know, look at look at the look at the hypos, you know individually come and talk to either Todd Loretto You know Jill or myself and we should also listen to the comments from the public and see what their what their input is on that And in the meantime staff can see if we can come up with any other Other options besides the two extremes if there's any intermediate options And then we can circle back at either probably the next meeting and then sort of narrow in on the issue and see if there's We can get some more clarity if that seems like a good plan So is the distinction seem to be here the difference between information and records If I can jump in it might be helpful to think about it as the agency that seals the records Only has the authority to seal the court records the agency can't tell the media There's an article, you know dressing that you take that off the internet or so it's it's The you know the the reg Talks for adults talks about may not consider The sealed records So the question is out there what happens when there's information that we get outside of the record And to just clarify one point with respect to the conviction Even if we had information from the media an applicant a witness that there was a Quote conviction We would not consider the conviction Because there really it is no way to fully establish that without the court record So we're not talking about an automatic disqualifier for a conviction in any regard But you would be considering it which is what this regulation I would say I would differentiate it between The fact that someone was convicted of a crime versus The actual underlying conduct So the and and they are they are different now. They're obviously interrelated So because of that you may have a policy perspective on that, but that's the distinction You know so well And to clarify because I'm I'm hearing uh commissioner soon soon it goes angst Because you're interpreting it a certain way That doesn't mean that With in our next Few commission meetings. It might not end up being just clarified that we would keep out not only the Sealed record conviction, but also the information because it may Just seem almost unrealistic if you're thinking about the of rest for shoplifting And that has been sealed because of the conviction How can you actually consider the article that said they were arrested? And and feel that we haven't achieved the underlying policy But I'm also hearing that it may be an assessment of risk that we might want to engage in Um, perhaps as the the licensing goes higher up the And so that might be there might be room Because we're looking at this To maybe clarify But the reality is is right now. We're not saying we don't agree on On any particular policy position. I think we're saying we'd like to explore this further That's what you're looking for. Yeah, which I which I think is is reasonable I mean we've been thinking for a for a long time and it's it's a tricky issue in But we need a clear answer And and and in terms of today's discussion again, I'm sorry I didn't mean to cut you off one thing that we wouldn't have if we really fleshed out all of our positions I just want to be clear. We have not started to collect in any of the public Right input and that's another piece. I'd love clarification on how you plan to do that. Okay. Yeah And I think that's important. We should understand how this affects Absolutely, by the way, I should I should mention that I fully recognize The scenario in which this consideration could be positive for for the applicant if you if you if you if you come into ways Into additional information Maybe from the applicant themselves and that that's something that that's actually a good point because These suitability investigations are a predictive analysis And sometimes when you know, we see even if someone's got some baggage or something that they they've have in their past Investigators when people are forthright and honest and talk to Investigators truthfully, that's a win for their in their column. So it's not necessarily because we found this out Oh, that's necessarily bad for you. It can actually be good to mr. To mr. Zaniga's point I I think I'm sorry. Go ahead. I think that's an important point, you know, we Going back to The early days even before opening of these casinos, right? We were constantly trying to address the issue of how can people who would Maybe not found themselves suitable to get into some of these positions take proactive steps to Position themselves better for a job We obviously made the changes in the law for the ser exemptions I know a number of the groups that have probably been in touch with jill have been communicating How someone can go about and get their their record sealed So I know probably jill can take some of this information Share this now public memo to get feedback from those appropriate groups But I continue to think in the bigger context of how do we again kind of Communicate the sound in terms of You know, I think to the point commissioner zuniga and karen. You were just making you have a seal record, but you're Your honesty and kind of forthrightness with an investigator to Share that information, you know helps in the suitability process or helps in the licensing process. So You know getting a policy answer on this I think is helpful And I appreciate the the comments of my colleagues who have been in the law enforcement field But kind of thinking through all of the ancillary issues that might come with that IEB's approach helpful suggestions again as we always try to refine them through FAQs or something for the actual applicant So I think I think it's it's bigger than just making this issue You know solving this question for your investigators, but let's look at it It's in kind of its entirety and figure out how we can come up with a solution I do think it would be helpful also moving forward to have a little more of an explanation For everyone on the commission that there is a distinction between substance and process expungement versus sealing This deals with sealing and I do think it would inform everybody's Views and information on this to understand that there's a distinction. There's a different process and standard that needs to be reached to expunge Versus sealing and I do think that that would help clarify the discussion There is there is a good note on page three which is helpful The consequences but not the actual process that are distinct Well, I I would like to hear from You know the workforce development world I know we had a In the state a big recent quarry reform and some of the discussions were all around one of you know some of the The reasons for for that reform were about also a second chances for people I think that ultimately factors in here. I know the The licensing of a of an employee A casino perhaps is a bigger threshold In you know compared to other employment And I also would like to us to think about maybe this is something that we could tear Uh because it affects it could potentially affect you know different people in different ways You know being a porter at a casino might be very different from Because you touch the casino floor you still requires a registration, right? Maybe very different from somebody who's extending credit, let's say and an information about them Goes directly to that. There's there's other pieces of the of our regs That I think gonna bring in a little bit here And and and you know that is those tiered Assumptions But also how some of this information is to be viewed I remember one that was recent the the the subject of a recent appeal And that is relative to how Matters should be viewed in the most favorable way to the applicant Um, you know, and and I think that also factors in so I I'm okay with you know hearing more And maybe you know thinking of ways in which maybe we need to clarify This regulation if that's what's required I would want I would add on to that. I don't want us to wait too long I mean, I think we've been lucky that we haven't had it right pop up, but let's not I'm the risk of that happening right and you know also encourage You know the groups that You know chill will be reaching out to to Again remind somebody who thinks their record may be sealed and it is not and that Could trip that individual up as they get into the licensing registration process And the law is if they do not have to put it on their application if it's sealed We will be following the law so You can reiterate that so people aren't doing something wrong if they don't speak about it That's the law is that they are not required to to disclose it And that's part of what I would like to kind of understand from what maybe those discussions on corollary reform work It just feels that you know, there's now so much more social media, you know the opportunity Maybe that's the wrong word The the The occasion for a lot of information to be just simply out there and never go away Given the recent, you know, the world that we live in now Should also be factored in I think there's a real reality in you know, which is what I what I would go back to the Considering it rather than the means of obtaining the information But let's let's see what we can hear from So we'll move forward with that plan and we'll put that on the next agenda. Hopefully and it sounds like what I'm hearing from Really from all of us is it probably and as I think you're anticipating Once we get input In the public in in light of some of the things we've touched on just You know really low level to give us perhaps options to help. Okay. Does that make sense? To give us options for us to further clarify our discussion again Without necessarily making a formal recommendation But the but one of the options is definitely If this is less than clear, we could amend the regular Okay, thank you very much Thanks for bringing it to our attention Moving on to item number six, uh, Derek and Agnes and Doug, please Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Madam chair and commissioners. Good afternoon I we realize we're separating everyone Between their lunches, so we'll try to get through this rather quickly. Um, it is somewhat Non-controversial we have all the time in the world I look forward to it I'm joined by Agnes and Doug and we here to provide you with the first quarterly budget update for fiscal year 2020 and then Agnes will give an update on our vendor diversity spend Um Massachusetts gaming commission approved a f y 20 budget for the game and control fund of 34.2 million dollars Composed of both regulatory costs And statutorily required costs for the first time the entire research and responsible gaming budget is funded from the public health trust fund Um and licensees were assessed to combine 34.8 million dollars for both the game and control fund and the public health trust fund That that assessment to the for the public health trust fund being for the first time The initial f y 20 budget contained two possible Spending exposures first the minimum required for the mgc's insurance policy was funded in the litigation budget and now it's about 400 000 Second the f y 20 funding level included a 25 increase of public safety overtime to account for the opening Of um on core boston harbour. However, I want to note that it was half of the amount that was it was requested by um the i e b And in my opinion When we funded it at half of that amount it was a bit of an aspirational goal So he had a report to you that through the first three months of f y 20 the overtime Um for the gaming enforcement unit has spent approximately 47 of its total budget And additionally the legal department has spent 72 of its litigation budget So both of those areas that were exposures continue to be an exposure um The f y 20 revenue for the game and control fund relies on fees from licensing and slot machines And an assessment on licensees Licensee fees appear to be on pace As was shown in attachment a to exceed initial projections for f y 20 In addition in late october the mgc received approximately 449 000 and final payments related to the ongoing Winsuitability investigation that was completed last fiscal year Uh important distinction the comworld works on a modified cash basis of accounting So while those fees were incurred last year the revenue for when we bill them is actually Recognized in this year. So we are up 449 000 of revenue from our initial projections based on that um The mgc also had a surplus of 1.44 million in f y 19 revenue Which will be used based on our regulations to offset the licensee's f y 20 assessments as shown on page two of the memorandum In summary staff will continue to monitor all spending and revenue activity with attention specifically to litigation and the g u uh overtime costs Um, and then the balance forward of 1.44 million in f y 19 excess revenues result in a decreased licensee's Assessments staff is not recommending any changes at this time To the budget due to the fact that it's only the first quarter And with the the 449 000 coming through The timing of it for the windsuitability it's in place to offset any any Additional costs that we may see prior to our mid-year update That if you have any questions, yeah, I would really like to understand better those overtime costs With the gaming enforcement unit. So I think I'll be It sounds like you've had some a lot of direct conversations about that or We've had we've had some direct conversations with the gaming enforcement unit about this As you knew they asked for a $500,000 increase to the budget For f y 50 f y 20. We gave 250,000 The overtime alone at On to a boston harbors already exceeded that 250,000 There is a piece of it that has to do with a discussion of the nightclub So there's some costs directly those are the things I want to understand because it could be that We asked the nightclub to do things differently rather than Correct just continually That's that's not going to make up the difference. I understand that. I understand that's one component But I just want to understand better. Are there staffing levels? At the right level because you know if you're constantly giving overtime you may not be staffing properly So which is a cost-saver? Correct because the amount you'd pay what we've charged out there right now and overtime could have paid for three Well, that's what I need to understand and what the policy considerations are about around granting overtime. So I'll be taking a closer look at And I was going to turn a treasurer in your treasurer capacity and and the executive director could we do some kind of a subset further Deeper dive into this issue and get so I I think um commissioner Details. Mm-hmm. You know as they distinguish it from overtime. Yes at memoir Might be a big driver. We probably need to look a little closer at that which sort of prohibit the additional person because it's such a targeted Need I guess and I think that's another subject You raise the issue about what is the responsibility of the licensee or the sub licensee I think that's a that's an actual conversation We need to have And I I actually like clarity on that point because I've heard varying reports as to whether the night club is Assuming full responsibility or sharing it and so Or not or or not sharing. I've I've heard varying reports So how would you well, it's certainly something that we can we can look at, uh, you know, we we should I I I suggest we don't um Form a subcommittee No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm wondering if no a sub meaning a sub But I report. Yes. And get with a deeper dive on this issue and have um Derek come back So we've done a pretty deep dive on this agnes keeps track of these Regularly, I can I can tell you I think through October it was about 345 No through september it was about 345,000 Nova time spending out there which 72,000 was related to the details that state police only we get billed separately for the For the city of everett everett piece of it that goes into it So, you know, you're looking about 72,000 But what we are looking at is a similar situation that we face in springfield Where you set into a staffing number That was approved at the beginning and is that staffing number right? If you remember last year, we came back at the mid-year review and we added two troopers as well as one Springfield police officer to help cut down on the overtime. We've seen overtime at on co at um mgm state pretty consistent based on those increased staffing levels They've actually cut it down, you know to where we where we hoped it would be so there is that idea of Do they need extra bodies and the staffing level just wasn't right? Because if you remember we drilled them hard on getting those staffing levels down at the beginning For these mo use. Well and a big part of that is data driven. Correct. Your deployments don't have to all be the same You don't want the same number of people Tuesday daytime as you want Friday night. Correct. So We understand that better that how they're how they're doing that and So I'll take a closer look. Yeah. Thank you Yeah, I may there's a factor just may perhaps to summarize your prior point. There's a factor of just Finding the right balance or you know, maybe another way to think about it is the growing pain of you know arriving at a steady state like what we saw in mgm is now Happening at at anchor But I do also the flip side of that is I I think, you know, we're going to perhaps find that their operations are Different by its nature by its geography or because it's a bigger. There's a bigger here by the Sub licensees that we have, you know A memoir versus, you know, the common world power are not quite, you know, the same level of Of security and and I think we want to I want to make sure that my position is clear is that I was asking for clarity around Over time as opposed to our licensees judgment on the number of The they're they're the amount of the security that they're providing In other words, I wouldn't want the message to be we're concerned about costs that we want them to do less I want to understand how they're paying Um, and I think that Commissioner Cameron, I think that was really what you're wondering about the overtime, correct Yes, but but overtime leads to staffing Which leads to What drives the overtime what occurrences the data? What does the data show us? So it is It's all of those things Lead to the overtime. So we just have to understand the balance better correct same conversation We had last year. Yes, we'll have the same deep dive going to do you need everyone there tuesday at 4 p.m Yeah And can that be reported back to the commission as a whole is what i'm asking Yes, we'll put that on the thank you. Thank you Can I only can I speak quickly to the other point about? The legal costs. I think we are just Doing what we've been doing in the past keeping with the past practice This was something we discussed with like new staff discussed with licensees and they agreed on the approach if Because there is so much Variability or so it's so hard to predict the amount of legal fees We budget one amount and you know Come back and correct as as a year goes by As for budget revisions As a year goes by so I think I think it's prudent. There's You know some recent decisions about some of these litigation some of other cases will will continue and we'll just continue In the same way that we've been doing Budgeting and revising as needed right And I just want to say thank you to the team up here for making it easy as well as all the directors and staff who Continue to have their monthly meetings with agnes so that when we come up and do these reports They can be as clear and concise as possible Thank you. Thank you excellent job Good afternoon chair and commissioners in your packets today You have the supply or diversity benchmarks for the massachusetts gaming commission's total spending for f y 19 And for the first quarter of f y 20 In f y 19 we surpassed our benchmark for the small businesses and the minority owned business Totals We did that substantially in both categories We attained an 85 percent Um Total of our women owned benchmark and once again only five percent of the disabled veterans benchmark Once again, we are working diligently on disabled veterans with our office supplies To get that up this year As well as our women owned businesses These these categories remain a challenge for us for the first quarter of f y 20 We have already reached the goal for the small business benchmark We've currently committed 54 percent of the women owned business benchmark and 27 percent for the minority owned businesses We do have several upcoming contracts that will increase these commitments And many of those contracts have vendor commitments for indirect spending that we will be counting on in our numbers as well While these categories remain a challenge We have Engaged the services of a vendor vera cloud Who you'll be hearing from at the next commission meeting to review our procurements into reaching out to potential vendors for responses Thank you This is great work. Uh, and I know vera cloud that you mentioned has has been Really helpful in this effort Did we talk about an agenda setting that whether we would come and showcase them in some way or to explain what they do in further detail Yes, they were supposed to be at this meeting to kind of help them because we never let just like our licensees We don't like missing benchmarks. Um, we take it very seriously We don't like missing goals. Um, when we set our goals While they may be aspirational we still work hard to get there So we wanted vera cloud here to give the presentation on What we've engaged them to do some of the things we've done on our procurements as far as subcontracting The vendor spends the requirements by putting the percentage up in the scoring categories for because Look, we we put our best efforts forward. We keep missing a we keep missing benchmarks. So It's not okay to keep doing that. So we've engaged people who are better at this than we are To try and come in and help us meet these and figure out maybe they're just not a world of vendors out there And if there aren't how do we get them in? How do we engage them more? And one of their big goals is inclusion, right? They want to make people even though we may not Win the bid or that that person may not win the bid. We want everyone to be included We want to know the full marketplace when we're making our decisions It's with the idea of have we reached out to everyone and do we have the best foot forward and can we then Sit with these vendors and help them What agnes is talking about with the office supplies that person's not not even not even on a statewide contract We we found them through the licensees bringing them forward. Um, and we have gradually Hopefully helped them to get established in the marketplace by giving them opportunities where we even spend a little extra on their supplies To build the pipeline. So if we bought from wb mason, we'd be spending less on our vendor I know our licensees probably don't want to hear that but we'd be spending less on office supplies But by going this way, we're hoping to help grow the pipeline and we're looking for that in other areas Where it might might not be obvious and that's where vera cloud teaming with our licensing division and teaming with our licensees have helped us So You got that to look forward to at the next meeting They were yes, they will be coming in. Yes. They had a conflict today a personal conflict so they couldn't make it Our genus shifted just up at last minute. Yep Thanks for that Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Y'all said I guess so Although we did um, I will add something we did change the uh methodology payments over the course of the past few months So it made things much easier for our accounting side We were using a third party to work with us on receivables Where they have been working on licensing payments And that was running fine, but then when we started working with the taxes We ran into a little glitch and it was uh, it turned into somewhat of an accounting nightmare So we went back to wiring and working directly with the licensees Were they paying on a Regular basis they're paying within the statute. They're paying within 24 hours. So that has certainly helped and it's running very smooth We keep it light and financing Thank you Thanks Our licensees might not be as happy about that change because they have to pay the seven dollar per Wire fee versus a 40 cents per transaction for an acage transaction However, the vendor we had engaged with can't handle our business So they came back to us and said if we are going to continue going down this path You can't you can no longer charge 40 cents. It's going to be 27 dollars per transaction That was quite a jump. So we went back. Yes. We went back to the fed wire process of seven dollars But we continued to work with our bank And with the state comptrols office to try and find a solution Where we can get back to a ch transactions the problem with a ch ch transactions are I think there's a 10 day window Where you can reverse it so So they were holding on to the payments for 10 days Then I would have to clear their bank account then get to our bank account Which takes another two business days and by the end of the month the comptrols was looking at us saying where's all the money that we need to transfer So that was kind of as Doug said a pure accounting nightmare But with the sophistic sophistication of banking In the new processes that are coming out. I'm sure you use them on your own Personal side zell where you can do thousands of dollars overnight through a ch transactions We're hopeful that within the next 24 to 48 months We'll be able to get rid of that seven dollar per transaction and get back down to closer to the 40 or 34 cent Transaction of an a ch But it is an added cost that our licensees have had to pick up But when we looked at the difference of 27 or 7 It's kind of an easy decision go back to fedwire. Don't use a third-party vendor that kind of gives you Handholds everyone through the process But that was a long discussion that Doug has worked through thank god once again It said I don't have to get involved in these. I have a great team up here That does this for for me get so I just have to make the decision 27 or 7 That was an easy decision But we're straight forward one We're still in the process of working with the bank to try to try to formulate a lower price On that so yeah, it's a work in progress Yeah, it is. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you so much So it is now 110 I guess that I'd hope maybe we get to the regulations But we probably need to take our lunch break And then we'll start in with legal and then move to uh, commissioner sunica Okay, so for those who Yeah, that's the only I will need to speak with jenice. Thanks. Okay Thank you So sorry, we'll reconvene and 140 Thank you We're reconvening meeting number 282 of the massachusetts gaming commission Thank you for those who have patiently waited the We'll start now with our legal team on regulations number eight Thank you, madam chair. Good afternoon Um Ms. Tariq's he's been lead counsel on this particular matter. I'd like to turn the presentation over to her if I may Good afternoon, madam chair and commissioners You have several regulations on the agenda today for a vote. Um, we're at the final stage of the promulgation process So Following vote today. We'll go ahead and file these with the secretary of state We did not receive any comments on any of these So this uh, there is one comment that I'll address that came from the iab, but otherwise these are exactly what you've seen before Uh, so I just want to address item d first that's section 138.05 We've found that we're not going to have you vote on this one today We found that when we were getting ready for today that um, this one had been left off of the notice of hearing So we just want to make sure that before we go on that this is properly noticed for a future hearing So we'll push this off to the next meeting. Um, but it was purely an administrative change. It's not substantive Which one was that it's item d 138.05 It's not in the motion that explains it There you go So item a relates to junkets. Um, this one includes sections 134.01 Which is the licensing regulation this change requires self-employed junket representatives to be licensed as gaming vendors uh And 134.06 which is our junket regulation that includes Licensing and other requirements for junkets This is the only rag that includes one change from the last time you've seen it. So the iab uh, recommended the one red line in there, which um Requires that license applications include proof that the junket operator has a business relationship with the gaming licensee And this is standard for all vendor applications Is it is it necessary to have that language? I mean it is a stimulation if you're going to go through our registration and licensing process You have to have that letter of business relationship That's what this would refer to okay Require that so that we don't go through a background review if the licensee has no intention of Having the arrangement with them, but that caught essentially codifies in the regulation that letter of intent. Okay And and the first one just clarifies That the junket representative is not employed by the gaming licensee Is that just it just creates that other classification of license for this self-employed junket regulator? representatives which was the group that wasn't already accounted for in the regulations because the the employees of our junket enterprise are They uh, I don't have that sheet with me, but they're they're already covered in that licensing reg And so are the enterprises and so are the reps that would work for A gaming licensee. So this was the only group that wasn't included Good good catch So if you don't have any other questions on those two, we'd be looking for Motions on the amended small business impact statement and then the regulations To move forward with the process Madam chair, I move that the commission approved the amended small business impact statement for 205 cmr 134.01 Key gaming employee licensees And 205 cmr 134.06 junket enterprises and junket representatives as included in the commissioner's packet second Any discussion questions edits All those in favor aye opposed Five zero, thank you Madam chair, I'd further move that the commission approved the version of 205 cmr 134.01 key gaming employee licensees In 205 cmr 134.06 junket enterprises and junket representatives as included in the commissioner's packet And authorize the staff to take all steps necessary to finalize the regulation promulgation process Second any questions Okay, all those in favor aye opposed five zero all right, so item b is section 133.05 the voluntary self exclusion list regulation This was a companion change to the junket regulations. This just is really just to notify People involved in the vse program that their information Would be given out on this aggregated no marketing list by the licensees and we're also updating the vse application So it will be on there as well. So they're acknowledging that they know that their information will be given out in that context And these um, this red line is what we've discussed in the past, right? This didn't come because of additional comments or considerations. Nope. It's the same Any any further questions for carrey? Do I have a motion? Madam chair, I move the commission approved the amended small business impacts team and for 205 cmr 133.05 Maintenance and custody of the list is included in the commissioner's packet second All those in favor aye opposed Five zero tot. Thank you Madam chair, I further move the commission approved the version of 205 cmr 133.05 Maintenance and custody of the list is included in the commissioner's packet and authorized staff to take all steps necessary to finalize the regulation promulgation process second Any discussion all those in favor aye opposed five zero All right, and then finally item c. Um, this is various sections of Section 134 and these are all administrative changes. None of these have changed since the last time that you saw them There is one thing I just want to point out the amended small business impact statement does reference Section 130805, which we've pulled out of today of the vote today. So Your vote would be contingent on removing the reference to Section 130805 that's in that amended small business impact statement That's the section the item d on the agenda that I spoke about first So the 205 cmr 138 that's in here. Oh five. Okay, so we'll just strike that zero that one. Yeah Go all the way right before the orange developer the small business No 13805 is streaking out, right? Right the reference small business impact is just 138. Yes. It doesn't have the 05 Any any reference to 138 in that one will come out and we'll bring it back in a future meeting So it will just be for uh 134 134 only. Okay. Okay Thank you. Any any questions for cary? Do I have a motion? Madam chair, I move the commission approved the amended small business impact statement for 205 cmr 134 specifically sections 134.07 134.09 134.10 134.11 134.13 and 134.14 licensing and registration of employees vendors junket enterprises and representatives and labor organizations Is included in the commissioner's packet All those in favor Opposed five zero Madam chair, I further move the commission approved the version of 205 cmr 134 Specifically sections 134.07 134.09 134.10 134.11 134.13 134.14 Licensing and registration of employees vendors junket enterprises and representatives and labor organizations As included in the commissioner's packet and authorize staff to take all steps necessary To finalize the regular regulation promulgation process second Further discussion None all those in favor Aye Opposed five zero Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Excellent process. Thank you. Thank you Moving on to item number eight This is a report from commissioner zuniga On the game sense procurement And there is a memo in our materials Yes, thank you, madam chair. I can get started although I know agnes bolio was going to join us She was having her And marlene warner might be able to come up and be After my update and agnes be available for Some remarks and questions As the memo Shows and or tries to summarize we have Undertaken the in the process of re procuring Our game sense program manager Who was in uis in prior has been the council since we started And is the apparent successful bidder that we Will be describing upon to my colleagues for hopefully the ratification of of their contract We started this process seems like Four or five months ago in july. Yeah Um We issued an rfr as is described here with With the notice of intent To show with with a lot of anticipation And quite a bit of You know good timeframe for responses We we received a number of response a number of questions As part of the during the question and answer period That led us to believe that we might have more than one respondent To the rfr We try to make the rfr flexible enough to allow for that And including the option of Maybe having these Game sense these spaces be managed by By different program managers In fact one of the questions was relative to that somebody who was It seemed from their questions interested in in perhaps managing the southeastern part However, we ended up receiving one One response from from the council We had in our procurement team We enlisted the help of four people That have been providing us with a lot of help in the research review Efforts that we do they also provided mark With a lot of help In the procurement that is also ongoing Of the research effort Those people are Paul smith Who Is formerly of the british colombia lottery corporation So he has this is where the They implemented game sense or the concept of the concept of game sense To begin with he's retired from bclc and is now Gaming consultant We We also had the help of bruce cohen Who is another retired former dph? Investigator who has been part of our gaming research advisory committee since inception As well as tomland Who like bruce has been Instrumental in our advisory research advisory committee and tony roman As well has been part of these Efforts Myself I was the the the the the fifth person in this in this committee and We're helped by therisa Fiore and agnes bolio in terms of the actual management of the procurement Commissioner before we continue It we all became aware that there was only one respondent and that it was the council Um It is my understanding and legal todd you can Way in here that the five of us have made a disclosure. I know that four of us filed them Most recently to indicate that We could proceed fairly and objectively We we filed those with our appointing officials and we combined with the enhanced ethics code We wanted the public to know and our appointing officials to understand that We thought we could proceed objectively and fairly But we wanted to note that the former chair My predecessor Stephen Crosby is a member of the board of directors of the respondent Council I've added that I also learned that paul sternberg the former executive director Of the lottery for whom I worked is also on that Board of directors, so we Disclose those facts those documents are public documents and available through Alain Driscoll our communications director, but they're also on file with our appointing officials Thank you for that and I should further clarify that I submitted that disclosure at the beginning of this process When it was first identified With my appointing authority And I should further clarify that mr. Crosby had no an eye or anybody At any kind of conversation on these matters neither the procurement nor the negotiations that I will later explain As we as we come forward today so in in general and maybe later Our link and speak a little bit more to that we wrote The rfp with a real Sense of looking forward For the next few years and a real goal of improving the program We know quite a bit about An evaluation that we did in the past and so we wrote it to include things like reaching out to Disadvantaged communities communities that may be that we know from research May be in a position to be more impacted from gambling harm Which is again a focus of these of this program. It is for everybody It's for different. It has different approaches, but it also Takes into consideration than not that non-white communities and other groups Are perhaps not perhaps are at times at a higher risk of experiencing gambling harm There was another principle that we embedded when we wrote the The rfp And that was more presence and more outreach out in the community In you know in general terms The initial response back from the council identified a number of activities in In that regard in response to those Enhancements if you will or those additional Aspects and they identified them as many of them as additional costs To the program As part of the negotiations That that ensued after after the review with the review committee We arrived at Including as much as possible of those additional features Community outreach there is a cultural audit that I'll let you speak a little bit more about There's some data collection That we will we will also be they already they are already in fact doing As well as outreach to those communities non-white groups and other communities of color That are essentially Within the current budget that we have For the program That's that's that's in a you know, that's in a nutshell the the subject of the negotiations We come with what I believe to be an enhancement to the program for The price that we were paying before I should clarify that They are we are allowing for the next two years A cost of living adjustment that they because this is mostly a program that Has a large percentage of their of their cost being staffing They are because some of these employees are already in their first or second years They are contemplating some additional costs of Living adjustments and the like that we're also contemplating for the second and the third year so At this point I can Let Agnes expound if you think that I missed anything Sorry, I think you got got the timetable accurate in the process Agnes, could you just clarify? I see in the memo that there's the balance for fiscal year 20 So that's 1.826 Custom change million And then the as I understand it's flat funded from before or level funded from before So what would the amount be annually the the grand total annually is 2.99 million to Yeah 2.99 Million August 3 million in the first the first year that's the first year. Yeah, and so the balance If All adds up to 2. And then it continues to be that on annual basis plus the Potential for the increase for cost of living correct. Yes The program essentially costs around 3 million dollars for us to run it. That's what we budgeted last time And that's annually. Yes. So the overall contract is Is a It is close to 9 million. I got a 9 million with the option of renewal for the additional three years. Yes so it's It's the same cost Plus cost of living adjustments correct I should perhaps clarify for background The we arrived at this number um Progressively because we we were asking at the council to staff One casino after another as they were coming online The the prior numbers included, you know, the first year is included only Plain Ridge Park As MGM came in we had a proportional Addition to the to that contract and when anchor came in which is the largest operation, of course Um, that's how that's how and when we arrived to the three million Benjamin Have you done any staffing analysis meaning? Have you been able to determine? um Advisors and their staffing Based on the need meaning Busier times when and other times so let me use the term a tuesday morning Where you may not need the same Staffing requirements Good afternoon Yes, we have we have been looking at that. I think it's something we're still trying to suss out a little bit more at encore um And again our our largest team is at encore, but we have a a pretty small team at at At ppc because we know that the need is just not as great there in terms of The population and then we ramp up during the busier hours there Um at MGM. I think we are a pretty steady state at this point as well And do know the busier time so we are able to flex that I think we're still figuring things out at encore I should add that there was Among the review team there were discussions prior to those negotiations to think about and consider, you know Whether a difference in schedule or a difference in resources Would would bring cost savings As part of the negotiations we are Leading the The ability to the council and the staff In this case going forward mark theresa, but myself to some degree Determined where those that timing might be better For example, I we don't have any preconceived notion that every gamesense center should should open at 10 a.m That's when they open right now 10 a.m It's easy to get down the path of you know anecdotal Instances in which you know, maybe here we should be opening earlier or later or double Increasing a doubling efforts, let's say in the evenings or the weekends All of that is is to be analyzed For the efficiencies of the program including the fact that we are now asking the council To think about how that community outreach and that presence in other places, not just at the casino Can be enhancing the program It may be that As as they are continuing to manage the program that they decide that they need certain flex time from certain people Or it works better to do outreaching such and such dates Etc. Etc Can I ask a question about the terms of the contract when it says Three years with an option to new for up to three. Is that done in one year increments or is it up to You know the contract manager to say we'll give you two. We'll give you three We'll give you one. How's that going to work? It can be done either way Whichever you feel most comfortable with we'll do the initial contract for the for the three years With the budgets Appropriately set aside then at the end of the three years you can step back and say we only want to do it for one at a time Or you can do it all three at once And back before the commission or back to the contract manager whose designate is That's something we can do the way we didn't know if you had contemplated One way versus the other I have a recommendation one way versus the other What I had contemplated is maximum flexibility for us the ability to come back And say, you know as in exchange and I'm just putting out a scenario In exchange of extending the assurances of a three-year renewal. We get some cost savings, for example Or no, we're only gonna Do up the fourth year one a one-year extension and see how it goes Again, just to give ourselves the flexibility If if you want we could come back for those those instances, you know, just given the size of the Of the of the program It is a clause that we can put in the contract however you wish that we can at at the end of You know six months prior to the end of the contract We can look at it again to see whether or not we renew for one Two or three years at that time and it can come before the commission And require a vote if that's what you want. We can do it any way You see fit I actually think that makes sense three years the appropriate amount of time to reevaluate meaning give us an update on How it's working, you know What the status is and then I think the commission can decide or whoever will be members of the commission three years from now Um, you know can really take a look and decide What the appropriate extension If there should be an extension a b if what the appropriate length of time is And if you need time for some corrective action or to Improve the overall performance to give them a trial basis to correct those things within a year Makes sense I would recommend that you look at it like six months before It's new just because that way if There should be a decision for reprocurement. You've got the six months in which to reprocure if you need to That makes sense You note that in your calendar Put that in your calendar I'm sorry She's not the only one. We'll be here for the master I'm assuming we also need to Take action steps to designate a commissioner I think the gentleman to my right would be perfect and agnus for the time That you're still with us. Can we designate you as the contract manager for the time being? That's I just wanted to clarify a couple of things As I've thought about this contract I understand under the enabling act which is eight years old tomorrow That our licensees must Allow for a complimentary On-site counseling services and those are both substance abuse and mental health Services, I know that that's been fleshed out in earlier commission meetings But they they must be on site. They are to be services And they must be administered by an independent entity And that's where the council's expertise comes in as the service provider It did the procurement team To see the number of FTEs or how much of this is salary versus administrative Costs did you have a sense of that in terms of the overall cost? Yeah, I know that's on it's probably online if I went and looked at it. I I saw that link late, so my apologies well, let let me Let me try to answer the that question, you know the the following way. There was a lot of discussion relative to data measurement eventual evaluation, and I'll come back to this in a few minutes and A number of and quality of interactions the a big metric for the program is Just how much and how many times The game sense advisors are interacting with with patrons Patrons who at different levels patrons who are occasional Players and more intensive players all the way to and including Either referring somebody for additional help Or signing them up in the voluntary self-exclusion program, which is a big part of what actually happens with with this program so the reality is that It's it's There's there's some challenges in how to measure and how to drive additional interactions Let me make a small parenthesis here Which is the reporting And the data collection the council has done since the last evaluation that we did on the program The council has done a lot of data collection relative to those interactions And they have submitted reports now to that effect as part of their contract with us We have not brought them to this commission Because we were going undergoing the procurement process, but there is a new format of reporting that you will see soon And you will soon see periodically That speaks a lot to How they're driving interactions and how they're measuring You know the different interactions and how they're driving quality of those interactions This is a program that we intend to evaluate Soon You know now that they're in the next couple years at least One now that they are Are going to be operating with some years in in the experience side In all three casinos Let me come back to the initial point I made or the parenthesis about data collection as part of the initial Evaluation the people that we asked to that to do that evaluation came in and put a lot of Owners on data collection for that evaluation on the council And that that was just the approach Um The the council is now doing a lot of data collection That that includes what what we what they what that evaluator thought was going to be important But we agreed that any future evaluation is going to be done And including the data of the data collection will be done by that evaluator not the council So they can concentrate on the data collection For management of the program And that gives them a little certainty that you know that is not going to add to the burden of what they already do So I guess my question was in terms of their budget. Yeah, how much of the budget was allocated what percentage was allocated to FTEs and in part-time employees employees human resources Versus administrative costs were they were you able to see that breakdown? Yeah, you might you might have a I don't want to you may have a better number than off the top of my head. It's it's a 70 plus percent labor cost Do you want to do you get that somewhat okay, or well, it's funny because I just said to Agnes earlier They're not going to ask me any questions about numbers, right? I mean the indirect costs which so I don't know Um Chairwoman if you're asking specific to administrative staffing or if you're asking to an indirect rate Well, the indirect rate is always interesting I was just thinking when you put presented your budget to the procurement team really How does how do we get to three million? kind of an So yes, I it's I think it's upwards of 75 to 80 percent or staff Um, and the remainder is other other things and I wouldn't say that's just administrative I would say that there's you know program supply costs. There's costs associated with trainings and Conference things like that. I'm not sure that I'm well, that's actually helpful. So those additional Costs are important in in terms of understanding the overall budget. So you're saying 70 percent Smilling your upwards or your workforce that go to the onsite and provide onsite services correct and and do we have a So that we can be completely transparent. Did you do any comparison in terms of I know British Columbia would be different, but we know that they run a game sense program. Do we have any Um Any comparisons in terms of salary or did we look at other social workers to know that they're being paid on You know in the right vicinity do did we look at the salaries at all? um We we did not look at that at benchmarking salaries That is something that the council must have arrived to you know To attract the people that they feel are are qualified for for the job Do you know on the average what the uh is On the average i'm sorry for a Let's say entry level Advisor game sense advisor what a game sense advisor is typically making is that what you're asking me average Do you have a second the game sense advisors? Uh when they come in are making in the Low like I think 60 61 thousand dollars I I think they get benefits on top of this and they get benefits. Yes. Is there a minimum You're expecting For those advisors Uh, so our our most of our advisors come from the gaming industry and We need to have time Within the gaming industry. I don't know that we have a set amount. I'd have to go back and assess that But I'd say most of them have five plus years Uh What we look for when they come in to work for as a game sense advisors that they've taken some leadership roles So most of them have been a supervisor or a manager of some type. They have Um, a number of them have done training opportunities And number of the folks who work in the training industry and the gaming industry have other jobs So we also took that into account as well But I wouldn't say the language capacity Language capacity is another key piece. Yes. We have a number of I think You know 11 or 12 Different languages beyond English and that is certainly a strong consideration when we're hiring as well So these are We we've been well informed in terms of these are professionals who have gaming expertise. They often have social um service Or mental health expertise And language expertise. I think Did I hear eight different languages if I remember correctly? I think it's more than that at this point. Yes So um, and then they make up about 70 percent of your budget so you can see so that that's about a workforce of how many Marlene in terms of so for our game sense advisors. We have uh, it's I think there's 27 of them in total So I know early on you were not looking for gaming experience, correct? And that that was a lesson learned from this program. Absolutely. So when we first uh, reached out to BCLC British Columbia Lottery Corporation Walt was one of the people that helped us at BCLC and he swore up and down in Sideways that we should only take people from the gaming industry to which I was sure he was totally wrong and um What we've come to find out is uh individuals who've worked in the gaming industry are incredibly well trained I liken them to although I've never worked in um, and in uh You know in a police setting, but I certainly think that they have eyes in the back of their head They always are assessing what's going on on the floor. They know what? uh, what patrons are Their affect has changed. Um, they're really able to always be checking They also know the games inside out and backwards as well and can explain They can explain the rules of the most difficult most complicated games. They really can simplify them So having all that um, it has been An immense value. I can't really kind of explain how important it has been to have those folks I will also say is they're comfortable in a casino and so when we had brought folks who had come from a social service background or um Who had a you know more clinical background It's a hard adjustment right to go from a clinical setting into working in a casino That is not a comfortable transition for a lot of folks It takes people a while and and oftentimes people are not interested in doing that long term So, um, we have found that the strength comes from people who have Had that leader those leadership roles who've had that gaming experience But who have honestly have felt Held back from helping patrons and customers in their previous positions and want to do something more Have struggled with being on that side of the table or um being in the You know slot banks and not being able to help patrons more not feeling empowered to do so They come to game sense and feel like they have a new lease on the gaming industry And I would add only add to that that uh, you know, there's it's really these customer service type of hospitality Training that comes with the gaming industry That is really also very valuable for the program. They engage with customers. Well Uh, they're friendly. It's all about attracting and and and eliciting Conversations and that's also a very very much an asset of the program Um, let me mention something else that I just thought of on a prior question. Uh, madam chair and that is um We should still and continue to think about the cost benefit of of the program and and and this is what we are You know what we will continue to do I liken it to, uh, you know, really Establishing figuring out the steady state when it comes to hours and workload There's there's an assumption embedded here, which is that you know more game sense advisors slightly more Game sense advisors are required for for encore because it's a much larger operation. It has Double the visitation or perhaps more. It has doubled the employees Um than mgm for example, and that is also a key area of interactions just training employees and engaging with them But it may be that maybe the two to one ratio doesn't hold as we continue to to think of of hours and and and workload The 70 figure that um that that we sort of put out there in terms of labor Does include You know manager level that do both manage advisors do some interactions engage with patrons, but also think about You know ways to improve the program and to me there's this real balance just programmatically between Staffing it for so long that it becomes For too long in the day. Let's say that it becomes really expensive and staffing it It's skeleton crew that it becomes not noticeable to people Who are there regularly, you know if people come in at different times and there there's never an advisor Let's say because they come at whatever times we don't we don't want to be there or think it's not as cost effective The program begins and the visibility of the program begins to suffer And that is that is the balance that I think will continue to try to strike The good news is that Just because of years PPC gives us a bit of a comfort level that you know, we will arrive at What we will begin to see a steady state And and they will arrive at what may be the right mix of part-time versus full-time Who they also sort of manage with so that they can respond to, you know, more intense periods in the day or the week as opposed to, you know And manage the program Effectively do you want to expound on that? I think one of the other things we're starting to learn we would is so we have once a month There were we attend a games and strategy meeting where it's MGC staff, it's mass council staff, and then it's the the licensee staff who interface with game sense in some way typically compliance Some internal marketing and sometimes external marketing folks security Sometimes surveillance is there. So just yesterday we had a meeting at MGM And similar to some of the events you heard about today We heard about kind of all the events, but we really go over those events to say, you know For the winter weekend You know with the red socks, which by the way, I have to get my tickets before they're all sold out, but the winter weekend What does that actually mean for game sense, right? So that means that there's people who are probably thinking about Gaming and gambling when they're around for the winter weekend That means there's kids In and around the casino in the casino area. How can game sense be useful with that? That means that there are opportunities for game sense to be milling about and talking about How you keep this fun and entertaining whether they're inside the casino or outside the casino So those are the type of things that we're going to put extra staff on that friday and saturday and and january And need to kind of be thinking about those are the things we can't always anticipate. We don't always know Both encore and MGM talked about events specific to the asian population and bringing in specific concerts and an entertainment acts those are opportunities where we would have our Staff who speak various asian languages coming in and making sure they're interfacing with the guests We're bringing in specific brochures. We're thinking about a specific game To engage those customers. So we're really trying to Have a ready state while also responding to some of these events and we're not always Obviously aware of we're not unfortunately. We're not in the conversations with MGM and the red socks have invited us yet But um, those are the type of things that we would love to know and continue to respond to I think game sense is as effective as The inclusion were allowed on site and I think we have to continue to figure that out Listen the licensees have been amazing and I'll tell you having been here from the beginning They were pretty resistant and concerned about who these you know non-paying residents were going to be on site at their casino You know, I'm hoping in december 19th When mark gets to present some of his programs and you see the licensees come back You'll hear from them how they feel just the opposite at this point that this is a real value to their casino operations. So So we are still figuring this out even though and I can't believe it that it's been eight years Since the announcement came down that we were going to have casinos in massachusetts That we are in a in a different spot Then we were and I think we'll in three years Hopefully when we're here talking to you about why we should continue to be the game sense operator We will have learned a lot Are you do you feel like you are tracking appropriately, which is so important for evaluation Meaning all of your interactions are tracked The numbers that move on to further recommendations, whether it be counseling or self exclusion So, I mean, I think that's a really important piece that a lot of new programs struggle To understand how important that is Yes, I think that our director responsible gambling and our senior gsa's have done a Fabulous job of really putting that into place and with the guidance of dr Doctor just gave him a increase director van der linden. It could be a doctor someday and uh, Teresa and Making sure that we are asking the right questions and then they're not frivolous in terms of our data collection But they actually mean something So we have a pretty extensive checklist that has been revised a number of times that the game sense advisors need to track every interaction Can we get better at that? Absolutely Are some people much more reliable in terms of entering because they're having a conversation then they have to remember to Not just immediately jump to the next conversation, but listed in and they're doing this via ipads most of the time um, I think some of the games and staff are so friendly with the The licensee staff that I think sometimes they forget that those are interactions. They should be listing Um, so I think there's certainly more we could be doing in terms of the integrity of that data But I think that it's gotten dramatically better um, you know The commissioner had mentioned earlier when there was a third party evaluator who came in and uh, how difficult that was and and The practice was good because I think it really helped the game sense advisors at that point was just at ppc To understand why we're asking these questions But the difficulty was that they were handing a survey versus having a conversation and noting it themselves They're handing a survey to someone and they had to kind of walk away So the person didn't feel pressure to answer the survey I mean the space is not very large, right? So it's it was awkward. It's kind of socially awkward to do that so I think That was hard, but I think the actual data collection is good. I still think right now in the vc checklist I mean on the vc um application there's an um opt into having one of our staff members call them back a week later and we um Do up to 10 tries to try and reach that person at their request I think there's more we could be noting about those conversations about why we're not getting to that person I think there's a lot more we still can learn I think the reinstatement sessions or the exit sessions when people are coming off of their term for vc and coming back into Presumably coming back to gamble because they're coming off this list. There's a lot more we can learn about that I think one of the things that that this program has had to figure out is This is it in the us, right? So we are the only program in the us We are the only um state doing uh in-person Exit reinstatement sessions. We are the only state doing a number of these things And so we've been while really well guided by bclc There's a lot of things that are very different about this program than even bclc. So we've been kind of finding our way Again, I think I'm very confident about where we are But I still think there's there's ways to improve and certainly data collection is one of them The other thing that we've talked about is putting into place a positive play scale Survey and that is going to be I think crucial one of the things we have learned from our partners in canada is that Player segmentation is important. So right now one of the things we do is that If my game sensors was they do know all of you But if you all were to walk in and playing clothes and they didn't know who you were they would treat each of you Exactly the same Even though maybe bruce wants to have a longer experience of the casino you want to have a short experience Maybe you've gone with friends like it doesn't matter who you are They're going to listen to you and they're going to talk to you But they're going to have basically the same set of tools We hope that with the data that comes out of this positive play scale that better assesses what Um, what is the knowledge people have what is um the pre commitment to gambling safely? A number of measures. There's 14 Questions in this tool We will be able to better segment the player interaction So one of the things that they're starting to do up in in british columbia is say There's typically between five to six types of players Which is kind of remarkable given how many people walk in a casino all day But typically five to six types of players, but the they're able to better segment Their responsible gambling Interventions and tools to those various types of players So we still have a lot more to learn here in massachusetts so we can better gear what we're doing That was a long answer to your short question. Yes. No, thanks. Thanks for but it was a good one That was um, that was something I I Failed to mention at the beginning and I had written down that we should mention and that is as part of the The program that we are now hoping to do in addition to what we were doing Before is these player segmentation via the positive play Survey, I think that's really where the where the opportunities sort of Come in in terms of engaging in a different But targeted way And we'll continue to have a research and data collection feedback As I mentioned, I I think we uh in the you know within the next couple of years should be thinking about a program evaluation With the lessons learned from the first effort They're doing a lot of data collection that will help them by by definition Improve their their management of the program I suspect you already noticed that who is really good at engaging in terms of having Conversations at what times or maybe you know, who can be Paired up to do a little bit of mentoring or who is better at engaging with employees and that is that those are all those are all things that Through the data collection and now managing Three sites We hope that the program will improve I just want to add that While I've only been here really since February my impression has been that there has been Data rich data collected. I've been able to learn so much about Really the success of game sense because of what you have been collecting and I the idea that it will only get richer is of course better I also know um again with my limited time frame that Massachusetts is the envy of many other jurisdictions because one the legislators Had the foresight to include This probably very ominous requirement for any licensee here and then My predecessor And fellow commissioners who were part of the decision to hire your Council to implement game sense Saw something special Because game sense is so highly regarded Really around the world And you know, we can credit mark and in teresa in many ways for Really guiding that and on rike and my predecessor steve crosby With that said All the accolades in the world we do have a responsibility And I think that what I understand is that there was vigilance over costs and that there were negotiations over costs We are getting something more Than what we've got before and so that seems to be all fiscally very sound the services I I don't know if any of my fellow commissioners have any questions about that In terms of what has been going on any further questions. Um, but I can just say that When you enter any of our licensees facilities you have Folks there who love what they do And they want to keep on doing it well So thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate that Yeah, I would concur. I Always enjoy stopping by and listening and learning and watching Their enthusiasm and I I know that it makes a difference with those relationships that they end up having with with patrons so From that standpoint, um, I know that's anecdotal, but it is it is part of Observing what we do and understanding and I just think you put together an amazing team Thank you. Thank you. They are amazing. I'm very very blessed to have them. Thank you Madam chair I move that the commission award a three-year contract to manage the game sense program with an option to renew for Up to three years as discussed here today to the massachusetts council and compulsive gambling Do we also want to designate Let's do it next second Any for the questions for marlene or for anri gave the commissioners unica Would second that All those in favor I Opposed five zero. Thank you excellent work and thank you agnes I was glad to see you at the table Thank you very much. Thank you. Now. We do have that the extra motion Uh, madam chair had moved had further moved to designate agnes bolia as the Contract manager on behalf of the commission and that commissioner zuniga be authorized to execute the contract On behalf of the commission after consultation with the office of our general council second and then the only Clarification would be with respect to how we line up the renewal provision Okay, so that's noted any further discussion. I think he referenced that in the first motion. Oh, I'm sorry We would come back. I was looking at the other okay, so my apologies. All right So we should be all set on that any further discussion or clarification for All those in favor I I opposed five zero. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you I was Excellent now we can go to commissioners devins, please on your recent form I'm sure. Thank you, madam chair. I'll keep it brief because I'm anxious to get to cake and our friends from nct who are here But included in your packet you have a just an update a memo from myself Regarding our fostering partnerships event here last week Just again a simple background Kind of throughout this Eight-year period since the passage of the gaming bill we've heard from a number of stakeholders Who were excited about the inclusion of language focusing on minority women and veteran-owned businesses as part of the project But the question was raised. Okay, if i'm not a contractor. I'm not an architect I don't offer supplies to one of our gaming Licensees what other opportunities are available and I think now with the opening of our three licensees In their close work with our host communities. They are all beginning to think What comes next? What are the additional development opportunities? Is host communities begin to think about? What's the benefit of having this casino in our community? What are the development opportunities available? I know our community mitigation fund has actually funded some strategy making for Communities to figure out how they can leverage The presence of the casino So again taking in All of the voices and comments we heard from stakeholders All across the state, you know some prominent folks like daryl settles and others were big voices Asking us to explore this a little bit further Our gaming licensees were on board our host communities were on board. So last week we Had a gathering in this room. We had about 50 Guests who represented mbe's wbe's vbe's other state agencies potential developers potential financing resources Some of our partner organizations like the center for women and enterprise and initiative for a competitive inner city They all got to hear first hand from our licensees What their project has been they got to hear from the host communities is what is to what the Development opportunities are and we hope we've started a conversation. So Everybody who registered or everybody who attended got a list of all the other attendees They got copies of all the presentations that were made And and again, we hope this sparks a conversation as things move ahead and that There's some good business opportunities and business partnerships that are formed. So It was very seemed to be well received and you know, we hope these conversations continue So but that's the the thrust of my report, which was in the packet I'd actually like to thank commissioner stebbins for this initiative having had the opportunity to attend The event it was excellent. I met some interesting people and To listen to them and watch them interact and think about possibilities As well as president mouth is saying this morning that he's already received several emails about Some of the opportunities that he talked about That's really encouraging. So I commend you for your initiative Yeah, thank you I credit jill and crystal and Janice and jameanus and austin for all their help and Organizing the meeting. I know that's not my strong suit. So I count on that Always helps to have a strong team Yeah, it's really great to hear. I'm sorry I missed it, but I heard through john who's not here that That it was a great success that that there was a lot of great conversations not just as part of the presentations, but Afterwards and It appears some will continue. So it's really great to hear It truly became a networking event, but the presentations were very special to see The Licency teaming up with their close communities and that was just made for a very special Special presentation would be great to be duplicated. So thank you bruce. Thank you very much Before we move on to our special guests I just wanted to add under commission matters that I I did attend the gaming policy advisory committee And it was a very substantive discussion our legislator My legislator colleagues on the on the committee Had an opportunity to share their views But I wanted to take time just this moment to recognize the the chair karen soyer Who is stepping down? She Has done a great job in that committee In her leadership will be missed I know that we'll be looking for the governor's office to help in Attempting to replace her but she has a superb Opportunity she will be the city manager of the of port smith new hampshire So and while we're very reluctant to say As residents of the commonwealth how special port smith is we do know that so it's a great job for her But anyway, we thank her. I think john samba would have been thanking her today, but he's not here So we thank her very much So any any further questions for commissioner stevens? Okay, then we'll move on to um item number nine on our agenda director griffin Good afternoon Good afternoon Today we celebrate the two-year anniversary and the successes of the northeast center for tradeswomen's equity And the build a life that works campaign With me today our mary vogel To my right executive director of building pathways and also representing nct Kate leon Also of the northeast center for tradeswomen's equity. She's the pipeline navigator and savvy francis Who is now a journey level pipe fitter from local 5 37 5 37 And she worked Building on core boston harbour with other pipe fitters Yeah So the campaign just to give you a little bit of brief background resulted from recommendations Of a six month focus group of access and opportunity committee members That I pulled together in The year 2016 To respond to the challenge that our licensees were and all large developers were facing Um regarding the supply of tradeswomen So since 2017 Mgc has awarded more than 20 200 000 dollars in grant funding to launch and sustain This partnership including the development of the website Branding advertising Collateral and and the support of staff Um, so With that brief background i'm going to turn it over turn the presentation over to mary vogel Thank you. Jill and thank you commissioners for inviting us here today. Um, again, my name is mary vogel I'm executive director of building pathways as well as a board member and treasurer of the northeast center for tradeswomen's equity And sort of the ex officio administrator of nct um and commissioners stephens Refer to the requirements in the gaming legislation around having a diverse supplier group Perform work on that project But the gaming legislation also set goals for women people of color and veterans and women in particular Are vastly underrepresented in the building trades and so nct e was created to target increasing the participation of women in the building trades nct e was actually officially created in 2016 And then we began our partnership with a mass gaming commission To launch the first ever statewide campaign to outreach and educate women about career opportunities in the building in the building trades And we did this through a collaboration of our founding organizations for nct e so that would be building pathways The policy group on tradeswomen's issues The building and construction trades of the metropolitan district, which is basically greater boston building trades the new england carpenters regional council And the mass afl cio. So this was a consortium of organizations that have been working on this issue for quite some time and with that Leadership and experience We worked with the gaming commission to launch this campaign Which was funded largely by the gaming commission But also several other partners the mass convention center the building trades employers association the mass construction advancement program A g's office. We've had funding from us dol The boston foundation and some other partners So this has been truly a collaborative effort to increase the participation of women in the building trades And we have approached this throughout as a supply integrated supply demand strategy So the demand is created by public agencies such as the mass gaming commission Creating these workforce hiring goals for women people of color and in this case veterans There are other state agencies that have these goals the city of boston has them So we understand that in order to increase participation and retention of a diverse workforce You have to have that demand side of the equation ncte and building pathways and similar pre-apprenticeship programs come in to make sure that we have a supply of diverse workers To fill those demands So ncte through this marketing campaign, which kate will really focus on this afternoon and savvy Was really focused on making sure that we have that supply making sure that women Understood that these career opportunities are available and that women can do this work Have done this work and will continue to do this work So I think you know the real crux of this was to create that visibility because frankly if women don't see other women on the job site They don't know these career opportunities are available to them. So that was the real thrust of this campaign You had your supplier diversity meeting Last week. I think you said commissioner stephens We also had a diversity summit in at smith college at umass in the western part of the state Really trying to create a legacy of the work that was done with the mass gaming commission To talk with other developers owners and users about how you can create a diverse workforce on the projects that you're funding So we had Academic institutions at that summit. We had healthcare institutions other anchor institutions that can really make a difference in making sure That the legacy here continues across the state and So i'd like to actually, you know, thank the commission for its work in Hosting that that summit and also in particular uh, jill griffin um Elaine Driscoll Crystal Howard commissioners stephens who we've been working with all along on this project and their input and support has has been invaluable and really necessary and So thank you and with that i'm going to Turn it over to kate who will talk more particularly about the components of our build a life campaign Sure. Thank you. Mary. Thank you jill and thank you commissioners We're also excited to be here today to celebrate our two-year anniversary with cake and so Let's get to it so as mary mentioned the build a life that works campaign is Was founded by a coalition of partners, um, which she listed but the mass gaming commission has been Uh, a major partner along with the boston building trades the mass afl cio and the north atlantic states council of carpenters, which is the new name for the new england, uh, carpenters and um This is an important work that we're doing. Um, because it is getting women Into great careers the building trades offer great careers for anyone regardless of gender We know they have great wages. They have great benefits paid training But women don't always have access so savvy could you tell us a little bit about Your career and kind of how joining the building trades affected your life. Good afternoon I was working in a non-profit organization in rocksbury back in 2012 I've always knew I wanted to get into the building trades as a young child playing with my grandfather's tools He was in the dc 35 painters union and As I was working making just 12 dollars an hour I was like, I need something better. So the director of the company I was that ended up sending an email blast for building pathways So I looked at that as being my golden ticket to try to go through what I had to go through for paperwork Um, the testing math and everything to get my foot in the door So I 2012 I remember going down to the info session on temple street at abcd at the time and I sat through the info session brought all the paperwork made sure I made copies of it just in case if I forgot anything Studied the math packet that was given to us And I remember going to the carpets training center in doorchester There were so many women In that room going for the same goal as I was going for And I just kept telling myself I'm gonna I have this in the bag then I remember September receiving the letter that I was in the I got accepted into building pathways And from there I was just so happy because I just knew from there. That's the start of everything for me went through it The seven week program at the time We went to different training facilities to decide which one we wanted to Go into And I remember at the time when I interviewed with Mary I picked iron workers electricians and the bricklayers On the application for the interview part and I just remember Mary saying this is everywhere Like because it wasn't all like with the pipe fitters It's a pipe trade. So I'd picked The sprinkler fitters and the plumbers I could see where it all related to but it was just all over the place Because I was just so excited and I knew people I have uncles that are retired electricians and everything And I knew people that are iron workers and bricklayers. That's the only reason why I picked those three But being able to get hands on at the different training facilities. That's when I decided I want to be a pipe fitter instead So I graduated in December 2012 and I remember them letting us know that the pipe fitters are accepting applications in the month of january 2013 I I walked down there Because I went back to my old job For some sort of income. Thankfully I was living in an apartment. My father owns a house in Dorchester So I walked down there fell off the application brought everything with me and I just remember Waiting at the at my mailbox every day for the letter Had an interview in april Got the phone call from the assistant business manager in june to start working The very next day, which was a wednesday So ever since then I've been with the pipe fitters local 537 The same company also e.m. Duggan I'm going into my seventh year I actually bought a house right after I graduated from my apprenticeship in may 2018 Got married in may 2018 and just had a baby a month ago Yeah So yeah, as you can hear these are really like life changing family sustaining careers and it takes programs like building pathways that That savvy went through and campaigns and initiative like build a life that works to make the pathways to these careers Clear for women and for people of color and other groups that were traditionally underrepresented in in the field Can I just ask I think I just realized a few minutes ago. Are you the face of the campaign one of the faces? Yes, one of course one of the faces she walked in and I was right Right up there. I should say I look at your face every day Because I go through forest hills where your Yeah, I was at that job The Demio She's right around the corner too on that side. You look very different without your helmet My husband actually has to look at that post every day at work. He's had a gta the formally welfare So they have a poster at his office That's great. I hope he's proud and she has autographed one of those posters. Is that right? Could I ask a question as well miss francis? So you're a journey woman now Yes, could you please explain the difference between an apprentice and a journey woman? Sure as an apprentice I went Through schooling with the union So my first year I went two nights a week and then 537 changed it for the first and second years now you have to go during the week You work for six weeks and then you go to school for a week Then third fourth and fifth year you end up going at night and you go through tests You have to get certified for your med gas. You can get certification for welding I did all five years. I studied for the state exam Then I became a journey level September of 2008 even though I graduated in april I got my license since september 2018. So you get a pay increase also Each year from an apprentice and then once you get a license you get the At the big bucks as you can say as a journey level person So it doesn't sound like it was easy, but you persevere. Yes, I went to school Nights as a first year and then third fourth and fifth year I went nights also Depending on what year you are it could be three nights a week And then the nights were hard because If you had a family which my husband has a son prior from a prior relationship So they depended on me to make dinner after I came home from school From working From six to two o'clock in the afternoon then going to school from five to eight And then going home having to have homework that needed to be done for the for class studying also and then sometimes You catch it like I would when I was working at on core. That's when I was in my fifth year apprenticeship So I actually had to drive While they were rebuilding our school I had to drive to Norwood So I'd leave straight from work to sleep in my car for three hours before class started Or sometimes I would just listen to myself because I was studying for the test So I had my Phone going with my voice Staying the questions and answers for the state exam Great technique to study. Yes. Yeah These savvy to actually told us just earlier today That she had turned off her facebook during her apprenticeship because these are Great careers, but they're also pretty rigorous and elite careers. So Back on facebook now that she's a journey woman I don't have to study for anything Yeah So in addition to helping women like savvy connect with great careers This initiative Also helps the Massachusetts economy because the construction industry over and over you hear people expressing a labor shortage Projects get delayed etc But there's a pretty say 50 of the population that Isn't always tapped into with women. So There's a group over here saying we need workers and then there's a group over here Which is women folks of color saying we need work. So we're working to connect those two Makes sense So how we do the connecting Is through a couple ways the main barriers for women and getting into the Building trades are exposure and access. So If you exposure means if you've never seen something how you're going to think to do it If you've never seen a woman in a hard hat, you may never think of putting one on And then access the pathways to trade careers are not always clear or people don't it takes Knowledge of where to go when and so the ways that we address The visibility piece is creating branded marketing assets featuring real trades women like savvy Which we'll go over in detail and the way that we address the Access piece was I worked as a pipeline navigator telling women exactly where to go when and what the steps were They needed to take in order to enter these careers So the Advertising that we did We can see it up here But include ads billboards brochures and flyers All with the same branding featuring real trades women from massachusetts And each of these things had a really clear Direction for women who actually wanted to take the next step to go to our website And that's where all the rich information was Sobbing men never change your glasses Yeah, they're cool So our website is build a life ma.org and it has Tons of great information for women seeking careers. There's FAQs about women in construction There's real trades women stories and trades women who are already in can submit their own story to inspire other women Um descriptions of the different trades and a contact form, which has been That's the key way that women connect with us is they go to our website They fill out that contact form once they fill out that form. We're able to guide them from there We have their communication info Can I just add before um cake goes on Prior to this campaign the way people found out about the opportunities One way was going to the department of labor website where there was I think it was a 36 page pdf that lists all the different union programs the times and days that they show up and the different varying requirements and so This is streamlined. It's easy. They you can see the yeah So the the idea of this website is that um someone just has They put their contact info in and they have a single point of contact, which is me That's going to guide them through so It it makes it if for any of the union trades someone can come to me and i'm their go to for any questions So a key way that we reach women in the community is through trades women tuesdays, which has been a big hit Um Savvy can you tell a bit about trades women tuesday and how it works? Yes So it's a panel of different trades women that come together to speak to a group of women from various areas of the city of boston and just outside of the city and They can ask a question to anybody on the panel if they're interested for an electrician To be an electrician to be a plumber there's somebody on the panel If there is not someone on that panel that they're interested like we'll say maybe a sheet metal worker There's means of ways where somebody can connect that person to contact That person that's in that trade, but it's it's a good networking system, especially for other trades women especially like say you need a carpenter Usually we meet right before the meetings and we exchange information. We've all become good friends where One hand washes the other as well And some of the women actually that come to the meeting will ask us for our contact information too to find out like how do we go about on Applying for the local you're in or more questions if they're scared to ask in the group at the time So we usually stay a little bit later So they can be comfortable to pull us to the side to ask us How how have we been treated since we've gotten in? How's like the child care for you like what plans do you go through a b's and c's for that? Is it like how to how do you end up saving money as you're working as a tradesperson as well too? Letting them know make sure you pack your lunch or whatever the case may be Um, just just little bits of information for the women to help them get their foot through the door and just applying I had I had the chance the privilege of attending one of your trades women Tuesdays out in Springfield and um one it was so it was Inspiring to see women already in the trades talking with women considering the trades It wasn't a big group that night. It was a I mean it was a healthy group and One of the women had had to bring her young child along and Obviously the child was not really interested in the conversations mom was having It was amazing because all the other Moms and women kind of like pitched in entertaining this This kid while the conversation was going on and it just it showed how serious they all were but how they were almost Defective, you know feeling a part of a sisterhood to Is they got ready to to consider a job in the trades? It was An incredible evening Well, as Savvy mentioned one of the outcomes of conducting these trades women Tuesdays in addition to informing women about the career opportunities in the building trades Is this creation of a speakers bureau? So the trades women that come to these meetings that Savvy said meet before the actual Open house gives them an opportunity to build stronger relations across the trades But then these women also we count on them to speak at various events. For example our massachusetts girls in trades conferences Kate has them come to career fairs with her and other events. So it's a real opportunity to build Leadership skills actually with these the trades women that participate So we've had this unexpected but very valuable outcome as a result of this event Mary, do you um or anybody? Do you hear um concerns from women about, you know heavily still heavily dominated male industry? About what might be encountered? You know acceptance Do you do you see more acceptance? You know in the late few in the last few years We certainly see more acceptance. I think if you talk to trades women who have been in the industry for some time They've seen a sea change. There's still a long way to go. And so in addition to Working on increasing the participation of women in the construction, which in itself is making that difference We're also working on retaining women and that comes with training So We've done some respectful workplace training for contractors and we're going to continue to roll out more training to make sure that all workers understand the importance of Establishing and sustaining a respectful workplace that recognizes the dignity of all workers and the the contributions that a diverse workforce can bring to Um Changing the culture of the industry. So that work is being done as well So in regard to uh tradesmen Tuesdays. Yeah, they're really great for visibility of trades women For retention of existing trades women and we plan to continue them Um across the state into the next year, but um, we've held 45 of them so far over our first two years Sabi participated in the boston area once almost every month. We'd see you come out And we also hold them Various regions we had one last week in Worcester and next week is going to be springfield trades women Tuesday next Tuesday And uh two years in we're starting to see an impact. We've had To date 1,608 women Connect with us who are now added to our pipeline and receive communications from me and guidance And I we have new women reaching out over facebook and email and all the different ways we connect every day and they say kate I'm so glad that I found build a life. I'm glad that I found you because Um either I've been trying to get in but I wasn't sure of the steps or I've been trying to get in But I didn't have the uh confidence to do this on my own and I needed to meet with other women Or I never thought to do this before but I read the your website and it seems like these are um, there's plenty of benefits to going this way So that's pretty rewarding. These are both women the over 1600 women have either connected with us through the website alone or Attending to trades women Tuesday and then when they come to a trades women Tuesday They actually sign into the website So we are tracking all of the women that we're interacting with when you talked about data collection That's our forte right now. So Okay before you go on because I'm afraid that I won't get a chance to ask this question because of the culminating surprise You and I think savvy would agree have been so instrumental in The success of these women and you see that just that picture alone of color And I'm suspecting that you were the point of contact for each of them Can you just say a little bit of your background and how you came to this position? Sure. Um, so prior to this position I started a pre-apprenticeship program uh training program for construction in washington dc And that program actually used running as a tool for job readiness. So, um, The idea was that by getting people up early in the morning to run it would Give them work ethic and physical fitness. Um, and so having That background of actually running a pre-apprenticeship program, let me really see that construction can be Great careers that wasn't a non-union program. I will say I'll plug the union here because working now with union partners I see that the the level of training that I like the training that unions provide that I can direct folks towards and then the Job opportunities are really top-notch with the union. So That's a big difference and makes me really proud of being here and working in mass for right now Thank you sure and massachusetts Right now just Took the top spot for the percentage of women in apprenticeship. So We edged ahead of oregon where they're also doing a lot of work great work To get women into the trades and retain them in the trades And we can say it's due in part to the build a life campaign in large part to the demand that was created by having goals on the casino projects here in mass and which drove the The industry to bring in more workers And we actually made history through our work with mass gaming the encore boston harbour bills employed 491 trades women and that's the most ever on a single project And both of the projects the mgm spring field and the encore boston harbour exceeded their workforce diversity goals So he talked about the women that we've helped here's some photos of women who Um have come through the pipeline and are now working in the field And we'll spotlight a few this is uh terrell brown. She's now working as an iron worker On iron workers apprentice and she came to a tradesman tuesday Her the presentation Put in her applications went through the pipeline and got her start that way And then kim macintosh here is a teamsters apprentice so a driver That's what teamsters do and she found us through the build a life that works website and she is Such a rock star in her apprenticeship program right now that the president of the teamsters local 25 Actually wrote us a short note about kim and how well she's doing so i'm gonna share it with you guys So he said Thank you for pointing kim macintosh in our direction Your assistance was recruitment through build a life that works helped kim navigate our training program Kim was successfully able to balance her home work and training responsibilities and complete the training Upon completing her road test kim went to work right away in the teamsters job And the 12,500 members of teamsters local 25 will be proud to call her sister Sean o' brian president of the teamsters So that's great way to go kim And the pipeline is growing every month we meet new women like kim and terrell Who are interested in these jobs? They want to do this work It puts down any naysayers who say women don't want to do this work And we're going to continue to do tradesman tuesdays throughout the next year in different parts of the state and You can go to our website to see what the schedule is if you'd like to if anyone's interested like bruce in attending And uh, see what what's up? and one final note and then Open we're all open to questions is that We are growing as an organization. So as we make more and more contacts, we need more staff So we're hiring a new pipeline navigator I'll be working as a program director and If you're interested in seeing the job posting you can contact us So thank you. You may know susan moyer who has worked She's worked in this area for 20 years And she's uh semi-retired and due to retire at the end of march 2020 so kate's going to assume a lot of The work that susan had done and we're hiring a person to replace kate as the pipeline navigator So there's our big shoes, but i'm sure you're up to the task. We're growing to a staff of two But a lot of volunteer hands-on work, so That's great congratulations Sammy you worked at encore. Yes. Have you been back to the finished product? No, not yet. It's not yet. You probably have to check it out Everybody told me and actually where I moved I Told my husband is actually a shuttle bus that leaves from the parking ride in rockland every 30 minutes That goes there so that way we don't have to drive What in what area you were you the bike feeder there already you were you were uh an apprentice you said I was in my fifth year. Yes. I was studying to get out of my time to become journey Journeyman journey level journey woman I just wanted to relate another comment that uh savvy made earlier this afternoon. She said her stepson was you know He's in high school. I guess a senior in high school and looking at you know What he was going to do in his future and he was considering pipe fitter College or the Air Force and he said you know my dad kept telling me you got to go to college You got to go to college and then we're realizing that the Highest breadwinner in the house. He's a pipe fitter. So maybe that's the way to go. He ended up enlisting in the Air Force, but Certainly, uh, it just goes to show how uh, these you know How wonderful these careers can be in terms of wages and benefits and and just frankly Not just you know a new rise to the benefit of the individual but to the community in which they live and work. So Great great stories. Obviously So interesting miss frances that you uh, you're studying Your whole uh personal life is expanding. Uh, you're uh, you are an apprentice at the same time So you're working studying balancing family life and you have the time to show up on Tuesdays to mentor. So You are You're commended and I'm sure you've encouraged a lot of other women to uh To say I can do this too. Yes. Thank you. Savvy's a rock star literally Yeah Great work And commissioners when we break I'll invite you for a brief photo op with our Cake back Great all of you great work. Thank you. It's tremendous making a difference. Yeah So director griffin we're all set. Do we have any other business? We have an update we have take I know that's the update here. Yes, that's the update Then I think we need a motion I move to adjourn second those in favor. I opposed five zero. Thank you