Meeting number 263 up in Massachusetts Gaming Commission on February 28th 2019 at 10 a.m. In our offices at 101 Federal Street here in Boston We will start with agenda item number two approval of minutes commissioner step-ins I understand you have two sets of minutes for approval. Yes. Good morning colleagues in front of you you have the February 14th 2019 public meeting minutes, I would move that those be approved again subject to correction for any Typographical errors or any other non-material matters Do we have a second? Second for the discussion All those in favor aye aye opposed unanimous The next sentiments from the February 20th public meeting they're Extremely short, but I would also move for the approval of those minutes again subject to any Typographical errors or any other non-material matters. Do we have a second? I? Move to approve the minutes. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. I second for the discussion Those in favor aye aye and opposed unanimous vote Agenda item three It's an executive session The commission will now go into executive session pursuant to mass general laws chapter 30 a Section 21 a 3 for the purpose of discussing litigation strategy in the case of Stephen a win versus Karen Wells The Massachusetts gaming Commission win resorts at Given the posture of the case it is clear that a discussion of common Commissions excuse me strategy in an open public meeting would have a detrimental effect on the litigation position of the Commission The Commission will reconvene in open session at the end of the executive session Do I have a motion to go into executive session? Second Okay, I will take a roll call vote of the Commission to go into executive session Commission Commissioners Devins hi, which is an ego hi Commissioner Brian I Commissioner Cameron I in the chair votes yes Thank you The Commission is now in executive session all members of the public and any staff members not involved in the matter to be discussed Must leave the room. I'd ask that all live audio and video recording and live streaming be shut off in the doors To the room be closed. Thank you Good afternoon We're reconvening in public session The Commission received a briefing today on litigation strategy in the executive session in Compliance with the open meeting law which requires that any vote to be taken be listed on the meeting agenda a Vote was listed for the executive session The vote was put on the agenda in the event that the Commission needed to take some action based upon the briefing The Commission at this time today was not asked to take any action So no vote is needed and no vote will be taken. So, thank you. Thank you everyone here Thank you to those who are watching from afar. We thank you for your patience The Commission has just concluded an executive session and completed the necessary steps to finalize the Resolution related to the wind litigation in Nevada It is our expectation that the case will be formally dismissed in the coming days After significant and thoughtful deliberation the Commission executed this action after receiving advice from our legal counsel and the necessary Assurances from investigators that this Commission will receive all Material and substantive information required to make a fully informed decision The step also brings to a close the uncertainty of prolonged litigation and allows this important process to now advance We fully appreciate the public interest in this matter the Commission Myself and my fellow commissioners have asked executive director Bedrosian and team to prioritize the steps necessary to prepare the final agreement and Related executive session minutes for public release as soon as possible Given the fact that our deliberations entailed a significant amount of attorney client privileged considerations Appropriate redactions should be expected but we are Committed to transparency and eager to share an understanding of our thorough and careful Decision-making I would like to acknowledge the diligence of our investigators and legal counsel We still have a lot of work left to do But we are profoundly aware of the effort that has gone into this incredibly complex process. I Would like to ask now executive director Bedrosian to provide a status for next steps and describe what we should expect for a timeline as We begin preparations for the adjudicatory hearing All right. Good afternoon commissioners So Given that preface Once the litigation in Nevada is resolved then the commission can move on To prepare for the actual adjudicatory hearing in the first steps going to start next week The investigations and enforcement bureau will provide the commissioners with information on any new qualifiers At the wind corporation and then the IEB's Investigative report will follow soon after that This is a lot of information will take you time to review Meanwhile the legal department will work with both the investigations and Enforcement bureau and the lawyers for wind corporation to identify and schedule any Pre-hearing issues that need to be resolved in front of the commission. We'd hope to get those scheduled in March Once you as commissioners have had enough time to review all the information provided to you and to have heard any Pre-trial motions again if any Then we can have the adjudicatory hearing as reminder It will be on the first day of the hearing that the IEB's investigative report will be publicly released The actual number of days the hearing will take is subject to pre-trial discussions with both the IEB and feedback from you all Once you have reviewed the information in the report given all these variables today I can't tell you exactly when the adjudicatory hearing will be But we are definitely balancing a sense of urgency and the necessary time prepare for this matter Director with urgent you you mentioned that once these Litigation is resolved. Yes, we've taken all of the steps necessary as the chair mentioned in your statement Towards that resolution Can you speak a little bit towards that time frame anymore than you already did? I think it's soon I mean we in any Legal situation you got to get all the signatures of parties and do the appropriate court filings and I anticipate our legal Staff is working with all the parties to do that as soon as possible But we're and I've taken I've taken the direction from the commission of the chair, which is once that is done to work on Making the appropriate redactions on the minutes and making those available as soon as possible, right? So I think all of those all of that will be a very important Part of the public record as we as we move forward correct And I I assume by your statement that These things will be done simultaneously meaning we will have access to qualifier information and shortly after that a report to read digest understand as As you and the staff will be working toward the hearing Pre-trial motions or not trial but any any hearing yeah pre-hearing motions So that will be going on at the same time. That's right. Yeah, it's not sequential. They will all be happening at the same time Yes, absolutely. Okay Well, I just want to mention and echo some of the remarks from the chair relative to the The eagerness you mentioned the word eager and that's one that I would like to emphasize that this has been Process that had that has taken quite a bit of time more than we initially anticipated, but it was necessary And I also want to add my my thanks to all the work that Legal counsel outside counsel and our staff has done relative to these to this effort because there's a lot of very important issues at stake and a big big Interest from the public, but we need to move carefully and we need to do it deliberately in a deliberative way And and I'm just very thankful for all the work that everybody has done. I Agree we realize it's it's been an awful lot of work and You know that we are anxious to move forward with this and and I can speak for staff We are anxious to for you to have the the product of all a lot of work that's gone into that and we think It's important, but it's important, you know, not the eyes across the teeth Right, right, and we'll follow a lot of what we've done in the past make the as you mentioned the Report will become public as we begin the adjudicator proceedings And I think that's also a very important mind milestone to to keep in mind Mm-hmm Correct. Thank you. So actually that sort of completes my administrative update one quick question Can you just remind us how many suitability? Individual suitability reports we're expecting. Yeah, I I don't want to be exact I think it's eight or nine qualifiers. Well, yeah. Yeah, this is that these would be the new either Board members or key executives and we'll get them at the same time as the The overall report. No, you'll get those starting next week You'll get those in the report will be soon thereafter But we don't want to we want to get right on this and use the the the best use of your time Sounds good, you know, it's up to you. It's however you want to do. Yes. Yeah Yes 30 minutes Well, I thank you all for your patience, I ask that you exercise continued patience because we do need to take a break We we have a good amount to hear the next part of our meeting We're looking forward to that part of the meeting, but we do need a break So we ask that we be we take a 30 minute break Yeah, that sounds that's a what no, that's yeah, so 120 Perfect. Thank you. We convene at 120. Thank you We're reconvening our public session. We want to thank everyone once again for your patience We are going to be turning to item five, but we will have a change in the order of our agenda. I understand We have a scheduling issue for Folks at MGM and we appreciate our friends at Plain Ridge Park casino for accommodating that scheduling need So MGM will be going first Ombudsman John Siemba, please Thank you. Good afternoon chair and commissioners on the agenda today are several matters relating to Plain Ridge Park and MGM Springfield including quarterly reports for the fourth quarter of 2018 ending on December 31st 2018 Chair and commissioners. We first turn to the MGM Springfield items on the agenda Here with us today are Mike Mathis president of MGM Springfield set stratton vice president general counsel of MGM Springfield Jason Randall director of human resources and Talia Spara executive director of arena operations Mike may need to depart shortly After the quarterly report and so Joe Delaney construction project oversight manager will move into his seat Following MGM Springfield's fourth quarter presentation I'll briefly outline some approaching and current deadlines relating to the construction and post construction requirements Including the residential unit Development requirement that has a March 1st deadline that I will explain In regard to the quarterly report Although quarterly reports by their nature look back on the prior quarter We have asked MGM Springfield to provide some more detail on a number of important items Including but not limited to an update regarding the development of the so-called residential units The the status of the development of the Dave's furniture lot In plans for the armory and activists activation of the plaza MGM Springfield will also focus on employment Which has been and will continue to be a special priority item For Commission staff and for the Commission. I know that director Creven has been working to further refine Employment reporting. It's anticipated that all of our licensees will ultimately have a similar reporting format However, the reporting will need to consider the uniqueness of goals and commitments made by the licensees This reporting will in all likelihood be part of the discussion no later than the next round of the quarterly Reports and with that I turn it over to Mike and the team Thank you on Bozeman and madam chair. Nice to be officially before you for the first time welcome to The Commonwealth and the regulatory process that we're going to be going underway look forward to having you out at Springfield to tour The site. It's a very special facility and a special group of people that run it but Pleasure to be working with you and fellow commissioners glad to be back in front of you in the new year Thank you all for helping to accommodate my schedule I know this morning ran late and I want to thank the Plain Ridge Park folks for also Assisting and re-arranging their schedule and I do have to make a flight, but I'm available for any Q&A This is the priority so I can make anything work if things come up real time So otherwise, I'll leave it to my team to handle any of the closing up items So I want to start with our our gaming revenue This is for Q4 October November and December and You'll see that we've settled in around The low 20 millions per per month And then you can see the 25% gaming tax that's derived from that You know, I'll just tackle this this head-on I think there's been some discussion and some press about where these numbers are landing in the context of some of our original projections This is these these numbers are certainly You know lower than what we had hoped to see in our initial months but just for context, I think One important aspect of this and we have some history having opened our national Harbor facility You know a little bit over a year and a half ago in terms of what our ramp up looks like and what it takes to get stabilized I think the plane rich folks will tell you and anybody in our industry will tell you that typically we look at a three-year Stabilization period and there is a natural ramp up to understand What is working with the customer? What kind of promotions are they reacting to? What is the competition doing in reaction to your? to your program, you know, how are Holidays landing house weather landing and over that period of time you can you can get to sort of a stabilized Run rate the other the other aspect. I think context for these months is that Particularly November December even going into January within the season are typically the lower months You can see a difference of between 15 and 20 percent Doing nothing else other than just the outdoor weather and the seasonality between gaming revenue in this market so Existited and as well as we think we opened up to you know, one of the things that you're seeing here is we opened up into the winter sort of low season that said we are aggressively working on Increasing these monthly numbers and we feel good about a lot of programs that we're putting into place each week We we gained thousands of new customers to our loyalty database And that's also part of the ramp up so that when we put promotions out there We're putting it out there to a more a larger more active database and we're starting to see the benefits of that even in February And as we go into the to the new season So unless you have any questions just wanted to wanted to give some context to some of these initial numbers great This is our lottery report. I Want to want to compliment the plane rich folks I looked at their quarterly report and they they produce a significant amount of lottery revenue these are really strong numbers and We're always looking to continue to grow our lottery numbers again What you'll see here is some stability stability some consistency between the between the months And I think this does not include some of the lottery tickets that we actually buy as part of our promotional package This just comes out of the actual machines So we're looking at different ways given the popularity and success of the lottery in this market to leverage it to cross market But certainly happy with these results and I think we have the opportunity to grow them from from this baseline Compliance and and this is something we've worked really earnestly with your staff on you know given and Everyone's well aware of the the design of our facility. It's a very porous design. I think we have 15 to 20 doors because we wanted to engage with Main Street one engage with our outdoor plaza The the upside of that is we have a very porous site And we're able to allow our customers to enjoy all the different amenities of our resort without driving them through the Casino floor, which is a typical older casino model Which is to force people through the gaming experience if you want to get to the non gaming experience as you know our design flip that on his head and we have significant Exposure to to the entire perimeter the challenge of that as well as our Non gaming amenities of bowling and movie theaters a lot of the holiday programming on the plaza the flip side of that is that we don't have a true checkpoint like some of the traditional facilities and There are many days I wish we built a checkpoint because we spent a lot of effort policing Our our floor to make sure that we don't have underage Access on the floor and in gaming on the floor, but you'll see some stats reflective of where we at with the first column is miners that we've We've intercepted on the gaming floor before they've gained and in some ways that that that experience is almost like a typical checkpoint And then the second column is is miners that have actually been able to game and most of those happen on our slot machines Because each aisle way is a really a doorway into the floor To be clear our goal is zero on both columns, but to be a realistic I think the the most important goal is obviously Preventing miners from gaming and that's something we work on very hard You'll see the photo is is one attempt and we continue to sort of tweak the the enforcement policy But we've created this podium right at our main entrance off our self parking garage area and that's where we get about 90% of our traffic and even the Even standing up this podium has over the last 30 days or last two or three weeks Based on the feedback from the office the security officers has really been an improvement I think people who pass by there There was always an officer posted there and there was signage But I think the podium itself has created the sense of more formality and more of a checkpoint So we have more more customers coming up to us showing their IDs getting a stamp And it's those types of things that we want to continue to work on and test and control So one of the things that Seth Stratton helped me to put forth in this slide is really to put some of these numbers in the context of our visitation Those percentages are percent or percentages of our total visitation. We're averaging about 500,000 Visitors per month and each of these incidents in that context you can show How really de minimis some of these incidents are again our goal is zero, but I think context is important question President Mathis Have any analysis been done on the month of December. I mean those numbers are significantly higher Yeah, I think I'll let maybe Seth and I can tag team this one of the things that we did in November into December is really stepped up our enforcement We dedicated more officers to patrolling the floor and I think you'll see the The gaming numbers slightly higher than the prior month But I think the finding the miners on the floor is really a reflection of our Stepped up enforcement and dedicating more officers to that we we did a dedicated Patrol because one of the one of the issues we ran into from a customer service standpoint was that You know our policy is to is to card anyone that looks under 30 And you get some of these baby face 40 year olds and they were literally getting harassed on our casino floor because I would stop them Seth would stop them our security officers would stop them Some would ask for a stamp some wouldn't so one of the things we implemented was in our peak period between 6 p.m And 2 a.m We've got a dedicated officer that patrols the floor and the benefit of that is they can recognize someone that they just Carded and not have to ask them again for their ID and that's been a really great customer service Improvement, but some of that December is stepped up enforcement. Okay, also family programming. We did a tree lighting Ice skating rink, and we just had more families That were going through the facility and if they stepped into the the floor You know that constituted Being in the gaming area, even if they didn't actually intend to game Okay, might you mention stamping? Stamping them. It's one of those like at the clubs Something that you cannot erase in your hand. What what is yeah, that's right commissioner and we It is we change them out so we have a number of them So you can't you know figure out what the stamp is and replicate it So every day there's a different stamp and the security officers I think we have a total of about 14 or 16 that we rotate through Okay, but yeah, so that they don't once they've been carded They can show that the hand stamp we recognize and we don't have to ask them again, right and is there Through your dealers because then moving into the next column When you identify them Gaming you said that's mostly in the slot machines. Yeah, because there is that the dealers presumably have at least an added level of Potential review there if they see the stamp or they see somebody who looks on their 30 and ask them for their idea. Yeah, that's right. I think We have a view that of zero tolerance on table games because there really is no excuse with that human interaction We've had a a handful of those incidents where either the dealer presumed that the cocktail server serve them Or check their ID or vice versa We actually had a dealer who thought the the requirement was 18 years old and did card them and and thought they were compliant Each of those instances have been dealt with in terms of progressive discipline because we we've used There should be a zero tolerance at the table games the slot machines are errors where they can sort of sneak on and I'm proud of how quickly the team has been finding those folks But but very rare to happen on table games and when it happens is dealt with very seriously on our end And in fairness, I think Rhode Island has an age limit of 18. So one of those Things we learned through ppc was people were just so close assumed at least early on That messages it would be 18 and not 21 Um, and there was so there was a fair amount of educating of the public that also went was part of that initial effort Now, I think that's a great point I think because we've recruited some of our our staff from other jurisdictions that that there could be some confusion on that ground But we've done so much training around 21 and and anyone appearing under 30 that even there We didn't we didn't give much tolerance to to anyone that would that's confused about what the rule is in springfield If I could just add To be clear, uh, we are working With uh MGM springfield in this issue the IEB is met routinely We're working collaboratively, but we're still the regulator and you know to the extent that um, there are You know, we look at each situation and go over them and there might be aggravating factors You know, mr. Math has just mentioned if someone gets on a table That's probably an aggravating factor because of the human interaction that should or shouldn't happen in that Point a slot machine on the edge of the floor might be different than one buried deep in the floor But we're looking at all those factors someone drinking in addition to gaming obviously is another issue So we're looking at all those factors and we'll take those and but we do recognize the poorest nature of the property On the flip side, we want to make sure that our licensee does everything they literally can do To prevent this because this is a this is a serious issue for a lot of folks including the commission and other stakeholders Thank you. So uh with that i'm going to hand it off to set to give an update on our spending Thanks, mike. Um, i'm going to cover our spending in q4 of 2018 Compared to our goals And so there's a lot of information on these slides that i'm not going to talk through every point I think it's represented graphically, but The the short answer or the conclusion is that um, we're making good progress towards our goals We're not quite there on several of them. Um, we're doing very well with the veteran business enterprises, but um with respect to Women-owned businesses and minority-owned businesses. There continues to be work to be done and we're working hard at it some of some of what you're you see here is that we You know, we front loaded a lot of purchasing through our os and e for for opening In a lot of that when you're opening and you need the high volume is with vendors that we've done business with previously Through national relationships and we're now as we're operational shifting Some of those purchases from the initial buy to ongoing procurement On a local level. So I think you'll continue to see progress toward those goals But on the from the women business enterprise standpoint, we're at roughly 7% We're at 3% Minority and 3.5% veteran And then shifting to the right And I want to distinguish by the way between you'll see two different totals The left and the right with respect to the spend the 13.5 million is our biddable spend and that's in our goals for veteran minority and women-owned business spend are focused on biddable spend because that's those are some of the purchases that that um We have the ability to go out to the community and they're less Specialized and so when we set those goals we characterize it on our biddable spend Some examples by the way are You know regular purchases of supplies and equipment rentals Services advertising those are generally all biddable There's some non biddable spend Which you'll we factor in to our total spend for our local commitments And that includes on top of our biddable spend things like gaming equipment for instance would be Not part of our biddable spend it'd be hard to go out to the community for gaming equipment employment benefits such as You know health insurance, etc national travel agents things that are enterprise-wide procurement that we generally buy at at a corporate level so um We um 18 and a half million dollars spent in q4 and you'll see the breakdown of the local Both springfield surrounding community. So springfield is the Sorry springfield is the Gray 19.85 percent western mass is 24.5 percent And then you'll see we also break down The percentage surrounding community. So the community is right around us Go ahead Did I hear you say that you've already started to make some adjustments in order to be more inclusive with your With your biddable spend in other words, you realize That you are not meeting your goals and you have made adjustments. That's right. I think a good example would be Probably in the food and beverage area, you know as we're buying and getting ready for opening. We're procuring a lot of Food and beverage and related supplies at a high volume level with respect to opening but as we're Operating in the community and finding those local purveyors. We're able to shift some of that to to local purveyors for instance And so yeah, we've been making those We've been making those changes and we anticipate those blue bars Continue to go up and get as close to and hopefully in some instances exceed the orange bars as we move forward Okay, thanks. Um, can I also just ask a question perhaps of john or or Jill or joe behind behind set I recall a process internally for For us to review During the construction period The I don't know if this is the right word but exempt certain categories From what would be the base to determine the mbe and the wbe because of things like, you know Equipment that only one company makes and it's unrealistic to make that part of the base And and so on Have we done a review of that for mgm To look at these difference between what they're calling beatable and You know the actual total To be comfortable that you know, in fact the categories that they're saying You know should not be part of that base Should not or is this something that we could do in the future? manner some of the general categories that Were mentioned by mgm springfield. I think our Um categories that we have Approved Early on with plain ridge park casino. So I don't see anything Out of the ordinary there, but I I do think as time goes on will Take a look at some of the spend and But it traditionally spend that is part of a national contract or Airline or or things that can't be bid Are things that we have accepted as Outside that area. Yeah, and and I'm totally fine with that I'm I was just asking if we're you know If we're reviewing these numbers as we go forward and it sounds like we will yeah, we will be Thank you Any commissioners I'll just add, you know, we are we're part of a vendor advisory group locally Our head of procurement meets with Local stakeholders and I know there's a high comfort level that although we may be missing some of these numbers It's not through a lack of effort. We've we've tried to reach out to many different vendors. We do it All the time in fact, we've taken a chance on a few local vendors And frankly the product didn't stand up and and we're willing to take that Chance as much as we can so we're happy to take any referrals I feel comfortable that if you talk to any of the stakeholders, you know We're doing what we can on on each of these categories But if there's some vendor that believes that they haven't had a shot at us Please know that we'll we'll take a look at anybody because this is an important part of our our program Hey, michael, I I appreciate that and and ryan and his team have been great to work with And I know jill continues to work with them. I think where we may also want to look at is Folks that you're already doing business with who are not going through a certification process You may have some vendors in that You know file that May think they're certified may have a certified. We don't recognize but I think to kind of go back and revisit that that might be also Uh an occasion to to strengthen some of your numbers some of you just kind of says well I told you I was a veteran owned business, but Until we have the certification till you guys are aware of the certification it's tough to kind of count those numbers, but We've enjoyed the chance to work with with ryan and his team and he seems I don't want to say desperate But he's anxious to kind of keep working with us and some of our other stakeholders are at those vendor advisory team meetings Thank you Thank you So the next slide that i'll cover very briefly is the is the trend slide and it's it I think we're early to really see Trends But let me just walk through with you just to be clear what each one of these columns represents because we'll be coming back Each quarter on these and I think Quarter by quarter will even establish more more clear trends, but The first bar is our pre opening spend. So basically the few years that leading up to opening That's the percentage for each of these categories and then you'll see the The largest bar in each graph is that os and e spent so that was that bulk purchasing Leading up to opening and that's why those those bars are so much higher The next bar is basically since we opened so From august 23rd to the end of the end of the year That represents The percentages for each category and then the final bar is just the quarter that we're focused on for this quarterly report so you'll see that the Operating in the q4 are very similar The os and e is going to be a lot larger and then the the pre opening generally smaller, but we hope that You know that the operating bar is going to get again grow close to those goals And the quarters may vary from time to time time to time depending on what we're purchasing But hopefully that that operating to date and the goal will will Continue to trend very close to one So it remind me the os and e stands for owner supplied equipment Operating supplies and equipment operating supplies and equipment. Okay, so they're Expendables in other words. They're not they don't have a long useful life It's stuff that you will as you use you'll continue to have to replenish. Yeah, so a good example is I don't know if it's a good example, but an example would be Flatware and plates we bought you know thousands and thousands of classes and plates to open up now Some of those will break. So we'll change them out. And so we replenish and we're always looking for opportunities To find say local or diverse vendors that can help replenish those same things with you know hotel supplies Various things that we had to buy in bulk early on and then as we replenish As they they're useful where? Reduces or there's breakage. We'll we'll look for opportunities. Thank you You know, there's a there's another in mic you touched on it talking about you know finding Youth on the gaming floor and the unique nature of your facility. I know we're going to hear about what you have playing for the plaza You might have a unique story to tell in terms of engaging minority women and veteran owned businesses for the types of farmers markets and other You know festivals you have going on As you program the plaza it doesn't necessarily reflect spend that you have but you're giving them an incredible business opportunity Again, I don't want to throw another layer of data for you to collect but I think it's Might be helpful data to share about your story and again the uniqueness of the facility Yeah, we're not cutting them a check directly But we're giving them an opportunity to be in front of our clients in front of our patrons or m life members and obviously that's You know again an added economics benefit to think about absolutely So this this next slide just shows Similarly shows the trends in each one of the categories of local spend so You know starting with the most narrow in the far lower right hand corner springfield then Going out to surrounding communities and then western mass and then the commonwealth I said on the last slide it's too early to to see trends, but maybe I'll I'll say Hopefully we're seeing a good trend already on this one, which is In I think every instance Yes, definitely in every instance q4 is represents an increase over Opening to date. So I think that's a good sign that we're What I was talking about before is we're finding at as each month goes by more and more opportunities for local purchasing so that that the the Later three months the last three months of 2018 we were doing better than we were over the last five in total so And and that's universal in each category. So I think that's The good start of the trend And how some of the ways we do that is through our vendor outreach outreach events and this and will report quarterly on The various events were involved in but you'll see here listed some of the the events that ryan and his team participate in Throughout the year, but these are some of the specific events that they've attended In in q4 and you'll see that we're not you know, we're we're reaching out Throughout the commonwealth and even beyond borders to find to find opportunities specifically with veterans and minority suppliers You know, we're going outside of the commonwealth to really find opportunities to to engage this is one of my favorite slides because this This is a few just shows a few examples of some of the businesses that we've we've partnered with And you'll see on here quotes that that they've provided to us, but I'll I'll highlight A few sentences from these quotes because I think it shows Basically the opportunity the economic development opportunity Mansfield paper talks about being able to address wage adjustments and benefits to keep competitive and ahead of industry standards Wasman ab Said that the mgn project forced them to reexamine their internal processes And make much needed changes that allow for future and continued growth and market expansion And and park cleaner is one of my favorite stories because They were my dry cleaner and I recommended that That they talked to our our hotel vp and it worked out being a very good Partnership they're a woman owned a business in the city of springfield and they've added 12 employees Already as a result of partnering with us and doing our uniform dry cleaning. So That's a really good story. Um, so I think collectively you see from these three snapshots that folks are expanding and changing their business models and I'm learning to grow and develop as a result of their partnership with us And we we think that'll present further opportunities and good lessons learned that they can share with other local businesses As as we continue to partner I'll pass the baton to jason to talk about employment Thanks, sir Thanks, sir. I want to share Employment a few slides on our employment here. So our first slide shows our progress on our hiring goals With springfield residents Employees our goal being 35 percent We currently stand as a 12 31 at 38.4 Percent of our employees that are springfield residents For women employees. We're at 45.3 percent with our goal being 50 percent So that is certainly a goal that we recognize there's still work to be done by our recruitment and staffing team to to onboard Anecdotally we we've identified a A couple department areas where we do have additional opportunity like security officers That may be a traditional male dominated role where we can partner more with our local universities and schools to You know recruit female students coming out of those programs to join our team For minorities again 50 percent goal. We're at 56.3 percent of our employees Our minorities and on the veteran side with 2 percent being our goal. We stand at 6 percent Of active employees on on 12 31 This is representative of 2522 employees that were active with us on 12 31 Jason you're missing a It'd be great if you had to figure up there what you're doing from the region You had a goal of 90 percent from the region So on the next slide i'll transition text. I do have some more Kind of breakdown of data that we can share that's not in Nice pie graph chart for us here And but we we do break down on the top section The employees are broken down full-time and part-time Without of the 25 22 77 and a half percent of the employees are full-time employees in 22 0.5 percent being part-time employees In our goal being an 80 20 split on on those areas As we work down the the graph on the lower section We do showcase western mass residency and massachusetts residency as a total Of the employee base as well. So 73.5 percent of our employee base represent western massachusetts Residents with 75.6 percent total being massachusetts residents Quick question. Are you um In plain ridge will know because i've asked them the same questions in the past It's great that you're tracking percentages But it's really important to track where folks are in the organization now I know when you opened in this company you were extremely diverse top to bottom But I think it's really important to continue to track that and um, you know if they're It's it's important to to not only track it but probably report it to us as well So if you see some if you don't track it sometimes you don't realize That there's an issue in a certain mid-level management or whatever it may be with women and minorities veterans So, um I I see all these numbers percentages, but it's nice to really keep track of How they're doing moving up in the company and I know at the beginning you had a great story to tell about that so If I could jump in commissioner, it's a very it's a fair question. It's a dialogue We've already been having with staff. I think john touched on it earlier and We've been speaking with jill as well on what the reporting like the public reporting looks like going forward We have really rich data. We have a lot of information internally and we do look at a lot of different trends Um internally on on on where various folks are and we have some pretty rich data. So we Where we continue to discuss What that looks like going forward in terms of our reporting in this context and otherwise, but We the point is taken and we we do And jason could Verify this but we have a lot of really rich data on internally on what great what our employees where they are where they're from salaries, you know based on grade et cetera So The rich the rich data you're talking about it sounds like it's something you're proud of right? It it's it's a tool that we definitely It's a tool that we use all all the time. It's just how much as a What the dialogue we're having now is how much as a private company? We're putting out there for the world to see and everyone, you know The more granular it becomes the more We use it on a granular basis, but we are sensitive to having that granularity out in the public now We're not interested in you publicly reporting This specific, you know, but just overall how you're doing top to bottom. I think is Is an important piece if we're looking at Employment numbers Understood, we agree I I would I would echo that I want to I want to jump in I actually have two points first of all Just curiously going to your website this morning 30 30 some odd positions that you're still posting for is that 30 a hard number you're looking for multiple people under a number of those I mean let's stress the word that People should not have worried I didn't have a job on day one There are still opportunities to come and work for mGM springfield and you know put myself on a career path So those 30 positions combination of full-time and part-time Correct and there some of the positions are representative of multiple headcount For for looking for more numbers. I think anecdotally It's about 60 headcount out of those 30 positions. So some of them are one to pure one to one Seats, but some of them do represent in some cases five or 10 People that were actively looking to to sourcing. Okay Um Other information that I would like to see and I'll go back to what commissioner Cameron was talking about in a second, but And again, this stresses the uniqueness of your campus the uniqueness of your facility You have other vendors other tenants on site. I think it's important To get their body count. Maybe not necessarily the breakdown if that becomes a challenge But what is the overall body count? Um Because a lot of things that were rolled out in your rfa too was an assumption that you guys were going to operate a number of these amenities That's not the case, but there's still people coming to work every day On your property, you know be at the cinema cringle candle, you know, hanush any any of those Other entities. I think it's in hopefully at some point you're going to have wall burgers on the corner That'll be More employees so looking at overall employment count, even if they're not yours If there's a way to extract that with your with your your tenants. I think that'd be great information to share Um You know to pick up on commissioner cameron's point Um, I think there's a lot more detail. We've talked about it. You know, we do want to get into Uh, kind of what that diversity is at various levels and management employment levels within the company I understand and it might be a snapshot in time, but at the same time you guys might be able to show I think to your point Folks moving up within, you know, the organization that was one of the things that impressed me about my Trip to detroit to mg of detroit was finding a person who started as a banquet server who was now in banquet sales and You guys have a good track record or a good human resource development plan when it comes to helping folks move up the ladder So, um, I would suggest that It shouldn't wait until your next quarterly meeting if The executive director and maybe a member of the compliance committee and staff sit down with you And try to hash out this new reporting format. Some of it's going to be Consistent with all of our licensees. You guys are going to have obviously some Uh Information that we need to make sure that you're in compliance as john mentioned with what your local goals were So, um, if we can do that in the immediate future, that'd be a good use of all of our time I can make sure I if I can just address a couple of comments and they're all Well taken I think You're absolutely right and if you didn't ask it, I would have volunteered it So, you know, the important part of the asterisk is that that number of 25 22 does not include our Tennis and our vendors and as you know, we we take a campus-wide approach in terms of the economic Development we generate in terms of the workforce development we generate So we believe we have approximately 250 employees that are tenant employees. We know that because we have to badge them So you can add approximately 250 to that number and that also does not include vendors I know I've been in meetings with our team where we specifically Made a decision to hold off on A hire because we wanted to continue using a local business for outdoor cleaning, for example So there there are a number of jobs created on the on the campus by outside services That easily could have been our employees, but for various reasons We thought it was the right decision to use our To use the outside service And this also does not include we have at any given time about 100 employees in the pipeline through licensing And background checks as well in addition to the open positions. So this significant employment that is either in You know in in the pipeline or being driven that's outside of our technical active hire list as a snapshot at any given time With respect to the granularity, you're right to have the instinct that Evasiveness is sometimes a desire not to give you the information because the information isn't good In this case that's that's not the issue. The issue is because we have so much data We want to make sure that it makes sense and that is reflective What is a supervisor? What is a manager? What are the right departments to look at? Some of our departments are so small that you can't drive Some of the diversity goals that we might otherwise want to do want to want to show you So I think I think a session a working session makes a ton of sense So you can see what we have and then we can propose us in a position to To produce in a way that that shows the good effort But we also have to think about our other jurisdictions and we want to make sure we don't create inconsistent standards Cross jurisdiction so happy to have that conversation with you And I think the and you've seen my executive team. You've seen our workforce.  There's two levels that are at play here Information access to all the rich information That that you describe is is key and we've always had it and our staff will continue to have it But there's also the the reporting that is that is important for not just for for the rest of us outside of that group, but the public really And and and but the flip side is we also recognize that some of that granularity Is indeed potentially a competitively disadvantaged Information if he was just put out there entirely So there is a happy medium that I think we can You know, we can all Agree on when it comes to public reporting. So we should we should work on that excellent Next slide we get into our 29 workforce 2019 workforce development plan. Many of these Educational and community partner partners. You'll recognize from prior presentations, but these are relationships that we continue to value and expand upon in 2019 on the educational side Certainly Putnam vocational technical school and Westfield Academy to high school level programs that we're able to utilize And partner with having our executive chefs come into their programs to You'll continue reinforcing skills and encouraging to continue in the field and Potentially advancing into like a whole new community college and their culinary program as well as well The massachusetts casino careers training institute continues to be a valuable partner of ours They join us on many of our recruiting trips to Share their their experience as well, but we continue to recruit students at completion of their of their classes as well UMass Amherst remains a core school to to mgm resorts in its entirety and Specifically us here in springfield. We're on campus At least once or twice a semester at recruiting events and additionally into Their hospitality class classrooms to do guest lectures as requested We're able to continue promoting our internship programs at stcc american international Western New England and then johnson and wales. We we participate in their large annual culinary job fair for recruitment On the our work on the following slide our workforce development partners Westfield Job Corps Was a fantastic partner leading up to opening and that we continue to have very active dialogue on how students that are Actively participating in their programs can work simultaneously on our property as well as new england farm workers Bringing their members into us they They pre-opening had a large number of their members that were able to participate in the mccti training school and additionally That joined our culinary program and we continue to partner with them on our recruitment efforts We participate in a virtual job fair with a arp And as well as attending a veteran veterans inks job fairs that they host locally as well Goodwill of Hartford they put on a large in job fair that we attend annually And we've been fortunate to share a lot of our recruitment efforts with the urban league via their radio program that that they have in springfield We do continue to reach out to Head start and and Be able to promote our positions to the parents of their their customers their customers Veterans assembled electronics had a very strong has a very strong partnership on our slot technicians They have training programs specifically designed So we're able to recruit individuals right out of that program and united way If you recall the story is pre-opening the victims of the hurricane tragedy that in Puerto Rico that relocated to Our our area united way was able to organize us to reach out to those Those individuals those impacted individuals to recruit Ultimately, we have had hiring success and having those individuals come on our campus and and be able to grow their careers with us While while their families transition here And dressed for success. We we've been able to provide a speaker to their students conduct mock interviews onto their participants as well and then Our partnership continues to grow with springfield works you know in their you know city-wide efforts of Aligning and and organizing additional training and employment opportunities for for for the region And the final slide that i'll share is our q4 recruitment efforts On the heels of opening our team was still able to get out to two more job fairs To to share our message Specifically, we attended a veterans picnic in the park that was hosted by the eastern hampton county veteran service district Mass hire put on a large keeping western mass working job expo that we're happy to to be at that and continue to They held one in january as well that we were happy to be at that as well western mass employment Collaborative held their job expo that that we're in attendance at western new england had a large career fair in q4 that we we were able to attend Veterans Inc their flagship career fair that they host in holy oak. I believe those are second one We've been proud to be at that one both times and then with you massiamers with their hospitality program They hosted a rapid recruitment session where they only invited in 15 employers We were one of those employers and we really did speed dating with students to share You know what opportunity to slide with them within our company Great any questions before I pass back to uh seth and non-to-talia here like Thanks jason, uh, so i'm gonna i'm gonna touch on our marketing highlights and hand it off to toya for the entertainment discussion so, uh, this what you have before you is is a sample of Examples of our monthly newsletter and this is really our promotional casino promotional calendar It's been very successful. As I mentioned before You know some some of our projections are not quite where we want them to be To get more granular our table games is very successful Our slots is what's ramping slower than we had hoped and we continue to to tweak our promotional model Card giveaways have proven to be very successful in in march. Um, we are given away. We have the Uh, we have the fortune of five saturdays in march. So we're giving away five cars on five saturdays So it's going to be um excited to see that promotion, but um, we've had a lot of success on card giveaways So just to give you a sample the kinds of things that we do in our monthly newsletters Uh, briefly talking about sponsorships and partnerships extremely important for us is who we associate ourselves with in the inherent goodwill and Cross marketing that comes with it and you can see we have the marquee brands really throughout the commonwealth represented on the slide Some of our some of our most successful weekends have been one of you've got a sold out thunderbirds game when we've got We've got a great Red Sox playoff game. Certainly the patriot success Has has has been a boon to the property Six flags in our backyard is part of our summer programming. So Really associate ourselves with those brands understanding their promotions understanding their database so that we can do cross marketing Has is a big part of how we continue to ramp, but they've been very successful. We plan on continuing them You've heard me talk about the basketball hall of fame relationship before and one of the shames Before we came to town was much of the activation with the basketball hall of fame's annual Induction ceremony went down to connecticut where they where they held the party after holding the ceremony We're now able to hold a lot of those ancillary events and keep a lot of that great activity in downtown springfield Right, so just a small example of what we're able to do now that we've got a facility will they will they come to your facility next year We've reluctantly agreed to share it with uh with our competitor Because they they made a substantial investment in the in the hall of fame, but we're able to to share much of the activity Um, we've got them sort of thursday and friday. I think they get them saturday We'll try to get them back sunday So that's a little bit of a tug of war that's going on with our competitors Mike um This was in the prior slide and of course I could not participate, but how does one win a car? Just curious how does one win a car? How does one win a car? Yeah It's a um, it's based on the amount of play and you get entries. Um, we do a virtual um Raffle. Uh, yeah, what do you call it the old um sweepstakes? Yeah, I'm gonna make a hand motion like a little A drum we do a promotional a virtual promotional drum and the more you play the more more tickets you get into the virtual No, and then it's just a random number generator that kicks it out. So we'll get 10 we'll get 10 finalists That are able to pick um five to 10 finalists on any given day that are able to pick envelopes And one of the envelopes is the key to the car And I always go to those because they're exciting and the other nine are Constellation prizes are free play and other other rewards So the streaks that come out when when they open up the envelope for the car is pretty pretty great. That's right You should make sure it's you can't play and maybe your extended family can't play Nobody can't hear that's right And then uh, lastly is actually I got two more slides up just some images from how we've activated these partnerships, so we had a MGM springfield day out as a tailgate at one of the patriot's games In fact, the first one was so successful And I think they felt badly that we got rained out the first time that they invited us back the second time So great opportunity to get in front of customers particularly on the eastern part of the state Drive m life sign ups. We do a food truck You can see on the bottom right. We have a mexican food truck called guac this way Which is really popular and it's it's a lot of fun So we're able to get in front of new customers and and cross market And then other examples of what we do at thunderbirds and and some of the other programs And then the last one is is just to remind you of what we do with our m life rewards We have a huge database, which is our m life database and through it. We're able to take partners And the win-win is we're able to give promotional discounts From our vendors and partners to our database. So it drives value to our customers It also drives awareness to our our partners. So 10 off merchandise for the thunderbirds Other discounts for some of our other sports partners basketball hall of fame 15 off admission So it's a great way to To expose those brands to an active our active database Great then really successful and we'll do more of that Um with that, I'm gonna hand it off to tall yet I'm unfortunately have to run for my flight and this is one of my favorite sections, which is entertainment But some exciting announcements that we've just made and I do have time if there's any any other questions that you feel like You want to ask of me before I hand it off to the team? I'll get used to that Thank you Mr. Mathis I have one question and it's I'm sorry that I didn't ask it before it's out of order And I want to make sure you get your flight but with respect to the issue around Um, the miners Yeah, you had said that you you know the the number was obviously higher and I understand it's because you have higher Enforcement measures. Do you happen to know? I know it's not fair because it's your quarterly report But do you happen to know how junior a looked for the mine a minor number? I think we could fish it Seth. You want to help with that? I don't have the specific numbers, but it looks very similar To december, uh, I think the I think there are anecdotally, I think there are a couple fewer Gaming but more that we intercepted on the floor. So it's a very similar month to december I think some of the same factors that led to the higher numbers in december contributed in january as well Some of the family events the cold weather The increased enforcement. So what we're what we've really been One of the things that and I think mike did a little bit of analysis But one of the things we did see a really promising change in january By the way, each one of these instances we have a report on and we look at the time We track the person see where they came in how long they were gaming And so what you're seeing a good positive trend is it's taking less time for us to find them and remove them And so the average time in january is much lower than than um, it was earlier on and so You'll see that when we get into the details, but mike I don't know if you have anything to add Yeah, I think you know one of the things and I think you're you're right on and it's what we're looking for Is was the trajectory of our of our program and our enforcement and one of the things I was really pleased to see in january Is and I did some math on the right out here is um 20 25 percent of the incidents of Gaming incidents were discovered five minutes or less Um, and those are largely slot machines So that's a that really speaks to the ability of our our security team to sweep the floor and to aggressively Check new new new faces that look like they might be underage 75 percent of the incidents were 20 minutes or less So from the early days where someone could hide out in the corner and now we've implemented these programs We're able to get to them sooner. Um, to me, that's the measure of of how effective our team is We're going to continue to do things like the podium and and and increase sweeps But really we're looking we're looking for those those durations if they sneak on there They're not going to be on there for long And we'll share those new numbers with you, but I think they have been pretty consistent It's just the durations that have really come down, which is um, which is a great success Thank you Thank you. Thanks so much. Thanks for a point. Absolutely. Thank you Good afternoon commissioners. I'm excited to talk about some of our entertainment programming over q4 Um, so first I'll speak to the headliners, uh, that we had which are the national acts So at mass mutual center We had cv wander bill burr and then the comedy get down tour Which featured some of the artists that you see at the bottom and at symphony hall. We had erin lewis Felipe asparza who is a comedian and then a partnership with our springfield symphony orchestra actually for a symphonic prince tribute show And then on the plaza we were excited to bring blue man group jabba walkies street drum corpse And a sold-out show of the dropkick murphys and dropkick murphys Was a fun event for me specifically We in partnership With nathan bill which is a local restaurant where and the artists themselves were able to generate over 16 000 for charity and that went to sergeant Gunnery sergeant tom solovan foundation, which is a local deceased military veteran that we have in the area So one of my favorite shows that we did so far these ag these 10 shows Were estimating bra around 25 000 visitors to downtown springfield over q4 Some of our community events and programming most of which were on the plaza and within the armory and so jam fest which was Free music fest to the community in partnership with the springfield business improvement district And brought around 4 000 visitors Ride to remember we had a cornhole tournament And so I won't touch on all of them Some of you had attended our free concert series as well, which was called city block at the time We've got some images of what that programming looked like you see the tree lighting You see nancy karigan opening our ice rink Some of the ride to remember participants and other activities that we had And as far as upcoming entertainment for the headliners specifically We're really excited to have a sold out share show She's going to be performing at the mass mutual center in april And then this week we just announced our one-year anniversary programming We'll be bringing aerosmith to the mass mutual center for four dates With expected attendance of 22 000 over the week to the downtown springfield area We're not even on sale to the public yet. Um, we're just in the presale phase right now We've already sold 50 of our sellable capacity So that show will go quickly and it's going to be really exciting for the downtown area 50 percent of fall four shows Correct. So we have 21 000 In total sellable capacity as of noon today. We're at 10 500 in the comedy club Yes, so the comedy club is uh, we call it roar. It's currently in the armory Right. Um, we've had about four shows a weekend starting since january That was a temporary agreement with a partner out of boston john tobin presents. It was supposed to be six months We've verbally agreed to extend that throughout the remainder of the year And so we'll continue to have comedy in the armory. We heard about it You're anticipating at the last quarterly report. Just wondering how it's is it Is great. Yeah, um, most of the sell most of the shows hit about a 90 percent sell out on average Some of the shows start on thursday summer on sunday So those ones are around 60 capacity and then obviously the friday and saturday ones Are a sell out if not around 95 percent and so on average we're sitting around 90 Great and your capacity is 243 per show Tally, could you speak to the ticket price because I think we've heard it anecdotally that it's a great affordable Family entertainment. We're getting a lot of positive feedback on that. Yeah, most of them depending on the act, obviously But most are right around 30 dollars anywhere from 25 dollars to 32 has been the max so far a great price. Thank you And then also upcoming. We're really excited this you guys are seeing at first mgm live is going to be our summer concert series this year on the plaza and so with that will be 25 free and open to the public concerts And then in addition to that there'll be some of the ticketed shows that we will do with headlining acts as well Close to we're estimating around 10 as we continue to finalize the artists for that And then in addition to that you'll see, um, you know farmers market. We will continue with yoga, which the community was Praised significantly We will do food and beverage festivals So a lot of upcoming sort of variety that we're hoping Um to have on the plaza for our guests Any questions for entertainment? Thank you. I forgot that this was mic section and he he left so I guess I'll take over So I think you know, one of the things that um, we wanted to highlight Is that you know, there are questions around what's going to be our impact to the community local businesses And um, you know and while we're we're anxious to see further development for instance across the street Uh, so we can get additional foot traffic We've seen we've heard anecdotally and seen as reflected in this article That folks within the vicinity business owners are really seeing A spike in their business and so this was a piece on npr speaking to that There is a hotel nearby that we have a strong relationship with Who's seen really some significant increases in their occupancy rate since our opening? So you see a 70% occupancy With a $95 adr to now 84% occupancy with a 20 increase in the adr. So that's that's um, that's a significant Increase and and we hope to continue to see examples like that One again anecdotal that I think many of you have probably seen as you've visited is uh, red rose pizza who's right next door to us Who has been doing a very strong business since we've opened? We we often go in there ourselves and see a lot of our customers with our giveaways eating in there and we We you know, we're happy for him. We were some of them would stay on property But they're doing very well very very well at red rose. So there has been some really positive spin-off impact and we hope to continue to see that Resident do you want me to cover this or john or were you going to get the residential or Yeah, I well, you understand it's in the middle of conversation. So if we could have a I know their sensitivity regarding the The Negotiation that if you provide a higher level status update sure, um if If everyone recalls we we've um have a timeline to do our off-site residential development at um at one point We were asked by the city of springfield to to Pause with our own development efforts to try to collaborate with the city on a really iconic Project in the city of springfield right on court square the 31 lm project. Those discussions have been ongoing for quite some time And and we've we've addressed it several times before the commission It's it's we've said it's been on the goal line for a long time. It's it's literally inches from the goal line from what I understand We've been in several discussions, but we're not privy to all discussions. I understand that the city has requested a short Additional time period With respect to our deadline to report to the commission really tomorrow Was our deadline to say whether 31 lm would move forward and we would participate or whether we would go to a plan b And and then what the timeline for that plan b would be we have We have been proceeding parallel path and exploring A number of plan b's and have have opportunities, but we are still Holding off because we understand there's been some some progress and this the city thinks it's Very close and so we are continuing to be willing to to wait so long as the Commission allows us to And so but we do feel confident that there's been some really significant recent progress on that front Yeah, I read the email that we got from uh, so this is ter piccola John is there anything besides The remarks that he has here in his email that That you could speak to i'm not necessarily It it doesn't mean that it doesn't drive the point that and the rask Which I find sufficient But if there is anything else that you might be able to say no I think um, I can just amplify that based on the conversations that I have had It does appear that there's very significant activity Up for consideration today is a vote to extend that 30 day requirement I can go into a little bit detail about that what the requirement said, but basically it's is what Seth just reported that By march 1st mgm springfield shall provide a final commitment of documentation for the 31 elm street project Along with the realistic construction timetable from the from the city And then if it couldn't meet this condition by march 1st mgm springfield shall proceed With independent residential requirement within the time frame time frame set set in the hca so one one thing that I will note is that One of our prior colleagues commissioner cute mckew often talked to us about the value of deadlines and bringing clarity to all situations and And I think I will You know recognize this belatedly that there is tremendous Tremendous benefit in having deadlines, but however that said Given the reports that I have heard I do recommend that the commission move forward with the approving the 30 day extension This has been an extremely important the 31 elm project has been an extremely important project to The city of springfield The commission certainly has shown its diligence and in following up on the regional requirement regarding the 54 residential units And indeed it recognized and commissioners That currently are on the commission Recognized that in order to meet the final commitment of construction We had to know Sooner than that that we would either move forward with 31 elm or move forward to plan b As soon as we can so that we can get the construction of those units up and up and running all that said I do recommend and sap does recommend moving forward with the 30 day Extension for our deadline Because you feel like they have made they're very close to finalizing this this project Let me not say Very close. I would just say that there has been You know significant activity as of late. We've heard very positive things but just so I don't Over promise I think I will just stay with that. There's been very significant progress on everything but With that as the wet blanket, let me just say that it does seem very optimistic at this point Can I ask about the timeline for a plan b? So that we're giving 30 days theoretically for 31 elm Or does it also include? At the end of the 30 days either 31 elm or plan b or would we what runway would be needed for plan b? So, uh, thank you chair. Great question. So, um, when we did approve the detail construction schedule for mpm springfield We also did note what that plan b would be Currently, there's a requirement under springfield's host community agreement that those units must be built by march of 2020 And so there was an anticipation that we had to figure out what would happen for that march 2020 date I don't think that we're under any Misimpression that if the city does choose and the does choose to move forward with 31 elm That the construction could be completed by that 2020 date But there would have to be some additional action at the city level and city council level To determine that date But I don't think that was necessarily that was a good explanation, but not necessarily her question. I think Sorry, sorry to put it that bluntly I think you may have been referring to more If plan b starts from scratch The day we moved they moved to plan b And that's not necessarily the case. Am I in the right impression said that that's correct I believe that at the at the end of those 30 days we would be prepared to Tell you about what our plan b is the project and what our expected timeline would be to get that done We in Once we're controlling it in theory it could be done by that march 2020 deadline. I think once we It's it's been hard because we're working with third parties on that and they know we're talking about Elm as well. So the the amount that they're willing to invest in terms of Construction drawings, etc. Well, we're waiting to see We've had to be on pause, but we can hit the ground running very fast I think at the end of this extension if we feel that 31 elm is not moving forward We would be prepared to discuss that project the realistic timeline and I think it would be I don't think anyone feels that it would Uh take as long as 31 elm would take because 31 elm is a very complicated project that we're not controlling So so we could I think would be in striking distance of that original deadline Right. So just to provide further fine point on that Um, we were both at think saying the same thing But our original motion held it to that march 2020 date because that is the date of the of the of the under the HCA So if indeed there needed to be a movement for even plan b That would require some city action in addition to action by the commission to uh, take a look at that march 2020 date So just so I know in terms of agenda planning 30 days from now We have a Meeting what would be yeah, well while we haven't confirmed our meetings. We were on a two week schedule. So 30 days or I would just say Um I think it's 28. Yeah march march 20. Yeah march. I think that march in april on the same day. So it would be march 28. Yeah so If if need be if we depending on a motion for an extension that's approved I just want to make sure I understand if 31 elm street does not go through And we asked mgm to come in on march 28th. Will you be able to say this is plan b and And it will be all Prepared to go or will there still be a need for further discussions with another developer, etc No, we anticipate anticipate that we will be able to Tell you what plan b is and and um our plans for Executing on it executing on it in the timeline Thank you And I just want to say yeah, no just further Comment I mean I'm inclined to go along with the request from from the city to extend because this is really a request from the city To extend the the deadline I do recognize the value of deadlines as you mentioned As being a big incentive towards people to finally, you know, uh, feature cut paid as they say Um, but uh, the city really values the prospect of this project and you will you will see it if you haven't already Directly across from from the side of the casino and uh, really on the other side of Is it called court square? And uh, and what one with a lot of complicating factors for a number of reasons, but uh, but really a worthy Economic development project Um, and so we've always had this tension between Also over here on mgm trying to meet the requirement that we had put on that has been In place for some time And the city wanting to try to make this this project work Um I don't know that I would feel much clear. I did understand that this extension is driven by the city I do understand that so thank you right I do think though that I I hope this doesn't turn into another 30 days and another 30 days and and you know We find ourselves whatever next year still talking about this um so There's going to have to be some kind of Really um reckoning time at some point if it's not today, but um I'm inclined to go along with it with the request as I mentioned but um We really hope that the parties are Really close to getting the time I just just from a historical perspective and I also you know um We don't want this as commissioner zuniga just said to keep dragging itself out, but Um, certainly amenable to the city's request, you know, we're talking about a property that is that Empty for 20 some odd years right in the heart of downtown and this seems to be the first kind of Real opportunity or credible opportunity that's come forward to try to try to save this historic building. So again, I'm in I'm in the position of you know familiarity with the property of trying to give it this 30 day extension at the request of the city, but also mindful that At some point, you know, the deal is either there or it's not and you know For your ability to kind of meet the components of your rfa too is to Look for another location But we're holding off on the vote until later in the agenda. Yes. Okay. You just previewed I see Which I didn't know I didn't know everywhere or not Well, you could that's my question was it's slated for later, but if we're discussing it now, we could take a vote now Yeah, we started talking about it. Yes, or it got an agenda agenda, but I'll leave it up to council. Well, I can move forward It seems to make sense. You've just had seems like you've had a robust discussion on it. So Unless there's something that you wish to add or are folks from commission want wish to add other than from mgm Well, if I believe it's a time It would be a timely motion right now. Do I hear a motion? Madam chair, I'd move that the commission approve the request of the city of springfield for a 30 day extension with respect to The development agreement to be finalized with respect to 31 l second Further discussion my only discussion would be we we wish all parties good luck on this and a vote All those in favor Opposed Can I just for clarification purposes? Could I assume the 30 day extension? Times as to the march 28th meeting It would go to april 1st, which would be march 28th Because that's fine as long as we're within the march 28th What you really expect is an answer by march 28th if we have a meeting that correct. I think it's important for You know springfield to understand that because they have to ask for this extension. So right. Thank you. It's a clarifier. Thank you Great. Thank you. Um, I'll touch on the three final points very briefly. Uh, as I know they're of interest to the commission. Um, Dave we Uh Chair we call it the dave's furniture lot I don't know if you've heard this before it might have been confusing when you first saw it But that's several years ago the building that was there and we've been calling it the dave's furniture a lot for so long That's hard to get away away from this is the corner of main and union street In springfield and uh, it's reflected right there with the wall burgers banner So we have a letter of intent with wall burgers to construct a wall burgers restaurant. Um On that site, we were hopeful that we'd be sitting here today saying that the lease is finalized But lawyers sometimes draw things out. Um, I'm one of the guilty ones on this particular Item, but we are very we had a very productive quality of the day and we anticipate no issues with as soon as we finalize the The detail lease will move forward with construction drawings and we'll be able to report on the timeframe, but uh, I believe Mike previously mentioned and it remains the case that we're we're hopeful to have a new year's eve opening at that Property and so that remains the target for for the wall burgers restaurant In terms of armory plans That's one of the requirements that you'd like us to continue to report on our armory development plans. That is Because the roar come to club as you've heard has been such a such a success and they're extending it That's we continue to plan to utilize it for that purpose for the foreseeable future but one of the things that We've experienced you heard Mike talk about the the gaming numbers our food and beverage numbers have been Very strong since opening and continue to be and we think there's a demand that continues to outpace the supply on our Our property so we continue to look at and I'll touch on a moment on the next point We continue to look at food and beverage opportunities So we're a parallel path continue to explore and think about whether that armory building Is suitable for a future use with a multi-level food and beverage operation and that continues to be an ongoing discussion but For the foreseeable future we continue to use it as the the comedy club and other event programming Finally, I don't have specifics and and might Perhaps would have had a few more to speak to but we are evaluating our food and beverage needs on site and there are multiple spaces on our on our site a vacant space between the western mass news and And tap That's one of the original retail spaces that we've been waiting to develop. We do anticipate Developing that ourselves as a food and beverage and additional food and beverage outlet over the next several months We're still working on design name and theme, but we anticipate one of the things that Talia wants is rather than have portable bars and For the events out there to have the ability to have a restaurant With food and beverage there that that has almost a an open-air garage door lift up so you can service the plaza right there so that would be That's something we're exploring and we're also exploring some of the space in the south end market that is Experiencing less volume whether we can shift the programming and create a standalone restaurant in south end market and we're still determining what the Again, the theme and food is but it's possible. We'll be adding an additional standalone restaurant as part of the south end market to replace The wine and cheese bar is one of our performs not at the level of the others And there's some good space there that we could create a new a new use So we continue to explore those and and with those are additional opportunities for our wait staff and servers And so we we continue to push the food and beverage development And we'll we'll update you as those plans progress And unless there are any questions Just with respect to you kind of built it in a couple of places under Talia's report and also under the future development Um I was always under the impression when we were talking about a I think it was a 60 day plan to look ahead to how you were programming the plaza and the armory space obviously a lot is that Excuse me. A lot of that is consumed with roar um I guess I was looking for a plan that might have a little bit more detail Uh Be it a schedule, you know, again, I understand Might be some information. You don't want to disclose as to to who or what but I was always kind of under the impression that there'd be a little more meat to that programming plan So as we look at them, maybe the next quarterly report kind of building that in if that's fair Okay, do you hear that Talia? Yes next time 90 day plan We will the the challenge being our season really out there is going to be memorial day weekend through labor day weekend Just due to weather. Um, and so we're continuing to look at what that looks like, especially for the 60 days For the plaza specifically, it will be a little quieter. Um, and we'll ramp up on May So uh next meeting happy to share what that looks like with you guys Seth is very glad that Mike had a flight to chat right Okay, uh chair and commissioners I'll be brief on the on the very next section as I mentioned There are a number of other timelines and deadlines that we are very closely monitoring When the commission approved the mgm schedule of the detailed construction schedule on April 12th 2018 The commission established a July 8 2019 date for the planned construction at the So-called Dave's furniture lot that Seth just described What was that day John July 8 2019. Okay So it's clear that deadline will not be met But as Seth mentioned significant progress has been made So I recommend that the commission take another look at this deadline in short order After evaluating mgm springfield's construction plans Post the signing of that lease We'll discuss a date when we can bring it before the commission But perhaps as early as that the 30 days from now the march 28th date Perhaps we can bring that to you at that point. So we'll discuss that further with mgm springfield In addition to the Dave's site We're also monitoring mgm springfield's progress on its planned solar installation That too Has a deadline in the near future Pursuant to our section 61 requirements those installations shall be complete within one year of the opening of mgm springfield facility One more item that I'll mention is the completion of mgm's Transportation demand management measures that that are also required in their section 61 Requirements, you know due to the time the time in the afternoon I think if you have any further questions regarding tdm Joe Delaney is here to answer those, but otherwise we there's significant detail included in your packet One item that we'll mention that we're actively working on and mgm's actively working on is an mo you between mgm and the pvta regarding a lot of these measures, but if you have any questions, joe is here. Otherwise There's significant detail included in the packet But we will also need to address That timetable In short order regarding the tdm measures So but both the but both the solar panel discussion and the tdm could be talked about at a later meeting Yeah, we have to we have to make it determine exactly what we do because it's a section 61 requirement regarding tdm So we'll have further discussions on what we do about those measures that Necessarily we'll take a little bit longer in time. Okay There's 65 items on the on the tdm plan and Most of those I guess have been wrapped up or completed Is there one or two that are really a particular concern either to our licensee or to you and joe that Well, I think I will just mention the the mo you we've had communications with the pvta And with mgm springfield about wrapping that up in short order. It does, you know take a little bit of Uh additional work to put together the mo you and I know both pvta and mgm are tremendously busy But I know that they've making great they're making great efforts to to communicate regarding all the priorities locally You know, they obviously work on the loop together. They work on a lot of different initiatives And we've heard those reports In meetings that joe and I have had with mgm. So we know that they're making a great amount of progress Um, and hopefully things will be completed fairly fairly soon on that mo you Agreed john and to be clear we we have an existing mo you with the pvta that we We negotiated and we went through to develop the loop and and get that loop service up and running And so whether we do a separate one or amend our existing one to incorporate the additional commitments Is one thing where we've been discussing with them, but it is one of our priorities And our our prior Relationship entering into the mo you fill the loop demonstrates our our ability to work together and get that done it's just Again a lot irons in the fire taking a little longer than than we had hoped but that is that is on our priority list That's great Sounds good Thank you very much Thank you. I might suggest while we have the mgm folks up here and the pen folks have been incredibly patient Um, if we could just do the service employee exemption, um quickly I agree with that in case or any questions if Yeah, right for the record continued patients for the record. Mr. Mathis promised lance aerosmith tickets for Sorry At least four Good afternoon manager curtis Good afternoon chair and commissioners. How are you today? Good afternoon? Thank you. Very good. Very good Today i'm joined with um jason randal as you know, who's the director of human resources for mgm springfield We come before you for approval on service employee exemptions in your packet You'll find a memo requesting your consideration for the approval of 15 positions for exemption at mgm springfield These 15 positions include 10 unique job profile numbers that represent 67 individuals The commission staff has worked collaboratively with mgm springfield human resources department And the part of this collaboration has resulted in the positions that we are putting before you for your consideration commission staff has recommended these positions be exempt Since the positions fall outside of the commissions endorse the factors for consideration of making exemption determinations The only question I had is one position was a manager position that had employees underneath But you are still recommending that that position Um That that position and i'm trying to find the position is it graphic arts? Would that be the creative manager? I think it would be and but there were levels of supervision above it I just wanted a clarification on that Yes commissioner cameron is this five levels of um supervisory folks above them That's correct So you made a determination that although it is a supervisors position Um, it did not require Correct it falls outside of the parameters Well, one of the termination is managerial responsibilities Oh in any department. Yes, um, but in the past we've always Eliminated a managerial position if there are multiple levels of managers above that position I don't recall seeing one like this, but it is you're saying there is precedent here Yes Okay, well, there's also other other criteria that that would fall under right that that person is not under on the gaming floor necessarily correct But these are all of the factors so right usually if it touches any one of them We don't allow the exclusion, but I think we're getting the explanation here I believe commissioner cameron. There may be additional Positions that are similarly supervisory in nature, but there are the levels of oversight As well as the one that you You notice is one is the one that I flagged there are others So and I I saw that when I didn't see the others Well, for instance, uh transportation supervisor I think I'm sorry. I don't have my notes with me. Um, yeah Mm-hmm, but I believe you explained to me Mr. Curtis that there were additional Oversight yes and an additional levels of supervision in in multiples not just one or two correct Okay, so you're comfortable. There's no risk Yeah, I would just remind the commission You know that I think One of the factors I I believe Looking back on the history of this that the commission also Considered in even supporting the legislation for exemption Is that the company itself still does a background check? They don't necessarily have the automatic disqualifiers we did under the statute, but they are able to look at Potentially criminal history, but it would have to be associated with the type of job that's going on And they'd make that initial interpretation So it's so this as just a reminder these exemptions doesn't mean a person gets hired without any process at all There are still the company's process And if I understand correctly we could reverse any exemption at any time The only other clarification I had asked you for earlier was the um supervisor entertainment events activation position and just For everyone else's edification. You did clarify for me that those are all non gaming floor events, correct? That's correct. No events in that department are run on the gaming floor thank you well, I'm I'm Happy to go along with these requests for exemptions. I have been In the past among the commissioners that believe that this exemption is a really it really this process really goes a long way towards Providing jobs to the underemployed unemployed, which is a big Um Principal in the statute That at the same time also allows us to conform To the background check and suitability and and and and what not licensing rather In this case of many of the operations that are more critical those having to do with cash casino operations and so on so For your benefit, we had a long process of arriving to this exemption Uh provision, which we are now voting on a few more than what we've done in the past for mgm and ppc And I think uh, it's has been really a good compromise Yes, and I have to thank mr. Curtis. He's given me two very extensive briefings So I am very comfortable with the process and the framework at this point. I will still You did have a question though an outstanding question on one of the positions Yes, and mr. Reynolds going to answer a few excellent. Thank you so much Perfect related to the food server position that does in room dining or room service Related to service of alcohol that may be brought to the room The standard operating procedure for that position is to verify identification to ensure Any of the recipients of the of the order are 21 So those those servers will be checking IDs in the room Thank you very much and Commissioners, do you have any additional questions? Okay, is there a motion I'd be happy to move that the commission approve The request to exempt from The following the gaming service employees Outlined in the packet today from the licensing requirements Period second any further discussion All those in favor aye Those opposed five zero Thank you As everybody settles in the commissioners will take a five minute break. Thank you so much Yes, thank you chair Up next we ask Plain Ridge park to present its quarterly report representing plain ridge parker lance george general manager Kim rigo vice president of human resources who Unfortunately will be here for her last meeting with us I certainly enjoyed all of her visits in the past And mike mule or vice president of operations and with that I turn it over to thanks. John great to be here As as usual jump right into it 15 20 minutes is what commissioner stevens committed to As We will start with revenues and taxes several numbers on this slide point to Just a couple A year of year comparison of the fourth quarter shows a modest uptick in revenue and taxes paid This increase was largely driven by a stronger than expected december Notably q4 does represent the first full quarter that ppc has faced the impact of two new casino openings in the form of mgm And then closer to home the new facility in tibetan rhodi on that is just over the border All in for the fourth quarter 2018 The combination of taxes paid to the commonwealth and fees paid to the horseman at 49 percent total approximately 20 million with gaming revenues just under 40.5 million Successful quarter successful year with revenues increasing by roughly 6.8 million from 2017 to 2018 Lottery sales Again a lot of numbers here. I'll highlight just a couple quarter four 2018 total sales of 867 000 of 5.5 percent year over year In total per 2018 Sales of 3.6 million an increase of almost 10 percent Encouraging year over year trend with no material change to the relationship or in the approach In essence number of machines remains consistent as does the location of those machines. No no significant changes Transitioning to spending and procurement by states these next two slides will go hand in hand relating to in-state spending And so for quarter four 66 percent or approximately 1.5 million of the eligible spend occurred in state The remainder is split amongst several other states year-end results On the next slide we're largely consistent as well with 74 percent of the eligible spend occurring in state Purchasing team continues to make spending in mass a priority certainly pleased with uh with these numbers no doubt digging A little deeper into the properties procurement for 2018 We've provided a breakdown of local spending for host community and surrounding communities Approximately 740 000 of ppc's procurement spend in 2018 Occurred in our local and surrounding communities with the majority occurring in the towns of plainville and mansfield And with that, I will turn it over to kim. This is her last meeting. I too will miss her greatly And I think we all wish her well. She heads down to pittsburgh Thank you lance. Good afternoon everyone Dive into the vendor diversity. So this is a really good story. So we've met and exceeded our goal for each quarter We had growth in minority business enterprises as well as veteran business Enterprises we've had Sorry about that Significant growth in women businesses and that was specifically in q4 due to Food and beverage equipment with smash burger purchases for the opening of smash burgers with kithridge at 172 000 A direct mail with vendor payments highlighting liberty creative services for 148 000 And we also had marketing promotional goods from global promotional sourcing as well Heading now into So continued vendor diversity. So 2018 by quarter Each quarter We were able to meet or exceed our goal continuing to do that. So women business Enterprises was for about 13 different vendors at 1.3 million Minority businesses. There were 11 at 439 000 And veterans there were eight at 315 000. So pen is in the process of Doing a spend alignment. So where it's accessible we're looking to retain and continue to move to diverse diverse suppliers Next i'm going to take us through our employment So our totals each quarter are an as of date. So though the end of december was at 461 Um, this is down slightly and in no way is indicative of a trend We do see seasonality with racing and had several layoffs related to racing But all of those employees will be returning with us in the spring and in march when racing comes back on on board We do currently have as of this time 473 employees Our full-time employment 309 Me 67 percent of our population part time is 152 at 33 percent Our other numbers remain larger the same. So diversity We typically go up and down one percentage point. So that's at 26 percent Veterans remains the same at five percent a massachusetts residents were up slightly with one percent higher So at 65 percent and our local continues to trend the same at 34 percent We are very proud of our male and female We are 50 50. So we've hit our a new goal 50 percent women and so we have seen even with the reduction in numbers for the month of december. There was still an increase Over q3 in the number of women that we are employing That being said, let's move on into women leaning at penn one of my favorite initiatives So I did want to touch base about the things that we've done and q1 q4 was a little flat with the holidays We didn't have a lot of stuff going on and we were preparing for these two events in q1 of this year So we did have Ann Nicholson. So ann is the ceo and president of simons group She also is a member of the board of global gaming women So ann spoke enterprise-wide with penn national So it was a live recording and then we were able to play it back and it was such a motivational opportunity to See her speak that i'm glad that we're able to record it and we have it available so that women can continue to watch it Refer to it. I've even referred back to our slides. Um, so it's very much an empowering session So she spoke a lot about building your personal brand and communicating assertively so Very much respect ann and and enjoyed that We just had This week actually ashley parry. I was thought I was able to to still be here for for that as well Ashley did a workshop with us on leadership courage And confidence. Uh, she spoke at i don't remember her gail. She spoke She spoke at the women's expo and so we were able to bring her back and do a small workshop with several women So it was a very intimate session So for two hours and we talked a lot about having tough conversations and giving and receiving feedback The team really enjoyed her and she's also Agreed to if people if if some of the our team members were in the group Reach out to her to do some continued consulting in one-on-one conversations with them. So i'm i'm very excited about that She also was very excited that she's just done a ted talk So I haven't watched it yet, but i'm looking forward to to looking at ashley's ted talk great kim question These two programs the group of women that are being mentored at penn To be future leaders. Is that the same group you're working with or is the are these programs open to others as well? Uh specifically that the group so that initial 15 and then michelle and i make 17 So that initial group, but also because we recorded and's Program, I know several of the women in our group want to share that with with their teams as well So there is an opportunity with this one particularly that we are able to share that Across the across the property in different departments with all all different levels I did want to mention to that of the 17 there are four that have been promoted in the last year And there are four that have also had expanded roles. So so we're very very excited about that I'm one of them. So i'm excellent. I'm excited about that too. Um, and when we initially started the program Um, we had males and management at 65 percent and females at 35 percent I'm not sure this is largely due to the program But I am pleased to report that we now have 60 percent males and 40 percent women in management So five percent increase so five percent increase so Great, thank you Thank you, and i'm going to turn this over to mike to talk about compliance Before kim you turn it up. It could we go back to your vendor diversity slides? Um You said that this is a good story. Can you before you leave shed light? for my sake perhaps on How how you've accomplished these goals? What do you think it's the the greatest driver for you in terms of achieving the diversity? Um, I think largely due to elie huard who is our purchasing manager Eli has worked very closely with jill and working to find vendors and resources and meeting with people and going to I think he went to a My world. It's a career fair, but I know it was like a like an vendor fair. Thank you jill. Um, and he did a lot of work with Looking at new vendors and opportunities and looking at the types of things that we spend and what other Vendors are are out in in the local and surrounding community to be able to partner with director griffin Does has mgm or plane which worked with the I think it's the operating services division very closely They have Still early on they worked very closely during construction um, and the os and e supplies and I think they're They're they're open to working more closely for operations. I have to say the mgm has been very willing um to Talk with vendors. I've referred a handful as has um crystal Howard of referred some diverse vendors and what were just Businesses who have expressed interest in doing business with mgm And we find that these businesses, you know get a phone call they get information and and sometimes get business Good good That division that I mentioned osd helps on the certification process and can streamline those processes and I think that they Uh, I assume that office might have expos and vendor fairs that maybe mgm hasn't been accessing and maybe plane which would want to access but Excellent excellent results Congratulations, and I didn't have the pleasure of working with you, but I do know it's a big promotion. So congratulations. Thank you Yeah, I'd like to join that. I have had the pleasure of working with you and you did a fabulous job with the uh, the women at penn who lead program and Promotions are always a great thing, aren't they? So congrats and good luck with that. Thank you I'll come back and visit. Okay, great. I also want to just congratulate him, too I guess I can say she's a star because now she's moving out of our jurisdiction Um, but she's been wonderful to work with she has brought Been more than willing to go out and host community college Representatives to come to ppc and talk about employment opportunities We just had a great email the other day from the direct state director of The word for center career services. Alice Sweeney talking about how helpful and engaging you were We hope your successor and I'm pretty sure your successor will Well, they have big shoes to fill but we look forward to working with that person as well and Only because we talked about it with them GM. Obviously, we're going to be sitting down with your success. We're going through some of the kind of Reporting requirements that you guys are going to have again kind of beyond what's been in the traditional quarterly report As well as a form that will Accurately reflect kind of the new hiring goals that you guys have worked with us on so We'll be moving that along as well and you'll be in Pittsburgh. We don't have to worry about it But we'll miss you. You've done a great job. You can come visit Thank you Good afternoon, uh, madam chair and commissioners Before I start compliance. I will also add that kim will be greatly missed. She's Been great to work with these last few years Looking at our compliance in q4 we had about 20,000 just under 20,000 id checks at our three security podiums These id checks prevented 238 patrons from entering the casino and of those 238 patrons 10 were minors 42 were classified as underage 184 had expired invalid or no id's And there were two fake id's that were turned over to our local g eu agents In october we had one underage person gain access to the gaming floor for a total of eight minutes The person went straight to the players services area where a cashier immediately identified them as underage Security was called and that person was escorted from the facility They did not game nor did they consume any alcoholic averages Great numbers Looking at the next slide we continue to support our local community in terms of contributions Shown on the slide is a partial list of our q4 donations looking at ymca of adelboro Parkway community ymca The le fund which supports cancer patients while they're undergoing their treatments personal best Which is an organization that helps feed and support local families in southeast massachusetts The town of mansfield and relay for life Our relay for life goal as a property was 25,000 dollars, which we're happy to say we surpassed in 2018 Um, and we have beat our increasing goal every year since 2016 when we started Our goal for 2019 is now 30,000 dollars For pen all of pen properties who are participating in relay for life Over 427,000 dollars was raised to help support the efforts of the american cancer societies relay for life To other events worth mentioning We've recently added two donation boxes to our floor For guests to drop their low-value to to tickets in And those funds once collected will also be going to relay for life so we've had a It's been just a few weeks and a great response so far And also this past December in our employee dining room. We did a santa for seniors program This is where we had a tree set up with ornaments and had suggested gifts for seniors on the ornaments and our employees Pick the ornaments and went out and purchased the gifts Then those gifts were distributed to local senior centers to provide gifts for some seniors that Might not have been able to get gifts for the holidays It was very well received by our by our team. They did a great job with that Finally, uh, you can see our winning wednesdays there where we donated $777 for every red socks regular season win during their 2018 world championship season So a lot of money was uh was donated this year That goes to my next point because when I looked at the schedule when I was putting this together Wednesday was a great day to pick because the red socks went 17 and 6 on wednesdays on wednesdays so Those 17 wins got another 13 thousand dollars towards relay for life. That's great. Have we um, have we converted or Are we converted lands yet? There's there's no chance It's just Very hard to live here and not feel the fever. It's hard to live at my house and not feel the fever great great You can see on the slide that we've uh the check presenting ceremony For that 13 thousand dollars to the relay for life and in summary our q4 donations to this running local communities totaled over 62 thousand dollars Moving on to the next slide in q4. We continue to sponsor local organizations like Patriots and Gillette stadium and i'll be touching a little bit on that on the next slide Nessin where we have in-game sponsorships with the red socks and the Bruins NBC sports has their monday night patriots program which is a radio show that is in our fluty sports bar after every sunday game And that is one of the hosts is former patriot linebacker rob nickovich And we continue our relationship with valet at the rentham village premium outlet malls Where our patrons can show their players card and receive a loyalty card for the outlet malls to get discounts on their spends there final slide We're going to look at our q4 marketing highlights As I just mentioned our relationship with rentham outlet malls. We continue to give out our rentham outlet and simon gift card promotions It's a very popular promotion with our guests, especially in q4 around the holiday season as they can take those gift cards and and spend locally at the outlet mall And a new year's eve for our guests. We introduced a 80s themed party across the entire casino floor where the highlight of that party was having the actual delorean from back to the future On the floor and the guests were able to look at it And there was a representative there that they could ask questions and get their pictures taken with it It was a very popular event As I mentioned earlier, we worked with the super bowl 53 winning champ new england patriots To offer some exciting experiences to our guests The first one was a vip experience where four lucky guests receive seats to a Patriots buffalo bills game They also receive vip parking and passes to the cross pavilion The next was a great event called the patriots flyaway experience where two lucky guests receive tickets to the patriots stealers game in pittsburgh Field passes ground transportation and they got to fly back and forth on the patriots team plane Wow In addition to those great experiences. We also have our season tickets that we offer to our guests on a regular basis We also work with the boston bruins to offer four guests Bruin Bruins suite experience where they receive tickets to the suite at td garden for the columbus bluejackets game Dinner and transportation to and from the game Our final marketing highlight is one that we're very proud of And you can see the picture up on the screen. We partnered with the massachusetts council on compulsive gambling and our local game sense office To provide a drop-off point for guests who wanted to support the holiday lottery Responsible gaming campaign and toy drive As you can see from the photo. It was quite a response from both our Employees and our guests and we were able to provide holiday gifts to many local children that were in need Are you good? Well done. You um you weathered the competition. Well the numbers look really really strong Yeah, it's uh It's been interesting. So we were down, you know publicly reported numbers for uh, september october november and then December we were up 10 percent year over year, uh, january down a bit Um, and so we'll see what happens as we continue But it's certainly been a bit of a challenge to understand what that impact is I would have known more other than december Right, not sure other than weather. It certainly was favorable. Yes, certainly a nice rebound in december force, right? Thank you. Very good report. Appreciate appreciate the hard work Thank you Uh commissioners next on the agenda is a review of plain ridge parks progress towards meeting its goals and commitments Included in your packet as a summary memorandum regarding this commitment review And reports and documents provided by plain ridge park regarding these commitments By way of background Commission staff and the commission's audit committee Have been engaged in a review of plain ridge parks progress and meeting goals and requirements specified in plain ridge parks original application Hosted and surrounding community agreements section 61 findings Its workforce plan and associated RFA to workforce requirements As the commission is aware plain ridge park and all the commission's licensees appear before the commission Quarterly as today to report on their progress and meeting commitments This commitment the commitment review detailed in the memorandum in your packet Describes a further in-depth review of items discussed at the quarterly briefings and other important matters for review Uh as noted in the memorandum It is clear that plain ridge park has demonstrated success In meeting a significant majority of the goals and stipulations of the original applications Plain ridge park will provide a briefing regarding many of these categories of items In addition plain ridge park will also detail efforts it has made And is making to meet some of the goals and requirements that it has not yet met For example, it will discuss plans regarding the fulfillment of requirements To add a bus connection to plain ridge park It will also discuss efforts it has made and is making regarding its employment goals and requirements In that regard included in your packet is a draft amendment to plain ridge park's current workforce plan Both staff and plain ridge park recommend that the commission update this plan to include new measures to help plain ridge park achieve Its employment goals and objectives and also to revise some language that we believe sets unattainable standards workforce director jill griffin and program manager crystal howard are here to Help assist in the conversation regarding plain ridge park's workforce goals We note that we are not requesting nor recommend that the commission take any final action on the items before you today Instead we recommend that the commission request plain ridge park To discuss with its hosts and surrounding communities the status of its compliance with its goals particularly the local hiring goals And we also request that the commission should ask plain ridge park to meet with Gattra that'll be described by lance in short order And mass dot regarding the proposal to extend the route 14 bus line to plain ridge park and finally We also recommend that we should post The proposed amended workforce plan before taking any final action on any such plan So with that as a general background, let me turn it over to Director jill griffin who will provide some opening remarks and then turn it over to the plain ridge group Chair jed stein and commissioners Um As mentioned in the memo we reviewed various categories to ensure that the goals and requirements in the original application And the host and surrounding community agreements Section 61 findings and the strategic plan to engage the under and unemployed workforce plan were met But I actually wanted to talk to you a little bit about the process and Um How we got to the amended workforce plan Director xiemba general counsel blue and construction project oversight manager joe delaney as well as mary thurlow And crystal howard and I began meeting with lance george and his senior leadership team Back in september of 2017 and we This morning reviewed those meetings and These meetings were Really vitally important important and I think this process really worked Plain Ridge park also met with our executive director and the compliance committee to review Their revised plan and and new goals And I I think that Lance would agree that we had some very healthy discussions during some of those meetings I wanted to commend plain ridge park For their commitment to not only meeting the goals and exceeding the goals But the revisions in the plans they've included some really strong tactics and measures That will help them to achieve Especially their workforce hiring goals and and potentially even exceeding them So they've proposed an amendment to the workforce plan They've included enhanced strategies that really may be the factor in creating successful outcomes for residents in massachusetts and these Increased measures including include Job fairs on property and an employee Referral program. I'm not going to get into the specifics because they'll talk a little bit about that They've established a very strong relationship with career centers and community colleges And and they already talked to you about the women in leadership program that focuses on promoting from within Um I'll turn it over to lance george, but first I want to recognize also Kim rego who's moving on to pittsburgh And she's a great example of someone who's been promoted to another property Might affect your numbers locally for a little bit unfortunately, but um, congratulations to you Thank you. I will touch on gattra and public transportation And then I'll turn it over to kim to provide some detail on ppc's workforce development plan As well as in updates on salaries and wages as well staffing and discuss how our current status compares to the original rfa 2 application I would say overall we are incredibly pleased as we've taken this opportunity for a look back over the last several months I think we're in good shape As noted in the commissioner's packet relative to gattra ppc has had productive conversations recently There are a few service options that have been highlighted in gattra's regional transit plan That would provide service to the root one corridor, which certainly ppc is a part of Conversations continue and are ongoing. However, progress has been encouraging As noted in the recommendations, uh, we will provide ongoing updates during our quarterly reports and fully anticipate continued progress In short, I believe we're in a good place. Um And certainly we look forward being part of the expansion of the route 14 bus. I don't foresee Any significant roadblocks at this time given our recent productive conversations Lance, can I uh, just ask um, I know it's hard to predict the time frame But anything that uh in in those terms that you might be able to um to speak to In terms of time frame as far as completing that initiative. Yeah, certainly. I think we're optimistic that it's 2019 I know that they would like to move quickly. They had some thoughts Moving into a north adobe location in spring And as you look at the existing route, um, certainly there is already a drop-off in the town of plainville and I'm oversimplifying it. Certainly that seems simple enough to extend that there is also a very large development on route one Less than a mile up the street from us that I know they would also like to tap into That has mixed housing as well as retail So they're open to it. Uh, I believe they see that new development as an opportunity for them as well So you're really looking that I mean This is great And I think it can serve the dual purpose of not only allowing patrons to easily excess access plain rich park, but You know to kim's concern What can this Uh allow Residents of the area to access your employment opportunities as well Personally, I think I'm more optimistic on the employment side than I am on the patron side. I do believe there's opportunity Because the route is local So I I do believe there's opportunity on the employment side for sure. Okay, great salaries and wages And staffing so there's two things that I'd like to talk about so the workforce development plan and the rfa 2 They updated ppc strategic plan to engage and recruit the diverse under an unemployed workforce population Takes into account the changing landscape of workforce development We discussed in the new plan how the unemployment rate in massachusetts is significant below the national average and our local and surrounding communities Among the lowest in the state Penn national and ppc's equal opportunity policy has not has not changed We strongly believe in giving equal employment and advancement opportunities to all employees and applicants In fact, we have raised our initial goal from 10 percent to 15 percent of our workforce being comprised of individuals from ethnic minority groups Given the success we have had since opening The goal of maintaining 90 percent of the workforce coming from the host and surrounding communities has proven to be more difficult Due to among other factors a significant decrease like I mentioned in the unemployment rate We have we have made concerted efforts to reach a sustainable target percentage of workforce from the hosting surrounding communities Including numerous job fairs recruitment bonuses and other incentive programs We propose that we shift the local hiring goal to 35 percent so it aligns with the current workforce environment We will continue to utilize recruitment tactics tactics to identify employee residents of the host and surrounding communities in fact, we would also like to increase Additional goals to the plan so that 50 percent of our workforce will be women That 2 percent of more of our workforce will be veterans and to hire 65 percent or more of our workforce from the state of Massachusetts Additional recruitment goals that we've added into the plan include hosting an on-site career fair per calendar year attending a minimum of one veteran career fair per calendar year in massachusetts Attend at least two college career fairs per calendar year in massachusetts and partner with the massachusetts career centers and coordinate at least two hiring events And as we've discussed earlier today, we talked about how we had a meeting back in october We have also had meetings since then with our mass hire current parts and We continue to build our relationship with mass hire. We've also Happy to be part of now the resource solution initiative and now have a designated mass hire coordinator That will assist us in continuing to partner with mass hire to get out to career fairs and it's much Easier program now that we're coordinating through through one individual out of the the bristol career center Other additions to the plan included developing opportunities with illustrations of career ladders at planeridge for culinary and slot operation positions We've also included in the plan our women leading at penn program Lastly, I'd like to discuss the 2013 rfa2 It included projections in the full competition scenario for number of employees and salary and benefit totals Our jobs companion represents 99.6 of the projection. However, there are always going to be open positions We're happy to report that after comparing the total salaries and benefits from calendar year 2018 the number of employees is at 91 of the total and the compensation is at 96 of the projection projected total We have met or exceeded the projected number of employees in several job classifications Specifically in food and beverage two out of the three subcategories and other administrative support in one of the four subcategories And then the engineering transportation and valet and two of the three subcategories I don't know if this is the appropriate time to ask but going through The attachment in terms of what you've complied with Um, can you talk to me at all about the daycare options? I know it says you don't have the capacity on site Is there anything other than what's described in here and that you're working on are there any specifics about offering daycare options? So we do have a relationship with the daycare center That is two miles down the road and certainly that is the recommendation that we provide to our employees That is the extent of the relationship at this point We work with those folks prior to opening to ensure that we would send our employees their direction But that's it in terms of because that was in there in the original one. Has there been any further action taken to find Additional options or to make that an easier choice for them. There has not at this time That's certainly something we'll take under advisement and look into further, but there has not at this time Does that conclude the presentation? yeah Now I know there's no vote necessarily today. Um, but is there any other Topics that we need to touch on uh, so no vote uh is being requested But as I as I noted we're going to do we're hoping to do three things we're going to ask Plain rich park to meet with all of its local communities to go over how it's been doing with all of its commitments There's extensive detail regarding how it's uh, been doing it in each of the commitments and its surrounding community agreements And host community agreements and they can go over some of the local hiring goals specifically in the workforce plan In addition, we're requesting plain rich park to meet with both mastod and with gattra to finalize the bus route alternative plan And then we want to put up for comment The revised workforce plan and our goal Would be that we would bring it back to the commission and all likelihood by the next quarterly report For plain rich park. So with that We know that the team at plain rich park has been doing A lot of work over the last year to to take a look at all of their compliance items We of course will continue to take a look at compliance as we go forward Um, and indeed over the next year What we'll take even closer looks right And um, and if I may I I um, this was referenced earlier, but um, I have attended the compliance group um meetings that Take place once a month and these review these What started as the mid term review and is now Really the the compliance review for ppc is now a couple of months a few months In the making And have been Previewed to some of the detailed conversations that have happened and that you have summarized the team has here has summarized well And I think it's a great outcome To what leads us at this point And and your suggestions, I think I really write on point as well To to really point in the direction of these additional conversations with the host community For the employment goal and GATRA for the transportation goal And then post those for additional further comments before we take any any other action Thank you for your presentation today. Thank you. I'm Batsman Siemba and director Griffin very very helpful in terms of The one question I did have When will we be revealing the workforce number? Is there a date on that or so? Our anticipation would be at the next quarterly report with plain rich park, which we haven't scheduled that date, but Luckily the next quarter two plus months away If we do see a need we could always bring the workforce plan to the commission earlier than that, but Perhaps I think that would be a good timetable Well, thank you and and and good luck to everyone, but particularly to you Thank you. Thanks very much. Good luck in Pittsburgh. Thank you And drive home carefully I think we can move to item six commissioners updates. Do we have any I have one update? Um And that is that we have been officially selected by the board of directors for the international association of gaming regulators To host the 2020 conference here in boston. We would be the host agency and You know typically It's 250 to 300 regulators from around the world very interesting group and Um, I think it's it's a it's a good thing for our commission to do um, some of us have been active members with this association and We just received word this week That we have been selected to do that. So just wanted most of you knew that. Yeah, great great news. It's um Usually september or october is when they have it. They wait for another conference. They, uh They wait for the dates to be posted for, um, the los