1

1 MISSOURI GAMING COMMISSION

MEETING

MARCH 29, 2001

BE IT REMEMBERED, that the meeting of the

4 Missouri Gaming Commission was held at the St. Joseph

City Hall, 3rd Floor, 1100 Frederick, St. Joseph,

5 Missouri, on the 29th day of March, 2001, commencing at

10:00 A.M., said meeting having been called by Members of

6 the Missouri Gaming Commisssion, pursuant to the issuance

of due notice to all parties in interest, and the

7 following is a transcript of the records of proceedings

had during the course of said meeting.

9 A P P E A R A N C E S

10 Chairman L. G. Ullery

Commissioner Robert Smith

11 Commissioner Lynne R. Nikolaisen (telephonically)

Commissioner Muriel W. Battle

12 Commissioner J. Joe Adorjan

13 Also Appearing:

Mr. Kevin Mullally

14 Director

15 Ms. Kathy S. Ralls, Shorthand Reporter

of Cross Reporting Service

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1 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: Angie, would you call the

2 roll of the Board, please?

3 MS. FRANK: Chairman Ullery?

4 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: Present.

5 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Smith?

6 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Present.

7 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Nikolaisen?

8 MS. NIKOLAISEN: Present.

9 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Battle?

10 MS. BATTLE: Present.

11 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Adorjan?

12 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: Present.

13 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: We're all present and

14 accounted for, and glad to hear you, Lynne.

15 MS. NIKOLAISEN: Thank you.

16 (Whereupon a discussion was held off the

17 record.)

18 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: Do you have anything

19 first, Kevin, before --

20 MR. MULLALLY: No, no, Mr. Chairman.

21 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: We have the Honorable

22 Mayor of St. Joseph. His name escapes --

23 oh, it's Lawrence Stobbs. I think he wants to

24 have a word or two with us. Larry and I go back

25 just a little ways.

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1 MAYOR STOBBS: Mr. Chairman and Members of

2 the Commission, as the Mayor of the City

3 of St. Joseph, I certainly want to welcome you

4 back to our community, and you're welcome to

5 come anytime you want to, and there will be

6 a gavel for the Chairman. The reason he has

7 that honor is because the last meeting I

8 attended down in the Kansas City area he tried

9 to arrange for somebody to give me a bunch

10 of pink flamingos, and I didn't know what I was

11 going to do with them. Fortunately, that fell

12 through. So, we will make sure that you have a

13 genuine walnut gavel to get your meeting started

14 and stopped.

15 We're very proud of our Riverboat

16 here in St. Joseph, and we're very

17 proud of the Commission. There's been times --

18 like other ones, I've said this to the Highway

19 Commission -- you have a task that you -- just

20 like mine -- you can't please everybody all the

21 time. And a lot of people don't understand all

22 of the problems that it takes to make your

23 decisions. But I just ask you to continue to be

24 the honest and ethical commission that we have

25 because that's important, particularly with the

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1 industry that you regulate. And I know that on

2 both sides of that coin -- from those that you

3 regulate and those that want them regulated --

4 that you have our support from the citizens of

5 the State of Missouri -- certainly from the

6 citizens of St. Joseph because you do an

7 excellent job.

8 While you're here, if you need anything at

9 all here at City Hall, mention it to the Clerk

10 or come over to my office and we'll make sure

11 that you get whatever you need. And we're

12 proud to have you here. And we just ask you

13 come back more often. We like to see you,

14 particularly Chairman Ullery, who lives so far

15 away from here that he can't make it up to St.

16 Joe once in a while.

17 So, thank you very much.

18 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

19 I'm here more than you think, I just don't come

20 and see you.

21 Mr. Director?

22 MR. MULLALLY: Mr. Chairman, the first

23 item on the agenda is the consideration of two

24 sets of minutes, from January 16th and 24th.

25 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Move approval of the

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1 minutes of January the 16th.

2 COMMISSIONER BATTLE: I second.

3 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: We have a motion and we

4 have a second on approval of the minutes.

5 Angie, would you call the roll, please?

6 MS. FRANK: Chairman Ullery?

7 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: In favor.

8 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Smith?

9 COMMISSIONER SMITH: In favor.

10 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Nikolaisen?

11 COMMISSIONER NIKOLAISEN: In favor.

12 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Battle?

13 MS. BATTLE: In favor.

14 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Adorjan?

15 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: In favor.

16 MS. FRANK: By your vote, you've adopted

17 the minutes of January the 16th, 2001 meeting.

18 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: Now we have the minutes

19 of January 24, 2001. Do I have a motion --

20 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: I move.

21 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: I have a motion. Do I

22 have a second?

23 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Second.

24 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: I have a second on the

25 minutes heard January the 24th, Angie.

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1 MS. FRANK: Chairman Ullery?

2 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: In favor.

3 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Smith?

4 COMMISSIONER SMITH: In favor.

5 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Nikolaisen?

6 MS. NIKOLAISEN: In favor.

7 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Battle?

8 MS. BATTLE: In favor.

9 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Adorjan?

10 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: In favor.

11 MS. FRANK: By your vote, you've adopted

12 the minutes of the January 24th, 2001 meeting.

13 MR. MULLALLY: Mr. Chairman, under Tab C,

14 we have a hearing officer recommendation, and

15 Jim Oberkirsch will make the recommendation

16 for the staff.

17 MR. OBERKIRSCH: Good morning, Chairman

18 and Commissioners.

19 This is one of those credit memorandums

20 that I'm happy to report the remaining balance

21 is in single digits now.

22 But we've recommended to the Hearing

23 Officer that he grant the credit under summary

24 judgment because there's no dispute with regard

25 to the material facts, and we feel we owe the

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1 company the money.

2 If you have any questions, I'd be happy to

3 answer.

4 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: This is Resolution

5 01-027; is that correct?

6 MR. MULLALLY: That's correct.

7 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Who made the clerical

8 error?

9 MR. OBERKIRSCH: The casino would have made

10 the clerical error.

11 COMMISSIONER SMITH: It wasn't our error,

12 then?

13 MR. OBERKIRSCH: Wasn't our error. Fairly

14 routine error in this case with regard to

15 initial fills.

16 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: Any further comment?

17 Do I have a motion?

18 COMMISSIONER NIKOLAISEN: I move for

19 approval of 01-027.

20 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: I have --

21 COMMISSIONER BATTLE: I second.

22 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: I have a second.

23 Angie?

24 MS. FRANK: Chairman Ullery?

25 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: In favor.

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1 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Smith?

2 COMMISSIONER SMITH: In favor.

3 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Nikolaisen?

4 MS. NIKOLAISEN: In favor.

5 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Battle?

6 MS. BATTLE: In favor.

7 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Adorjan?

8 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: In favor.

9 MS. FRANK: By your vote, you've adopted

10 Resolution 01-027.

11 MR. MULLALLY: I am pleased to report that

12 the new process is working well. As Jim

13 reported, we're down to single digits with these

14 matters that go on to the old process that had

15 to go in front of the Hearing Officer.

16 The new process, they just come to me. If

17 there is no dispute of material fact, then I

18 sign off on them. I do them fairly routinely,

19 a couple a week. And it appears to be working

20 very well. And Jim's staff has a good handle on

21 it and reports that it's much more efficient.

22 So, hopefully, over the next several

23 months, we'll clear these out and you won't have

24 to deal with these rather routine matters.

25 Under Tab D, is Consideration of Licensure

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1 of Certain Level I and Key Applicants. And

2 Lieutenant Wilhoit will make the

3 presentation.

4 LIEUTENANT WILHOIT: Mr. Chairman and

5 Commissioners, the background teams conducted

6 an investigation of a Level I Applicant that

7 included, but was not limited to, criminal,

8 financial and general character inquiries.

9 The following individual has been

10 investigated and found to be suitable for

11 licensing by the Commission: Troy A.

12 Stremming, Vice President of Legal and

13 Government Affairs of Ameristar Casinos

14 Incorporated.

15 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: Thank you.

16 Any questions?

17 COMMISSIONER SMITH: It's my understanding

18 Mr. Stremming was not involved in the

19 Lazaroff controversy, was he, except on a

20 peripheral basis, Kevin?

21 MR. MULLALLY: That's correct.

22 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Well, I move approval,

23 then, of Resolution 01-027.

24 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: Sorry to see him leave

25 the legal profession, but I guess he wanted to

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1 work for some more money.

2 COMMISSIONER BATTLE: I'll second.

3 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: Is there a

4 resolution number problem here? This is the

5 same resolution number as the prior resolution

6 number.

7 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: Well, the one on the

8 agenda is 028, we're looking at 027.

9 MR. MULLALLY: It should be amended to 028.

10 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: It is 28?

11 MR. MULLALLY: Yes. If you could move for

12 an amendment?

13 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: I'll move to amend

14 to 028.

15 COMMISSIONER BATTLE: I second the

16 amendment.

17 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: And I have a second on

18 the amendment, also.

19 Have you got all that, Angie?

20 Any other comment?

21 Angie, would you call the roll for the

22 amendment?

23 MS. FRANK: Chairman Ullery?

24 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: In favor.

25 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Smith?

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1 COMMISSIONER SMITH: In favor.

2 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Nikolaisen?

3 MS. NIKOLAISEN: In favor.

4 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Battle?

5 MS. BATTLE: In favor.

6 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Adorjan?

7 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: In favor.

8 MS. FRANK: By your vote, you've amended

9 a resolution number to 01-028.

10 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: We had a motion pending

11 on the 028, did we not? And do we have a

12 second?

13 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: Second.

14 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: Angie, will you call

15 roll?

16 MS. FRANK: Chairman Ullery?

17 CHAIRMAN ULLERY: In favor.

18 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Smith?

19 COMMISSIONER SMITH: In favor.

20 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Nikolaisen?

21 MS. NIKOLAISEN: In favor.

22 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Battle?

23 MS. BATTLE: In favor.

24 MS. FRANK: Commissioner Adorjan?

25 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: In favor.

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1 MS. FRANK: By your vote, you've adopted

2 Resolution No. 01-028.

3 MR. MULLALLY: Mr. Chairman, the next item

4 on the agenda involves a request from Lewis