1

1 BEFORE THE MISSOURI GAMING COMMISSION

5 MEETING

6 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

8 November 29, 2004

9 9:00 a.m.

10 Missouri Gaming Commission

11 3417 Knipp Drive

12 Jefferson City, MO

COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Commissioner Bartch, Chairman

15 Commissioner Judy Hinrichs,Vice-Chairman

Commissioner George Hartsfield

16 Commissioner Jack Gant

Commissioner Ralph Biele

19 REPORTED BY: Monnie S. VanZant, CCR, CSR, RPR

Midwest Litigation Services

20 714 W. High Street

Jefferson City, MO 65102

21 (573) 636-7551

1 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

2 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Call the

3 meeting to order. Angie, call the roll.

4 MS. ANGIE FRANKS: Chairman Bartch?

5 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Here.

6 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hinrichs?

7 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Here.

8 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Gant?

9 COMMISSIONER GANT: Here.

10 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hartsfield?

11 COMMISSIONER HARTSFIELD: Here.

12 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Biele?

13 COMMISSIONER BIELE: Here.

14 MR. KEVIN MULLALLY: Mr. Chairman, in Vol.

15 I of your two volume materials, Under Tab A are

16 the minutes of the October 13, 2004 meeting.

17 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Move to

18 approve.

19 COMMISSIONER HARTSFIELD: Second.

20 COMMISSIONER BIELE: Second.

21 COMMISSIONER GANT: Tie.

22 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: It's been moved

23 for approval of the minutes. Call the roll.

24 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Bartch?

25 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Approve.

1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hinrichs?

2 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Approve.

3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Gant?

4 COMMISSIONER GANT: Approve.

5 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hartsfield?

6 COMMISSIONER HARTSFIELD: Approve.

7 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Biele?

8 COMMISSIONER BIELE: Approve.

9 MS. FRANKS: By your vote, you've

10 adopted the minutes of the October 13, 2004

11 meeting.

12 MR. MULLALLY: Chairman, the next

13 item on the agenda is the consideration of a

14 number of hearing officer recommendations. And

15 Hearing Officer Stephen Stark is here to make

16 his first presentations to the Commission.

17 MR. STEPHEN STARK: Good morning,

18 Commissioners.

19 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Good morning.

20 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Good morning.

21 COMMISSIONER GANT: Good morning.

22 COMMISSIONER HARTSFIELD: Good

23 morning.

24 COMMISSIONER BIELE: Good morning.

25 MR. STARK: Appropriate for me to sit

1 here or --

2 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Absolutely.

3 Whatever is good for you. Glad to have you.

4 MR. STARK: Thank you. Thank you.

5 COMMISSIONER GANT: Try to talk --

6 because somebody in the audience may want to

7 hear you, and at times if you're not talking

8 into that, they don't hear you behind you. So

9 -- okay? You can just talk right at -- it will

10 carry if you talk into the microphone.

11 MR. STARK: Okay. Keep it close

12 then. The first case on your agenda is Tania

13 Burnett. This is a case where Ms. Burnett was

14 -- has an occupational license in which she

15 filed an application in June of 2002. Your

16 application always asked the question, Have you

17 had any arrests or convictions? And then it

18 goes on further to say that if there's any

19 changes to this later on, those changes have to

20 be reported.

21 Well, in January of 2003, Ms.

22 Burnett was charged and arrested for stealing.

23 She did not tell the Commission about this

24 arrest. Later on, when she pleaded to a one

25 year probation, she did report it. The

1 Commission in its preliminary order for

2 discipline alleged two bases for discipline;

3 the first being the failure to report the

4 arrest, and then the conviction of the crime

5 itself.

6 Ms. Burnett’s only defense was really

7 that her friend had called on her behalf the

8 Commission immediately after her arrest. And

9 someone at the gambling boat on behalf of the

10 Commission said there was no need to report it

11 until you know exactly what the final

12 resolution of that arrest or that criminal

13 action might be.

14 So my recommendation, based upon the law,

15 is that she did not provide the necessary

16 reporting of her arrest and the crime itself

17 would be grounds for discipline. As such, I do

18 recommend that the preliminary order be

19 affirmed for revocation of this petitioner's

20 license.

21 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: As is our

22 policy now, is there anyone from the audience

23 who wishes to speak to this representing Ms.

24 Burnett?

25 COMMISSIONER GANT: I move that the

1 decision of the hearing officer be approved and

2 adopted. I'd like to see -- this is a -- you

3 know, this is a classic situation that -- I

4 think what -- what did she shoplift, a two or

5 $20 deal or something like that?

6 MR. STARK: She testified it was a $3

7 item.

8 COMMISSIONER GANT: $3 item. Why

9 anybody would want to steal something for $3

10 and lose their job over it is just non-sensical

11 and mind boggling. But that's not for us to

12 decide. Then -- I didn't like it when she

13 didn't call directly, and she had somebody else

14 call. And I feel sorry for the lady. But, you

15 know, I don't feel sorry because she stole

16 something. That's her problem. I feel sorry

17 we're going to have to approve this. But that

18 is also her problem. And it just shows how

19 foolish people can be, I guess.

20 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: I'll second

21 the Commission Resolution No. 04-056.

22 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Is there any

23 further discussion? Please call the roll.

24 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Bartch?

25 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Approve.

1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hinrichs?

2 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Approve.

3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Gant?

4 COMMISSIONER GANT: Approve.

5 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hartsfield?

6 COMMISSIONER HARTSFIELD: Approve.

7 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Biele?

8 COMMISSIONER BIELE: Approve.

9 MS. FRANKS: By your vote, you've

10 adopted Resolution No. 04-056.

11 MR. STARK: Commissioners, next on

12 the docket is the case of Robert Mueller.

13 Mr. Mueller is a holder of an Occupational

14 Level II license. His job title was slot

15 operations manager for the Ameristar Casino in

16 St. Charles.

17 This case dealt with some missing keys.

18 Apparently, an employee that was under the

19 supervision of Mr. Mueller had misplaced a

20 number of keys, some of them being designated

21 as sensitive keys. The end result was that the

22 keys were actually locked up in a safe place.

23 However, Mr. Mueller failed to report the

24 missing keys up the chain of command with

25 regard to his supervisors and with regard to

1 reporting this incident to the Commission's

2 gaming agents at the casino.

3 The internal control procedures of the

4 casino as well as the minimum standards that

5 the Commission requires does require accounting

6 for keys. Now, I must amend my proposal with

7 regard to some Findings of Fact that there are

8 some typos. If you have -- at page 2 of my

9 Findings of Fact, No. 13 identifies the date of

10 August 7, 2004. That should have been August

11 8, 2003. So there's two typos in that

12 particular paragraph. August 8, 2003 is the

13 correct date there. Then in paragraph 15, I

14 put the year 2004. It should have been 2003.

15 So I would respectfully ask that those three

16 typos be corrected.

17 Again, based upon the minimum internal

18 control standards and Mr. Mueller's failure to

19 report, the Commission in its preliminary order

20 proposed a discipline of 16 hours suspension.

21 The defense that Mr. Mueller presented was that

22 he himself wanted to conduct an investigation

23 rather than immediately report the incident.

24 He tried to make the argument that immediately

25 did not necessarily mean right away, but rather

1 after he was able to ascertain the facts based

2 upon his own investigation. I did not accept

3 that. My reading of immediately is that it

4 should have been done right away rather than

5 wait for his own individual investigation. In

6 fact, I made use of the dictionary in my

7 proposed order with regard to defining some

8 terms that Mr. Mueller wanted to define in his

9 own words.

10 Therefore, based upon, again, my reading

11 of the law and Findings of Fact, I recommend

12 that the Commission affirm its preliminary

13 order that suspension of 16 hours is the

14 appropriate discipline in this case.

15 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Anybody wish to

16 speak on behalf of Mr. Mueller?

17 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: I'll move

18 that we approve Commission Resolution No.

19 04-058.

20 COMMISSIONER GANT: I'll second it.

21 COMMISSIONER HARTSFIELD: Question.

22 What did you base the 16 hours on? Is it

23 precedent or some guideline?

24 MR. STARK: Actually, no. I just

25 accepted what the -- the preliminary order had

1 suggested. I didn't see any need to change it.

2 The petitioner has the burden to carry forth on

3 a clear and convincing standard any other

4 alternative or his proof of no need for

5 discipline. And I -- yeah. I don't have any

6 particular guidelines that I used in

7 deciding what was the appropriate discipline

8 other than to recommend an affirmation of what

9 the Commission has already said.

10 COMMISSIONER HARTSFIELD: Okay.

11 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: I think our

12 staff could answer the reason for the 16 hours.

13 No one wants to.

14 MR. MIKE BUSHMANN: In sensitive key

15 cases, the Commission Discipline Review Board

16 staff usually recommends 8 to 16 hour suspensions

17 in this type of case.

18 COMMISSIONER HARTSFIELD: So it's

19 pretty much precedent?

20 MR. BUSHMANN: It's consistent with

21 what we've recommended in the past.

22 COMMISSIONER HARTSFIELD: Okay.

23 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Any other

24 discussion? Do we have a motion and a second?

25 So call the -- do we have a second?

1 MS. FRANKS: Yes.

2 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Okay. Call the

3 roll.

4 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Bartch?

5 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Approve.

6 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hinrichs?

7 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Approve.

8 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Gant?

9 COMMISSIONER GANT: Approve.

10 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hartsfield?

11 COMMISSIONER HARTSFIELD: Approve.

12 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Biele?

13 COMMISSIONER BIELE: Approve.

14 MS. FRANKS: By your vote, you've

15 adopted Resolution No. 04-058.

16 COMMISSIONER GANT: I checked the

17 dictionary myself.

18 MR. STARK: I'm sorry?

19 COMMISSIONER GANT: I checked the

20 dictionary also since that's what he wanted us

21 to do on that one.

22 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Did you look