Blue skies reign over Harrah's Ak-Chin hotel, which opened its new lobby this week. Photo by Raquel Hendrickson

In a meeting held earlier this week, the Ak-Chin Indian Community Tribal Council approved funding that will extend payroll an additional two weeks to employees of their enterprises, including those who work for the Tribal government as well as Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino and UltraStar Multi-tainment Center employees.

“In accordance with the Governor’s recent stay-at-home order, it has been necessary to extend the closure of our business enterprises as well as our administrative services,” said Robert Miguel, chairman of the Ak-Chin Indian Community.  “With this financial support, our government and enterprise employees can rest easier knowing they will be compensated for the remainder of the month.”

Representatives from Harrah’s Ak-Chin were on-hand at the council meeting to offer their thanks to the Tribal Council.

“This is an unprecedented time for all of us, and we are grateful to the Ak-Chin Tribal Council for their ongoing commitment to our employees,” said Robert Livingston, general manager of Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino.

Harrah’s has approximately 900 employees, both tribal and non-tribal.

Adam Saks, general manager of Ultra-Star Multi-tainment Center, with 225 employees, both tribal and non-tribal, echoed those sentiments.

“The Council has always been supportive of our team here at Ultra-Star, and providing us with this additional funding means we can continue to support our employees.”

“It is important to the Tribal Council that we continue to do what we can to support our employees,” Miguel said. “This is a challenging time for all of us, and we are glad that we have the ability to support these employees.”