NCLL Holds First Board Meeting Since Treasurer Admitted Taking Money

At the first New City Little League Board of Directors meeting since the league , things went smoothly as the session, which had little mention of the incident.

When the floor was opened up to the public for questions at the league's regular board meeting Thursay, instead of a big hullabaloo about the money, questions mostly focused on league rules for things like usage of wooden bats and intentional walks. When one person asked for an update on the financial situation, league President Lon Hofstein said there aren’t really any updates he can talk about right now, per the district attorney, as the case is still open.

“The most important thing is that none of the children in this league will suffer from this tragic incident,” Hofstein said.

The only change of note he mentioned was that now instead of a treasurer, the league will use a three-person financial committee, made up of Wayne Meda, Mike Algranati and Rich Kloenne, all field directors within the league.

“That’s for checks and balances,” Hofstein said.

He also mentioned that he reached out to all the league’s vendors after the incident to check in with them.

“They all told me they’ve had no issues with New City Little League in the past, and know we’re good to pay them,” he said. “I called them myself after it happened to let them know what was going on, and they were all supportive.”

One possibility for bringing some money into the league discussed at the meeting came from Dan DeBlasio, the treasurer for the Clarkstown Stars, a travel baseball organization that is separate from the Little League. He brought up the possibility of the Stars renting some of the league’s fields to use in mid-June to early-July. Hofstein and board were pleased with the offer, although a deal hasn’t been finalized yet.

“It was nice of them to reach out,” Hofstein said. “Hopefully we can work something out.”

New City Little League found itself to be in trouble earlier this month when it was discovered that more than $100,000 was taken from the all-volunteer organization.

The longtime treasurer of New City Little League, Joyce Bidnick, is accused of stealing funds from the youth sports organization and has admitted to illegally taking $100,000, according to Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe.

Zugibe said that Bidnick, 57, of 11 Mark Drive, New City, is charged with one count of second-degree grand larceny in connection with the theft of more than $50,000 from New City Little League by repeatedly making unauthorized withdrawals from Capital One bank accounts. Zugibe said she has been treasurer since 2003 and that over the term of her office Bidnick wrote and deposited multiple league checks to herself without permission.

Zugibe said the thefts were uncovered on April 30 by officers of New City Little League after the Bidnick attempted to replace some of the stolen funds. He said the issue was brought to the attention of the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office and was investigated by the Rockland County Special Investigations Unit and the Rockland County Computer Crimes Unit.

Bidnick is accused of routinely covering up the thefts by falsifying the monthly account balance reports she submitted to league board members.  The initial charge against Bidnick involves $50,000, but Zugibe said an ongoing investigation is looking to determine the full extent of the thefts. He said Bidnick has admitted to investigators that she took $100,000.

This is the second recent incident involving a Little League treasurer accused of stealing large sums from a league.

Last year, the former treasurer of Stony Point Little League was sentenced to five years probation for the theft of more than $150,000 from the organization.

The latest problem prompted warnings from leaders of Little League in Rockland County to officials at local leagues that they should be implementing financial safeguards suggested by Little League International to ensure thefts like those in New City and Stony Point can't happen.

Joseph L. Sagaria of Bardonia, the Little League District 18 administrator, met with leaders of local Little League's last week to urge them to review their financial operations and to make sure that they are not in a position where one person can do significant financial damage. District 18 includes all chartered Little Leagues in Rockland County and in Tuxedo in Orange County.

Sagaria, long active in youth sports in Rockland County, said Little League organizations can find themselves vulnerable because of the nature of an all-volunteer organization. Sagaria said positions such as treasurer are hard to fill and the demands of maintaining financial records and paying the bills for a large organization lead to frequent turnover in treasurer positions.

"Everyone wants to be a manager," said Sagaria. "But nobody wants to be the treasurer."

Sagaria noted that when the boards of local Little League's meet, their sessions spend a great deal of time on issues involving team management, issues with players and coaches or rules. However, he said that financial matters don't always get the attention they deserve because they are complicated and not always recognized as important.

Patch's Bill Demarest contributed to this report.