State orders release of youth football records

April 20, 2010

Patrick E. Litowitz
New Castle News

NEW CASTLE — A state agency has ordered the release of records involving New Castle’s youth football program.

City school board member Barbara Razzano has pursued financial information of the operation, which is run by Red Hurricane head football coach Frank Bongivengo Jr. When her Dec. 16 request went unanswered, she appealed to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records.

Superintendent George Gabriel said the district is willing but unable to comply.

“At no time have the records requested been in the custody, control or possession of the (district),” Gabriel answered in an affidavit to the agency. “(To) the best of my knowledge, information and belief, Mr. Bongivengo is in possession of the requested records.”

The state’s response: Get them.

“The district must take necessary steps to acquire the requested records and provide them to (Razzano),” appeals officer Audrey Buglione wrote in her April 12 decision.

The district has until May 12 to appeal in Lawrence County common pleas court. Gabriel said last night he will discuss the ruling with district solicitor Charles Sapienza.

The school board voted to take over the youth program March 12, 2008. Bongivengo was appointed to oversee the organization but did not receive compensation.

The district does not fund the program. Concession sales at Taggart Stadium during the district’s football games provide the money necessary for operations.

Razzano presented two requests to Gabriel under the state’s Right To Know Law.

“Following an athletic committee meeting, Mr. Bongivengo agreed to turn over the records that had been initially requested by (Razzano),” Gabriel said. “The district immediately disclosed those records upon receipt.”

The agency did not provide the date or nature of the first request.

Razzano’s second notice, submitted in December, sought the following items: an original bank statement with balance totals and check descriptions; deposit slips, bank information from March 12, 2008, through June 17, 2009; a list of all signers for banking; and the minutes and names/titles of the executive committee.

“Once again, I contacted Mr. Bongivengo providing a copy of the second request,” Gabriel said. “Mr. Bongivengo has not provided the (district) with those records.”

Bongivengo, through his attorney Jonathan Solomon, said the records were not subject to the Right To Know Law. However, they would be made available for inspection.

An attempt to contact Solomon and Razzano for comment was unsuccessful. Bongivengo said he had not seen the ruling.

In her report, Buglione wrote the district’s resolution to run the program included the commitment “to finalize all financial obligations.”

“Therefore, the financial records of the (youth) program are records of the district,” she continued. “The record reflects that the district failed to adopt a procedure or policy that enabled it to maintain access to its financial records related to the (youth) program and carry out its resolution to finalize financial obligations.

“This does not relieve the district of its obligation to gain control of the records in response to a right-to-know request. An agency is required to provide access to its public records even when an individual who is in physical possession of the records is refusing to comply with the agency’s request to turn the records over.”