Clover Stadium

41°10′12″N 74°02′13″W / 41.170°N 74.037°W / 41.170; -74.037OwnerRamapo Local Development CorpOperatorNew York BouldersCapacity4,506 (2011–2020)
6,580 (2020–2021)
6,362 (2021–present)^[1]Record attendance7,336 (August 26, 2018)^[2]Field sizeLeft field:323 ft (98 m)
Left-center:383 ft (117 m)
Center field:403 ft (123 m)
Right-center:383 ft (117 m)
Right field:312 ft (95 m)SurfaceGrassConstructionBroke groundSeptember 10, 2010Built2010–2011OpenedJune 16, 2011^[4]Construction costUS$38 million^[3]ArchitectDLR GroupBuilderHolt Construction Corp, Pearl River, NYTenantsNew York Boulders (FL) 2011–present
Dominican College (NCAA) 2012–present
St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans (NCAA) 2012–present
Nyack College (NCAA) 2012–2022
Manhattan Jaspers (NCAA) 2022–present

Clover Stadium is a baseball park in Pomona, New York. It is the home field of the New York Boulders of the independent Frontier League. It has a seating capacity of 6,362 and it opened on June 16, 2011.^[4] The stadium is also home to two college baseball teams: the St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans baseball team (NCAA Division II), who began playing all their home games at the venue in the spring of 2012;^[5] and the Manhattan College Jaspers men's baseball team since 2022.^[6][7][8]

In 2012, the project to design and build the stadium received the Ward House Award from the Lower Hudson Valley Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers.^[9] Originally named Provident Bank Park, naming rights were sold to Palisades Federal Credit Union in April 2016^[10] and to Fiserv in January 2022 who renamed it Clover Stadium for the company's Clover point-of-sale-platform.^[11]

Background[edit]

RLDC[edit]

The RLDC, or Ramapo Local Development Corporation, was a non-profit organization created in 2008 by the Town of Ramapo to facilitate development projects/initiatives for the town.^[13] It has been described as "quasi-governmental financing arm for the town." The RLDC was authorized by the state to sell bonds to the public ^[13], meaning that it could raise money from investors to finance projects.^[14] The organization would later be part of a conspiracy to commit fraud during the fundraising and construction of Clover Stadium.

Involved Parties[edit]

Christopher St. Lawrence (DEM) was the elected supervisor of the Town of Ramapo from 2000 to May 2016, meaning he served as a member of the elected town board. He also served as the Financial Director of the town and as the President of the RLDC (meaning that he was on the RLDC's Board of Directors). In April 2016, federal prosecutors indicted Lawrence on 22 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy.^[15] May 2017, Lawrence was convicted by a federal jury on 20 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud in connection with municipal bonds issued by the Town of Ramapo and RLDC.^[15] Lawrence was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined 75,00 dollars.^[16] After surrendering in March 2018, he served his sentence in a low-security Pennsylvania facility and was released to a Brooklyn halfway-house in April 2019. Due to federal rules allowing for shortened sentences for good behavior, Lawrence completed his sentence in April 2020.^[16]

N. Aaron Troodler served as the Assistant Town Attorney for the Town of Ramapo from 2008 to June 2015. He also was on the board of the RLDC, serving as the executive director.^[17] Troodler was disbarred on March 7, 2017 following his involvement in the RLDC fraud scandal. In April 2016, federal prosecutors indicted Troodler on 22 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy. Troodler pled guilty to one count of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.^[18] Due to his cooperation and testimony against co-defendant Lawrence, Troodler was sentenced to 18 months of supervised release (probation) and ordered to pay a 20,000 dollar fine.^[18] Judge Seibel was quoted as saying "Mr. Troodler is a mensch who is eager to please and wants to help others, ... Unfortunately, that included Mr. St. Lawrence."^[19]

Approval and Building Process[edit]

Proposal of Idea[edit]

In August of 2009, the Town of Ramapo raises 8 million dollars using bonds for the purchase of 67 acres of land on Pomona Road (adjacent to Fireman's Memorial Drive). This land was later appraised at a value of 20 million dollars.^[20] In May 2010, a resolution was created by the town board for the construction of a minor league baseball stadium on said land. This resolution hinged on repaying 16,500,000 million in long-term bonds issued by the RLDC. In August of 2010, 70% of participating town constituents voted against the resolution. As a result, Lawrence publicly stated that the stadium would not be financed with public funds, and that it would instead use private ones.^[13] In September of 2010, the town fundraised 20 million dollars from private investors for the construction of the stadium. In February of 2011, the town board approved a 25-million-dollar bond for the stadium to be paid over the next five years. This bond was then refinanced in December 2012 to extend the payments over the next 20 years.^[20] From 2012 to 2015, the town issued a number of bonds that were available for sale to the public.^[13]

Fraud to Secure Funding[edit]

During this time period, Lawrence, Troodler, and colleagues concealed the economic status of the Town of Ramapo. This was primarily done by inflating the amount of money present in the town's general fund, or primary operating fund of the town. Money can be put in the general fund as long as it is not required to be allocated for a specific purpose, for example, money delegated for the Ambulance Corps is required to be placed into the Ambulance Fund.^[13] Conversely, revenue gained by the town such as property taxes, can be placed into the general fund for future use. Lawrence and his conspirators worked to conceal the amount of money in the general fund to convince investors that the town was capable of making payments on the bonds they issued as well as to hide the true economic struggles of the town from public knowledge. This was done in part to allow for the financing of the minor league baseball stadium.^[13]

One of the methods used by Lawrence and Troodler was to create fake receivables which increased the amount of money in the general fund. For example, in April of 2011, Lawrence and colleagues included a $3,663,547 receivable as a piece of that year's general fund which brought the overall balance to $3,011,117 on December 31, 2010.^[13] This money came from the sale of a property known as "The Hamlets" from the town to the RLDC in 2009 which technically never occurred as the land was discovered to be a habitat for wild rattlesnakes.^[13] Lawrence and others kept this receivable as part of that year's general fund balance and had it not been included, the general fund's balance would have been in the negative for the years 2010-2014.^[13] A similar situation occurred in 2012 when Lawrence and others included a $3,145,503 receivable for expenses reimbursed from the federal government relating to tropical storms Sandy and Irene. These expenses however were not yet submitted to the federal government for approval and the reimbursement had not yet been granted as a result.^[13]

Another method employed by Lawrence and his conspirators was the transfer of money from the town's ambulance fund to the general fund. Both the ambulance and general funds receive money from property taxes, however their taxes bases within the town were not the same from the years of 2009-2014.^[13] New York State law requires transfers between funds with different tax bases must be done through loans repaid with interest.^[13] During these years, a total of 12 million dollars was transferred from the ambulance fund into the general fund without following these rules.^[13] Lawrence and his colleagues made false statements to the auditors of the town in which they claimed the tax bases for the funds were the same.^[13]

Construction of Stadium[edit]

In total, the construction of the stadium cost approximately 58 million dollars, over half of which was financed by the town.^[20] The stadium opened for use in June of 2011. The town was sued by a Manhattan attorney in March of 2014 for violating the Federal Clean Water Act due to the illegal filling of Wetlands during the Stadium’s Construction. The town was ordered to pay a 125,000 dollar fine as a result.^[20]

Investigation and Aftermath[edit]

In May of 2013, FBI Agents and the Rockland District Attorney's office remove boxes of documents, computer hard-drives, and emails from the Ramapo Town Hall and RLDC Offices.^[20] These were removed as part of a corruption investigation in which a subpoena was issued by a grand jury seeking financial documents relating to the Provident Savings Bank (the stadium’s original namesake) and the Town’s Auditors and bond counsel. Documents relating to the bonds were submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).^[20] In May of 2014, it was revealed the SEC took these documents for review.^[20] This investigation led to the eventual arrest of St. Lawrence in 2014.

Notable events

• The park hosted games 3, 4, and 5 of the 2014 Can-Am League Championship Round, featuring the Rockland Boulders and the New Jersey Jackals. It was the first time in the stadium's history that championship games were played. It did such again in 2016, this time with the Boulders hosting the Ottawa Champions. It hosted again in 2017, with the Boulders hosting the Quebec Capitales.
• Field of Screams, a Halloween themed event for children that is held every October since 2015.^[12]
• IceFest 2016 was hosted by the stadium on February 28, 2016. There was an ice rink installed inside the stadium, and the St. Thomas Aquinas College men's ice hockey team played against Columbia University that day. This event marked the first time that another sport other than baseball was played in the stadium.
• Other ice hockey teams that took the ice at the outdoor rink also included Nyack/Tappan Zee High School and Clarkstown North High School.
• The park hosted the 2019 Can-Am League/Frontier League Home Run Derby on July 9, 2019, and the Can-Am League/Frontier League All-Star Game on July 10, 2019.

References

Continued References (number 1 equal to number 13 in citations):

1. https://www.lohud.com/story/life/2015/10/19/field-of-screams/74046172/
2. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/file/840826/dl
3. https://www.financestrategists.com/wealth-management/bonds/how-does-issuing-bonds-work/
4. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ramapo-town-supervisor-christopher-st-lawrence-found-guilty-after-trial-conspiracy
5. https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2020/04/28/ex-ramapo-supervisor-christopher-st-lawrence-finishes-prison-term-federal-securities-fraud/3038477001/
6. https://rocklandtimes.com/2017/11/16/former-longtime-executive-director-of-rldc-disbarred/
7. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3512253-N-Aaron-Troodler-Plea-PR.html
8. https://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2018/01/02/troodler-st-lawrence-corruption-case/995204001/
9. https://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2016/04/14/ramapo-st-lawrence-investigation-timeline/81574142/