School Worker Charged With Embezzling Gets Pension

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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The Berkshire County Retirement Board reinstated Donna Burdick, allowing her to retire with her full pension.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A judge has ruled that despite a criminal charge of embezzling money, a former school union employee will receive her full pension.

On Wednesday morning, the Berkshire County Retirement Board reinstated Donna M. Burdick to the retirement system. Her membership had been revoked by the board in December because of embezzlement charges.

Burdick and colleague Carol Fryc were both charged with stealing funds from the Northern Berkshire School Union, which covers the Clarksburg, Florida and Savoy school districts, and fired in August 2011. State police said the two women, who worked in the office, had used the union's credit cards at Walmart and Staples to make fraudulent purchases, pocketing about $30,000.

The board was forced to reinstate Burdick after losing a court case on the matter in Northern Berkshire District Court. On June 21, Judge Laurie MacLeod ruled that Burdick was entitled to her retirement benefits.

"We tried to revoke her membership and she challenged it in court. And we didn't win," said Berkshire County Retirement Board Executive Director Sheila LaBarbera on Wednesday.


Burdick, 58, had reached a plea bargain in July 2012 and the charges were reduced to a continuance without a finding. She was required to pay back $11,272 to the school district. After one year and paying that money back, the charges were dismissed. Fryc made a similar plea bargain.

MacLeod wrote that because the finding was not a conviction and the charges are now dropped, Burdick has the right to keep her the pension.

The retirement board, however, is unhappy with the finding. The board believes that since her plea was an admission to "sufficient facts for a finding of guilt," it has the right to revoke the pension. According to state law, a person convicted of misappropriation of government funds can have their pension taken away.

"It doesn't matter what they do, they still get a pension," Peter Menard, board member, lamented before reinstating Burdick. Board member Deborah Cotter said the decision is "just awful."

While Burdick was fired from the school union, she retained her job with the town of Florida. Burdick can now make the contributions she would have made during the last year and then retire with her full pension.


Tags: embezzlement,   pension,   retirement board,   

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North Adams Regional Reopens With Ribbon-Cutting Celebration

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

BHS President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz welcomes the gathering to the celebration of the hospital's reopening 10 years to the day it closed. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The joyful celebration on Thursday at North Adams Regional Hospital was a far cry from the scene 10 years ago when protests and tears marked the facility's closing
 
Hospital officials, local leaders, medical staff, residents and elected officials gathered under a tent on the campus to mark the efforts over the past decade to restore NARH and cut the ribbon officially reopening the 136-year-old medical center. 
 
"This hospital under previous ownership closed its doors. It was a day that was full of tears, anger and fear in the Northern Berkshire community about where and how residents would be able to receive what should be a fundamental right for everyone — access to health care," said Darlene Rodowicz, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. 
 
"Today the historic opportunity to enhance the health and wellness of Northern Berkshire community is here. And we've been waiting for this moment for 10 years. It is the key to keeping in line with our strategic plan which is to increase access and support coordinated county wide system of care." 
 
Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, under the BHS umbrella, purchased the campus and affiliated systems when Northern Berkshire Healthcare declared bankruptcy and closed on March 28, 2014. NBH had been beset by falling admissions, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid payments, and investments that had gone sour leaving it more than $30 million in debt. 
 
BMC was able to reopen the ER as an emergency satellite facility and slowly restored and enhanced medical services including outpatient surgery, imaging, dialysis, pharmacy and physician services. 
 
But it would take a slight tweak in the U.S. Health and Human Services' regulations — thank to U.S. Rep. Richie Neal — to bring back inpatient beds and resurrect North Adams Regional Hospital 
 
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