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Norwalk pension board approves two retirements, tables third pending council clarification
Summary
Trustees approved pension payments for two applicants — one disability and one vested retirement with a backdated start — and voted to table a third application while city counsel confirms the correct commencement date.
At a meeting of the Norwalk City Pension Board, trustees approved pension benefits for two applicants and tabled a third pending clarification from the city’s legal counsel.
The actions affect three retirees: Mark Campanello, who worked in the city’s Department of Public Works; Brenda Ray, a former Board of Education nurse; and Richard Darling, a former director of management and budgets in the finance department. The board approved Campanello’s request for a standard disability pension and accepted Ray’s vested retirement benefit with a commencement date the board said should be June 1, 2024, because paperwork in the pension office indicated the application should have been processed earlier. Trustees voted to table Darling’s application while the city’s counsel clarifies the appropriate start date.
The board’s routine review focused on service time, benefit option choices and start dates. Mark Campanello was identified in board documents as a DPW class‑1 mechanic with about 20 years of service; his application sought a standard disability pension commencing March 1, 2025. Pension staff said the board’s policy requires a Social Security disability determination before granting a disability pension. A pension board staff member told trustees, “For our policy in the pension board is you don't get a disability pension unless you're you've got one from Social Security.”
Brenda Ray, listed in the packet as a former Board of Education nurse with nine years of service, selected the standard (vested) option and the board recorded a June 1, 2024, commencement date because paperwork showed the application had been received earlier and should have been processed sooner. Trustees flagged a mismatch on the beneficiary form: the filing listed a granddaughter at 50 percent but did not show a percentage for the primary beneficiary. Pension staff said they would contact Ray to confirm and initial any corrected designation and report back at the next meeting.
Richard Darling, identified in the materials as a finance department director of management and budgets with 14 years of service who selected vested benefit option 3, sought a commencement date that staff said was inconsistent across submitted documents. The applicant had asked the department in November 2024 for documentation and requested the benefit be retroactive to July 1, 2024, although staff said he first contacted the city Nov. 18, 2024. Pension staff told the board they had different interpretations of who bears responsibility to notify vested former employees once they become eligible. A board member moved “to table the approval of the pension pending clarification from the city's council on the appropriate start date of the pension.” The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.
What happened next: pension staff will confirm Brenda Ray’s beneficiary percentages and return that confirmation to the board; the board left Darling’s application on the table until it receives legal guidance from the city regarding the lawful commencement date for his vested benefit.
The meeting moved next to an investment-manager presentation from Walter Scott.
