Forty Years An Attorney In Public And Private Service, Lisa Kombrink Retires

Lisa Kombrink arrived in New York City from Belleville, Illinois, with a U-Haul and $500, over Labor Day weekend in 1976. At 20, she procured a position in the research section of the New York Public Library.

“I worked as a page, copying articles,” she said. “It was fascinating.”

Kombrink went on to study law at Cardozo School of Law — and this month, as she retires from town service as the Community Preservation Fund manager, a position she has held since 2019, the Southampton Village resident also celebrates 40 years as an attorney.

The path leading to the East End was marked by serendipity.

“I was practicing law and decided to make a lifestyle change. I answered a blind ad in the New York Law Journal in 1989, and it was Twomey, Latham and Kelley,” she recalled, referring to the Riverhead firm that would eventually become Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo.

Kombrink answered the local law firm’s ad by mail, she pointed out last week during an interview at what was once Camp Tekakwitha, a preserved gem in Hampton Bays now known as Squiretown Park.

The revitalization of the ranger station at the camp has been clearly rewarding for the retiring administrator, whose duties included overseeing acquisitions and closings, plus the stewardship and management of the town’s numerous acres of preserved land.

The ranger station sat unused for a decade, she said, enthusiastically showing off the renovation. “Isn’t this so cute!” she exclaimed.

An airy space adorned with kitschy memorabilia, including welcome signs, deer antler lamps, and a “throwback picture” of old-time campers, it will serve as an office for stewardship staff. Desks found in the Town Hall storage barn boast bright paint that complements sage green floor tiles.

“I just love this building,” Kombrink pronounced. “We wanted to start getting some life here,” she said of the 60-plus woodland acres overlooking Peconic Bay. “This was the first step.”

For Kombrink, whose first job out of law school was in the field of criminal appeals with the Legal Aid Society, a threatened change to her Manhattan neighborhood was her first step on the path to a career in land use law.

Living in a tenement near Columbus Circle “above a Chock Full o’Nuts,” she read a news blurb announcing her entire block would be sold, sparking her interest in development issues and zoning. Forming a tenants’ association kicked off her focus on land use law.

“When I became town supervisor in 1992, I hired Lisa to be a deputy town attorney for Southampton Town,” State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. remembered. “She did both litigation and land use for the town and helped us make major strides in code enforcement.

“Over the years, we have continued to work together on issues such as farmland preservation and environmental protection, as she became one of the most respected attorneys on Long Island.”

Kombrink was appointed town attorney by the late Supervisor Vince Cannuscio in 1996. In 1999, she opened her own firm, specializing on cases with a conservation focus, along with land use and real estate.

“Around 2007, 2009,” she recalled, “Tom Twomey called me and asked if I would be interested in helping out with some municipal cases.”

She returned to the firm for about 10 years, using her expertise to represent Suffolk County on a farmland case.

“And then Mary Wilson told me she was retiring and I should apply for her job,” she recalled. Wilson managed the CPF for Southampton Town for close to 17 years, retiring in 2019.

“Her experience made her the perfect choice to direct the Community Preservation Fund when Mary Wilson retired,” Thiele said. “She has managed the CPF with distinction and integrity during the period of its most significant growth. Many critical acquisitions were completed during her tenure. She also oversaw the addition of water quality improvement program to the CPF after it was approved by 80 percent of the vote in 2016.”

He added, “She left the CPF better than she found it. Because of her, it remains the most successful environmental protection program in the state.”

“I had always been very curious about this job,” Kombrink acknowledged, speaking of the lure of the role. “My practice had involved more and more conservation work.”

She was special counsel for the Town of Southold for farmland issues for 20 years. She also represented individual clients on such work as crafting easements and the sale of development rights.

There was a personal piece to the agricultural interest: Her grandparents were farmers in Illinois.

“Their farm was sold and turned into a big subdivision … That whole area was farms, and now it’s all shopping centers and houses. I think there’s a part of me that always wanted to revisit that,” she said. “Also, it’s a really feel-good kind of job.”

She still practices law, overseeing CPF closings. “But I also get to work on projects like this,” she said, gazing around the ranger station.

“I have known Lisa for a number of years through her legal work and time at CPF,” said Robert DeLuca, president of the environmental advocacy organization Group for the East End. “Lisa has long been recognized as a highly capable, creative, engaging, responsive, and optimistic professional, as well as a driving force for good. I think the CPF program was a great fit for her many strengths as a professional, and as a person who, in my experience, has always been concerned and actively engaged in the cause of conservation.”

Next up for Kombrink is finishing a memoir she’s been working on.

“I’m going to start playing the piano again,” she said. She studied classical piano for nearly three decades. “And I’m going to repaint furniture,” she confided.

Accepting her retirement at their July 26 meeting, members of the Town Board were effusive in their praise of the attorney and manager.

The job of CPF manager is “a bear,” Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said. Describing the program as bringing in $100 million a year,and including “hundreds, if not thousands, of parcels the town has to manage,” he said Kombrink is leaving behind big shoes to fill.

Councilman John Bouvier appreciated her help with complicated acquisitions, while Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni extolled, “Working with Lisa Kombrink has been fantastic.”

Councilman Rick Martel spoke of how Kombrink took issues related to CPF properties to heart, and Councilwoman Cynthia McNamara made reference to her rare patience. “She was one of the first people when I was elected to reach out and bring me in, just sit me down and say, ‘Okay, you ready? This is a lot of information.’”

Town Attorney James Burke dubbed Kombrink “an excellent attorney, and even more of a quality person.”