After five decades of dedicated public service to the Town of Milan, capped by a six-year tenure as supervisor, Alfred “Al” LoBrutto is stepping down. “I just wanted more time for myself and my family without the responsibility of the day-to-day management of the town,” he said.
LoBrutto has served on virtually every Milan town committee and board, and in multiple municipal administrative roles since he became a resident in 1973.
He was elected Town Supervisor in 2019 and took office just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “We decided that Milan town business was essential to the community, so we kept the town hall and transfer station open,” he said. “It’s one of the things we accomplished that I’m proud of.”
During LoBrutto’s time in office, an addition was built onto the town hall, the heating system and outdoor lighting were updated, and new computers purchased. “All without raising taxes or borrowing money,” he said. “Milan’s finances are in excellent shape going forward.”
Jack Campisi, Milan Town Board member since 2019, has known LoBrutto for fifty years. “As supervisor, Al is the town’s chief financial officer, and he’s good at it,” Campisi said. “But he was also always interested in the mundane parts of the job: If the [old] town hall heating system didn’t work, he’d be up on a ladder fixing it.”
LoBrutto’s lifelong service to the Milan community began in 1975, when the New York Power Authority proposed running a 765,000 volt power line (more than double the usual 345,000 volts) from Quebec, through Red Hook, to New York City.
“They wanted to build huge electrical towers in corridors nearly a mile wide through Milan,” he said. “We formed a grass roots organization, the Citizens for Safe Power Transmission, and fought. It took us seven years, but we beat them.”
Longtime friend and 51-year Milan resident Peter Goss met LoBrutto swimming in the Roeliff Jansen Kill. “We worked together to fight the power lines,” he said. “Al has always worked hard to keep the town on the right track. He’s just a great guy who cares about people.”
LoBrutto has been an integral part of Milan town government: He served on the Zoning Board of Appeals for 11 years, then as building inspector and zoning enforcement officer. “I was always afraid that the town would be overdeveloped,” he said. “Our zoning laws, set up in 1968, have protected Milan by keeping lots to [no more than] five acres. We’ve made sure that stays unchanged.”
In 2003, LoBrutto was elected to Town Board; he chaired the Planning Board, and was tax assessor from 2013 to 2018.
Brooklyn-born LoBrutto met his wife of 56 years, Victoria Tambini, at a school dance; they started dating when he was 15 years old. “Vicky’s parents had a summer place in Milan, and I would go up with her family on weekends,” LoBrutto said. “I knew one day we would move there together.”
He served in the Vietnam War for two years, and trained data processing. On his return, LoBrutto married his childhood sweetheart, and the newlyweds road-tripped to San Francisco. “We spent our honeymoon in an army surplus pup tent,” Vicky quipped.
LoBrutto’s first managerial position was with the Bay Area Rapid Transit District — California’s first subway. “They hired me to test trains and operate them,” he said. “Then moved me up to supervisor.”
After the first of their four children were born, the couple returned to Milan to be close to family. LoBrutto said, “Vicky’s dad offered us his 24-foot by 24-foot bungalow on Academy Hill Road and we moved in.”
LoBrutto couldn’t find local work in data processing, so he took a job with P&S Construction in Red Hook. “Phil Seymour needed workers, and hired me as an assistant carpenter, even though I’d never done carpentry before,” LoBrutto said. “I ended up building my own house.” He got permission to demolish two rundown structures, then salvaged the materials to construct his home at a large savings. “I took down Bernie and Yetta Center’s old barn, and a big old church in Rhinecliff,” he said. “I have the church windows in the south wall of my house, and the central beam is from the barn.”
Several years later, LoBrutto was hired as a data processor, and he commuted to Poughkeepsie for nearly 20 years.
LoBrutto retired in 1994, only to be enlisted by Campisi to work with Native American tribes seeking federal recognition in order to access vital services like housing and education. “I used genealogy software to trace [their ancestry] all the way back to colonial times,” LoBrutto said. “I [engaged] with tribal elders, and taught them to help input data.” Of the dozen tribes he worked with, five were recognized, including New York’s Shinnecock Nation.
LoBrutto is looking forward to spending time with his nine grandchildren after Bill Jeffway is sworn in as town supervisor in January. “My advice to Bill is just to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” LoBrutto said. “No crazy nonsense at first, and make changes only if needed. In a previous interview with the Herald, Jeffway said he would “do nothing differently from Al.”
LoBrutto also said that a nonpartisan approach is key. “The best way to manage things,” he said, “is to leave politics out and work for the Town of Milan.”