Kate Stevens is an architect, educator, and community builder with deep roots on Fishers Island. A product of the Northeast, she practiced residential design-build architecture and planning for academic institutions before teaching English in public schools in rural Italy. She has been a seasonal Fishers Islander since the 1970s, and in 2020 moved to the island full-time with her husband Paul and their dog Nola — drawn back, as she puts it, to be closer to family and to the community she had always called home.

On Fishers Island, Kate has thrown herself into the work of keeping a small, remote community resilient and thriving. She has been twice elected to the Fishers Island Waste Management District Commission, where she currently serves as Chair, and volunteers on the island's Zoning, Energy Transition, and Coastal Resiliency committees. She is also Executive Director of the Henry L. Ferguson Museum. She has led two ambitious "land recycling" initiatives: a waste-to-trail project that opened a stretch of protected coastline to the public as a walking trail, and a brownfield-to-solar project that aims to convert a former landfill into a community solar installation.

Kate has served on the Southold Town Board since January 2026, filling the seat dedicated to Fishers Island — a unique position that also carries the duties of Town Justice — and the first Democrat ever to hold it. She sees Southold and Fishers Island as facing the same fundamental challenges: a shortage of year-round housing, aging infrastructure, development pressure, and the growing demands of coastal resiliency. Her goal is to serve as a bridge — connecting the island to the rest of Southold Town and bringing the lessons of small-island problem-solving to bear on challenges that affect the entire community.