Don’t call Kathee Burke-Gonzalez a politician. “I’m an elected official, that’s really how I see myself,” the East Hampton Town supervisor said at her office at Town Hall earlier this month, where she sat with Patrick Derenze, her public information officer. “I prefer to have deep conversations with three people, rather than shake the hands of 30. It’s just truer to who I am.”
In January, Ms. Burke-Gonzalez listed the challenges and success of 2024 in her State of the Town address, while detailing plans for 2025. The environment, public safety, and affordable housing are all front and center, but she grows most passionate when discussing plans for the new senior citizens center, or the Center for Modern Aging and Human Services.
“I know there are some folks out there that are concerned about the price, and I’m concerned about the cost too. But at the same time, the community has always supported our kids, right?” She compares the project, slated to cost around $30 million, to the $23 million expansion of the Springs School, completed in 2021, or the $56 million renovation and expansion of East Hampton High School, completed in 2010. She noted that the population of school-age children in the town is decreasing, while that of senior citizens is increasing. “We support our kids. We need to be able to support our seniors.”
The proposed 22,000-square-foot facility will not only replace the current senior center, but also house the Department of Human Services. It is over 10 years in the making. She said she expects the building to be operational by the end of 2026. Set on a seven-acre parcel at 403 Abraham’s Path in Amagansett, where tree clearing has already begun, the building is designed to resemble a three-bladed windmill when seen from above.
She defended the board’s split decision in December when, after putting the project through what is called a “Monroe balancing test” a resolution was passed to exempt the project from local zoning regulations and planning board review. The resolution received support from the town supervisor, Councilwoman Cate Rogers, and Councilman David Lys while Councilman Tom Flight voted against it, and Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte abstained. “It’s a municipal building. We designed it, we’re constructing it, and we are financing it. The planning board had a preliminary review in June 2023. While we feel we’re in the best position to manage this project, we want their input, absolutely, their expertise.” The planning board often takes its cues directly from reports prepared for it by the Planning Department, which the town supervisor said “has been involved with this from the beginning. They’ve been partners with the town board on this.”
It may be difficult to recall the early days of this project. Back in 2014, before Covid forced operational change upon governments worldwide, the idea was to renovate and expand the existing center, at 128 Springs-Fireplace Road. By 2020, however, in the midst of the pandemic, the senior center’s role changed, becoming a lifeline for older residents, who were dependent on picking up meals at its grab-and-go kitchen. The Abraham’s Path property, acquired by the town in 2019, became the proposed location for the center by 2021.
“The corridor was becoming way too busy,” said Ms. Burke-Gonzalez. She explained that the planning board had sent the town board a letter, worrying about the scale of development along Springs-Fireplace Road. The concern was one of the impetuses for the Springs-Fireplace Road Corridor Study, which has begun to outline problems and positives along the road, while offering recommendations for future growth.
“I thought to myself, ‘How are we going to be able to operate our current center while we’re building a new center?’ It’s just not feasible. Plus, it wasn’t big enough. We needed more space, more parking. It’s a 100-year-old building. We came to the conclusion that we needed 10,000 square feet more than we currently have. I mean, we have offices in a trailer in the parking lot.”
The extra space went to a dedicated wellness room, a larger kitchen, a media room that will double as a lecture space (“It’s all going to be senior driven”), and a wing devoted to the Department of Human Services.
Paramount was the need for a lobby, a place for seniors to gather while they wait for lunch or a wellness program to begin. “Seniors arrive early for programs. They sometimes show up at 8 or 9 o’clock in the morning for lunch, because they’re lonely. Maybe they’ve lost their spouse. Currently, they either stand in the dining room waiting, or line up in the hall.”
There has been criticism from some quarters, questioning the need for such a large facility. However, during the public portion section of town board meetings, senior citizens who use the center now have appeared to extoll its benefits and urge the board forward with the plan.
“When we build it, they will come,” said the town supervisor. “I know why the garbage enclosure is where it is. I know why the parking lot goes in a loop. We know how this campus needs to operate. We have a department head who has been running the program for 15 years, and staff that has been there for 20 to 30 years.” She said the old senior center will eventually be torn down and that the land could be transferred to Windmill I for a future expansion of the apartment complex. (A year ago, The Star reported there were nearly 600 senior citizens on a waitlist for the Windmill housing developments.)
A graduate of Siena College with a degree in marketing management, Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez had a career as an advertising account executive before moving to the East End to start a family in 1997. The 63-year-old got her start in local politics when she was elected to the Springs School Board in 2004 after rallying a group of parents to advocate for change.
She used her advertising and direct-mail skills to target voters and win a contested election, and subsequently was elected to the school board two more times, eventually serving for nine years, two as vice president and two as president. “My account management skills from being in advertising taught me how to get projects done and how to communicate with folks. I think that’s served me well.” In 2013, she ran for and was elected to the town board and has won three elections since. She was re-elected to the town board in 2017 and 2021, and elected supervisor in 2023. She is up for election again this November, along with Councilwoman Rogers and Councilman Calder-Piedmonte.
Asked if she will be running again, she said, “I’m not ready to make an announcement.”
Apart from the senior center, the supervisor touted new water quality projects that will be undertaken in 2025, including two that will benefit Georgica Pond: a rest stop project on Route 27 and the replacement of an aging drainpipe with a new one that will filter water that enters the pond at Cove Hollow Road. At last week’s town board meeting, the board agreed to upgrade the septic systems at the Ditch Plain comfort station and another at Atlantic Avenue Beach. “Water quality is critical,” she said.
“I love my job. I don’t think you can do this job if you don’t live it. The minute you step out your front door, you’re the town supervisor.”
