Lunch with Leaders - 3.9.21

Join us for Lunch with Leaders, a quarterly series to connect leaders in the rural Hill Country with one another to identify common challenges, share solutions, and pursue opportunities for our region. 

Our second session, 12pm on March 9th, will include an interview of Toni Kunz, Council Member for the City of Bandera. She will be interviewed by Judge Cynthia Casburn, Municipal Judge for the City of Sabinal. 

Council Member Kunz will discuss how Bandera is navigating new development within the constraints of the city's small footprint and with respect for the city's unique history and character.

This free event will take place on Zoom. The link will be emailed to everyone who registers prior to the event. 

About this session's presenters:

Toni Kunz was elected to City of Bandera City Council in November of 2020. As a council person, she inspires fiscal responsibility through purposeful communication, planning and accountability.

After growing up in Bandera and finishing college in San Marcos, Toni discovered a career in streamlining business processes and procedures to design applications that support efficient business models, which happened to also allow her to travel the world. When she moved back to Bandera in 2010, she brought with her a broad range of experience and ideas to help revive and sustain her unique small hometown.

Since her return, Toni has held positions on: the City of Bandera Planning and Zoning Commission, including the chair; the City of Bandera Economic Development Corporation, including the chair; and on City of Bandera City Council, from 2016-2018, and again in 2020-present. She has been a key contributor to many of the recent milestones accomplished through economic development and fiscal responsibility.

Kunz holds a Bachelor of Arts from Southwest Texas State University at San Marcos, is a proud parent of two very active border collie-mix dogs, affectionately referred to as The Heathens, and loves to find ways to be creative in her spare time.

Cynthia holds an Associates Degree in Legal Assisting, a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice and a Masters Degree in Public Administration.  From working within the chambers and courtrooms of Federal Judges in the Western District of Texas and as an adjunct professor of Federal Government at the college level, to becoming the Municipal Court Judge for the City of Sabinal, Cynthia's focus in Sabinal, alongside her judicial duties, is on conservation, community and economic development and school improvement.

Judge Casburn currently serves on the Middle Rio Grande Development Council's Solid Waste Advisory Committee, the Southwest Texas Junior College Criminal Justice Advisory Board, as well as their Law Enforcement Advisory Board.  She is the Chairman of Keep Sabinal Beautiful, Area Coordinator for Samaritan's Purse and gladly serves on the Sabinal Independent School District's District Improvement Leadership Team.

 Aligning a network of community leaders in the Hill Country vital to the responsible development of our area is of great interest to Judge Casburn.