Jeff Thompson, former Deputy City Manager, City of Boerne

I am proud to state my support for Laura Haning to be the next mayor of the City of Boerne. Having had the privilege of working closely with Laura for 14 years while I was serving as Deputy City Manager for Boerne, I can personally attest to her exceptional leadership skills, unwavering dedication, and profound commitment to our community.

Laura and I were both hired by the city in 2007, and it was my privilege to recommend her for promotion to the position of Director of Planning and Community Development in 2015.

In the 37 years I spent in public service in New Braunfels and Boerne, Laura stands out as one of the most customer and employee focused and dedicated individuals I have had the pleasure of working with. Through challenges of all types Laura put in the extra time & effort needed to ensure that development projects were moving forward at a responsible pace while at the same time ensuring that the city’s stringent ordinances regarding new development were being adhered to. 

I will cite some of her professional accomplishments from her years at the City of Boerne, but before doing that I want to speak from the heart and tell you that Laura will be relentless in her efforts to focus every day on doing the right thing in her role as Mayor. That includes being a servant leader who genuinely understands the balance of the rights and needs of all of us as citizens of Boerne with the rights and needs of personal and business property owners and those seeking to develop in the City of Boerne in the right way.

Here is a short list of her accomplishments that set her apart as the most qualified person to ever serve as mayor of Boerne in the most important time in the evolution of our wonderful community: 

• Graduate of the Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce Leadership Boerne Program (2015)

• American Planning Association award for Great Places in Texas (2019)

• Texas Planning Association award for 

• Planning Excellence (2018)

• Comprehensive Master Plan (2019)

• Scenic City Gold Designation (2022)

• Championed two comprehensive master plans and two thoroughfare plans over multi-year periods of analysis, collaboration, community involvement, editing, and ultimately approval by the City Council

• Led multi-year effort to analyze and amend all development ordinances to create a unique single document; the first City of Boerne Unified Development Code (UDC)

• Based on City Council input and direction, analyzed and modified all drainage and water quality related ordinances to require environmentally sensitive and responsive development for watershed protection

• Recognition from the Cibolo Center for Conservation for her role in writing environmentally sensitive development regulations (2020)

In addition to her professional achievements, Laura’s personal attributes make her an exemplary candidate for Mayor. She is a person of exceptional character, whose kindness, humility, and unwavering work ethic inspire all who have the pleasure of knowing her. Her ability to lead with empathy and decisiveness sets her apart as a true servant leader, capable of guiding our city towards a prosperous and well-balanced future. She was loved and admired by her staff and respected by the development community. 

I wholeheartedly endorse Laura Haning for the role of Mayor. Her proven leadership and experience in the things that matter most at this stage in the evolution of our community make her the ideal choice to lead our city forward. I have no doubt that, under her stewardship, our city will continue to thrive and reach new heights.

Mike Howle, former Kendall County Geodata Manager

I've probably known Laura for 20 years or so. She has always been a smart and measured decision-maker. We worked together on many projects and have even butted heads, but she has always been an honest, solid person. I worked in the County as the Geodata Manager/911 coordinator, and she was with the city. I provided locational data, and she used it. That was a good working relationship between the County and the City. 

You can count on Laura to make the hard decisions with care and compassion, holding on to the past while planning for our future town. It’s threading the needle when growth is so rapid. That’s when we need someone of Laura’s character and knowledge. When you meet her, you will know that you have just met someone special with a kind loving heart.

Ben Eldredge, Executive Director, Cibolo Conservancy

Laura’s dedication to public service was fully evident during the creation of the city’s Unified Development Code.  In collaboration with our planning committee, Laura adhered to the wishes of Boerne’s citizens as expressed through the city’s masterplan and worked tirelessly to craft what may be the most environmentally protective development code in the state of Texas.   If elected, I have no doubt that Laura will faithfully serve the citizens of Boerne.

Chris Turk, former City Planning Director, City of Boerne

I have known Laura for nearly 20 years, and we worked together in the Boerne Planning and Community department 12 of those years. Laura came to us with a background of design review and real estate both of which served her well in the planning department. I was impressed by her initiative to gain knowledge and improve herself. Early on she would stand in the doorway (with permission) listening to conversations not only to learn but to gain perspective on what we were trying to accomplish for the city and always asking “why.” Laura not only wanted to do her job well she also wanted to expand it, and in time she did. 

Along her professional planning track Laura participated in the development of two Master Plan updates. She loved interacting with the consultants and the citizen committees, anticipating the future and molding new planning concepts into the city’s path. Laura frequently was the lead in the preparation of ordinances, amendments to ordinances and all the research that entails as well as participating in the necessary public hearings pertaining to the ordinance and changes to them as well zoning changes, an integral part of her job.

More than anything else was Laura’s ability to work one on one with concerned or interested citizens or developers, to explain and educate them about the nuances of the city, the ordinances, and how they pertained to the individual. She was always willing to accept ideas and suggestions on how we could improve.

I would like to add that when I retired I recommended Laura for my position. I knew she would carry on and improve the Department of Planning and she did. Laura was the major force behind the development of the Unified Development Code which the City Council desired.

Unlike some of the past mayors, Laura has a wide breadth of knowledge of the workings of many of the city’s departments and how the city can function. While such a background is not a necessity to be an excellent mayor it will certainly help her working with the council in weighing the options that will be provided to council by city staff.

You may ask why, Mayor? What many folks may not understand is the depth of concern and feeling a planner has for their community especially if they have been in a smaller city for an extended length of time and have watched it evolve because we hear and see people's aspirations to grow and succeed. The position becomes more than a job because the planner has put so much into the people, so many hours in the development of rules to try to ensure that the city matures into the best that community can be. What I am trying to say is that the city — its citizens — have become personal to Laura, and she would like to take this next leadership role to continue Boerne’s evolution following her goals as outlined on her website.

In closing, the not-too-distant transition between city managers — especially when the retiring city manager had such a long outstanding tenure — can be extremely difficult.  During a conversation with the Deputy City Manager he told me Laura was the “rock” that held things together during this time. It is that Rock that I recommend to you.