Sustainability Hero Award
The Hendersonville Environmental Sustainability Board created the Hendersonville Sustainability Hero Award in 2023. The Sustainability Hero Award celebrates outstanding achievement in the pursuit of the City’s commitment to lead by example in pursuing environmentally sustainable practices critical to preserving the community for future generations. The Sustainability Hero award will honor an individual City employee or team that is a champion for change and is responsible for development and implementation of sustainability practices in Hendersonville and the surrounding community.
Nominations for the Sustainability Hero Award may be submitted by any individual or organization including citizens, City employees (co-workers) and non-governmental organizations and should be submitted to the Chair of the Environmental Sustainability Board, Virginia Tegel, at virginiategel@gmail.com. Nominations period is now open until February 28th.
Nomination requirements:
A description of the individual’s or team’s success in improving the condition of any of the environmental elements of the City and the surrounding community during calendar year 2024, including: Energy Management; Transportation (including fleet operations, walkability, and bikeability); Waste Management (including waste diversion and reduction of toxic and hazardous chemicals and materials); Drinking Water, Stormwater, and Wastewater Management; and, Land Management and Conservation.- The project(s) or effort(s) carried out by the individual or team, including any strategies and technologies that were deployed, who was involved and an approximate project timeline.
- Results and achievements accomplished during 2024, focusing not only on outputs but also on intermediate and long-term outcomes, and/or anticipated future outcomes.
- The nominee’s leadership in efficiency improvements and financial savings, innovation, education, and outreach.
- The nominee’s success in working across organizational boundaries, as well as working with other localities, organizations, or individuals to support and promote environmental sustainability goals in Hendersonville and the surrounding community.
- Nominations for the Hendersonville Sustainability Hero Award may include a letter of support from a local or regional community partner.
Review process:
Nominations submission period: Open
Nominations will be reviewed by the Hendersonville Environmental Sustainability Board. The winning nomination will be recognized by the Mayor and Chair of the Environmental Sustainability Board during a public event such as the Hendersonville Earth Day celebration.
2025 Hendersonville Sustainability Hero
The City of Hendersonville Environmental Sustainability Board awarded Hendersonville’s Water & Sewer Department with the third annual Sustainability Hero Award on the March 3, 2025 City Council Meeting.
Environmental Sustainability Board Chair, Virginia Tegel emphasized this year’s winner has shown “a long standing record of prioritizing sustainability in all areas of operation including water conservation, waste reduction, and operational efficiency.”
Some of this department’s accomplishments include the following:
- Restoring clean drinking water in just over two weeks to 100% of customers;
- Prioritizing integrative infrastructure improvements that use stormwater and erosion control measures;
- Creating the Mountains on Tap program to encourage drinking tap water and reducing single-use plastics;
- Creating the Water Conservation Rebate program to incentivize our community to reduce water consumption in homes;
- Installing a UV disinfection system that is expected to reduce City-wide electrical consumption by 6% or about 801,000 kWh;
- Implementing a Water Treatment facility wide recycling program; and
- Initiating a biosolids thermal dryer facility which is estimated to reduce biosolid landfill waste by over 60%.
The award also highlighted the efforts of specific Water & Sewer staff members Stephen Bell, Bo Stepp, Damian Bingham, and Chase Dowdy.
Bo Stepp, Damian Bingham, and Chase Dowdy. These Water & Sewer maintenance workers initiated stream restoration practices to repair eroding streambanks to protect sewer infrastructure including recontouring the stream bank and planting native vegetation. This crew could have easily used easier – but more prone to failing – measures but instead took the initiative to create a long-lasting integrated remedy that certainly came in handy when Hurricane Helene hit.
Stephen Bell, Laboratory Supervisor took the initiative to start a recycling program at the Water Treatment Facility which he currently maintains while educating staff members on the importance of waste reduction. This has led to staff members carrying over these efforts of waste reduction in their own lives which is directly aligned with the mission of the Environmental Sustainability Board.
