Politics

Mayor Volk on glide-path to retirement after serving city for 37 years

Barbara Volk has been the one constant presence while the Hendersonville City Council evolved over the years. Often the only female member of the board, she served in the mid-teens with Jeff Miller, Jerry Smith, Steve Caraker and Ron Stephens. Currently, the council is made up of Melinda Lowrance, Lyndsey Simpson, Jennifer Hensley and Gina Baxter. They’re shown with city Stormwater Director Michael Huffman in 2025.

By AMY B. MCCRAW, Associate Editor, Published: February 5, 2026

Barbara Volk’s decision in 1989 to seek a seat on the Hendersonville City Council came with some confusion.
Her campaign signs asked voters to support “Volk” for the job.

So some people naturally assumed the Volk campaigning for election was her husband, the late pediatrician Dr. James Volk, who was better known than his wife.
“He had patients who said, ‘Dr. Volk, I’m voting for you,’” Volk recalled with a smile as she looked back in a recent interview on her 37-year career on the council.
Volk, 79, will retire at the end of this year after coming to the conclusion that it was “just time.”
Her decision to run for office the first time back in 1989 seems to have come from the same instinct — knowing the timing was right.
“I had been observing for the League of Women Voters for a couple of years,” she said. “I felt some decisions were looking at what was good right now and not considering the long-term implications. I just decided, ‘Why not?’
“People I knew said, ‘Great,’ including my husband. He was tired of me complaining,” she said. “I just wanted to speak for people thinking certain things but not saying them out loud.”
Once elected, Volk felt committed to have the council consider long-term solutions to the city’s problems. She is also proud to have advocated that Hendersonville hire a city manager to implement the council’s decisions and manage the day-to-day operations.

Setting the tone for civil debate

By 2009, Volk felt the time was right to run for mayor after then Greg Newman, the incumbent bruised by the battle over a proposed high-rise condo development downtown, decided not to seek reelection.
She once again made history that year when Hendersonville voters made her the city’s first female mayor. She’s won re-election handily ever since.
The job includes everything from leading city council meetings to speaking at ground-breakings and ribbon-cuttings to taking calls from people upset about parking tickets.
During council meetings, Volk tries to keep her fellow council members on an even keel while they debate the issues before them.
“We can always get along, be polite to one another, make decisions and move on to the next issue,” she said. “I’d like to think I set the tone for that.”
Volk also functions as an ambassador for Hendersonville, speaking to groups about the work city employees do for citizens.
“Hendersonville is such a great city. I like being part of it,” she said. “I like spreading the word.”

Hendersonville ‘checked all the boxes’

Volk and her husband moved to Hendersonville from Chicago in 1975 after he completed medical school at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
The small town seemed have everything they were looking for in a home.
“We visited other places. But when we came here, the people were so warm and welcoming. We liked to hike and wanted a safe place to raise our kids,” she said. “It checked all those boxes.”
As her husband set out building his practice at Hendersonville Pediatrics, Volk began work with League of Women Voters that eventually led to her decision to seek a seat on the board she was monitoring.
She remained the only female member for her first four years on the council, and in a more recent span was again the only woman, until 2021.
Voters flipped the script in 2024, electing the all-female board made up of Mayor pro tem Jennifer Hensley, Lyndsey Simpson, Melinda Lowrance and Gina Baxter in addition to Volk.
Hensley will face former mayor pro tem Jerry Smith Jr. in this year’s race to determine who will succeed Volk as mayor.
Volk said she sees only slight differences in serving on a council with all women versus serving as the only woman.
While the all-female council and women serving in other key roles in the city “sends a signal that we are open to women in any position,” female council members opinions sometimes differ on issues just as they do when men serve on the council, Volk said.
“Not all votes are unanimous, but we get along,” she said.
The women on the current council share the experience of serving while being mothers or having raised children.
“We can probably relate to each other more,” she said.
Volk has two children, Peter and Carrie, and two grandchildren, three step-grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

City-county conflict

In recent years, Volk has grappled along with other council members with the city’s disagreements with the Henderson County Board of Commissioners over sewer issues and land-use decisions on the city’s growing borders.
She described differences between the two governments over how sewer service is provided as coming down to power, control and maybe some misunderstanding.
The city for years has required landowners that want sewer service from the municipality to be annexed. More recently, it requires prospective sewer users to apply for voluntary annexation — something some commissioners mock as an “involuntary voluntary” petition.
The decision to provide sewer only when property owners request annexation makes sense and keeps taxes lower, Volk said, given that the city is the commercial center of the county.
“We’re getting the brunt of the tourists,” she said while noting both visitors who come for the day or stay overnight more often than not patronize businesses in the city.
The increase in people the city must serve on a daily basis puts a strain on its infrastructure and that comes at a cost.
“By growing at a moderate pace with areas close to the city, it keeps taxes at a reasonable level,” she said. “We’re trying to do the best for our taxpayers.”
Some people, Volk says, mistakenly believe that the city wants to annex large areas of the county when that is not the case. Asked if the city and county are likely to come together on the issue, Volk responded,
“The county has a proposal. We have a proposal. We’ll see where we are.”

‘When she speaks, people listen’

Volk takes pride in the upgrades the city has made to downtown over the years, particularly when it allowed sidewalk dining.
“I think it added life to the street. It’s not just people walking here and there,” she said.
Volk also defended the city’s decision to re-institute paid parking on Main Street for the first time since the 1970s.
Three parking studies all came to the conclusion that the city should charge for the parking spaces closest to downtown, Volk said.
“If you want the convenience of being right in front of where you want to go, you are going to pay for it,” she said. “It was the right decision as far as I’m concerned.”
Revenue from parking supports the new parking deck downtown.
“Someone has to pay for it. Should it be taxpayers or someone using it?” Volk said, noting that the first hour of parking in the garage is free.
Volks said she wants to see the city run smoothly until her retirement and hopes for a seamless handover of the reins once a new mayor is elected. She said she will not endorse a candidate.
As her retirement looms, Volk already seems to be on something of a victory tour, if not of her own choosing.
The Land of Sky Regional Council created the Barbara G. Volk Leadership Award, making her the first recipient.
“Mayor Volk has served the city of Hendersonville and Land of Sky Regional Council with distinction, and she represents the best of public service,” the organization said. “Her distinguished record of public service has left a positive impact on our region.”
Just last week, the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce presented its top honor to the mayor, praising her for “guiding the community through expansion while remaining firmly committed to preserving Hendersonville’s historic charm, strong sense of place and exceptional quality of life.” (For more on the chamber event see Page 6.)
Both former city council member Jeff Miller and City Manager John Connet praised what they described as Volk’s quiet leadership.
Miller served with Volk for eight years between 2013 and 2021, and was also appointed to serve on the council for one year after Smith resigned in 2023. He described Volk as a class act who will be difficult to replace.
“Barbara is just a dedicated servant to the city of Hendersonville. She has a wealth of knowledge,” Miller said. “She is a person of limited words. Whenever she said something, I just shut up real fast. It was just a real pleasure to work with her.”
Connet echoed Miller’s opinion that Volk inspires respect because of her understated leadership style.
“I like to use the term very quiet leadership,” Connet said. “When she does speak, people always listen. She takes everyone’s opinion to account. It’s a very stable leadership.”
Her legacy, Connet said, incudes the professionalism of current city government and her knowledge of proper procedure.
At the end of every council meeting this year, Connet has added a “Mayor’s Memory” segment, “just going back and picking out little things that show the body of her work over 37 years.”
Connet chose Volk’s swearing in to the council in 1989 as his first memory of the year.
He is researching records of past council meetings to find moments that reflect Volk’s leadership.
As she makes plans for her retirement from the council at the end of this year, Volk looks forward to traveling with friends.
The most exciting part, she said, is not having to consult the city government’s schedule before telling a friend whether or not she can go on a trip.
“I said, ‘You don’t have to worry about dates. I’ll tell you the ones I like,’” she said.
Still, the reality of leaving her nearly four-decade commitment to city government is going to require some adjustment.
“I’ll miss the whole experience of coming in and working with the staff and going out and talking to people about the city,” she said. “This is a wonderful city. It is extremely well-run.”
Though she would demur on taking credit, that is thanks, in no small part, to her own steady hand.