The award is considered by chamber officials to be the highest honor bestowed each year. It is presented to a longtime citizen of Independence who has achieved success and served the community faithfully for many years.

'Independence is a fantastic city.It's had a wonderful past and I believe it has an even more fantastic future. Stick around, you ain't seen nothing yet!', Hershey said after receiving the award.

Hershey was selected for the award for work he has done to improve the city's streets, parks and storm water system.

Hershey organized and chaired the city's Friends of the Parks Committee, which led to the development of the city's first Parks Master Plan. He co-chaired the successful Streets and Parks campaigns in 1997, 1998 and 2002. These campaigns allowed the city to repave almost all the streets, renovate the Truman Memorial Building, put together a new Senior Citizens Center, move forward on plans to construct a $7 million aquatic center and many other projects.

Hershey also led successful campaigns to improve the city's storm water system and pass a license surcharge with a transportation development district to build new roads in Independence.