Mayor taking leave of absence to focus on cancer battle

Not even two weeks after he won reelection in the fall of 2019, Goldsboro Mayor Chuck Allen received a daunting diagnosis. Doctors told him he had cancer — specifically, glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer there is. So, he stepped away from his duties to begin aggressive treatment and ultimately returned to City Hall in early 2020.

But last week, those same doctors told Allen that his tumor is growing more rapidly now. And the mayor knows that his condition is impacting his ability to lead.

So, he sat down with the New Old North Friday at the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce — one week before he was set to begin a new round of treatment — to talk about why the time has come to step away from political life … and how important it is to him to see a new leader emerge to take up the mantle he has held for more than two decades.

Allen notified his fellow council members that he would be taking a leave of absence before Monday’s City Council meeting. The following is what he told us ahead of the formal announcement:

Chuck Allen sits for a minute.

He is thinking of how to respond to the question of why he has been involved in city politics for more than 20 years as a councilman, mayor pro tem and, for the last six years, as mayor.

It is an easy answer.

“I love Goldsboro. It is my home,” he says matter-of-factly like it is obvious, like that is all there is to say.

The cancer he battles has taken some of the emotional edge away, so there is no effusive response or heart-felt prattle of superlatives about his legacy, his city or his role in Goldsboro’s past and present.

He isn’t able to tell you anymore what being the city’s chief executive and champion has meant to him or what he has given up to perform the job — or how hard it was to decide that he just couldn’t do it anymore.

His disease and its treatments have made that difficult, really difficult.

But that doesn’t mean the feelings and the memories aren’t there.

They are why he has been here all this time and why now he wanted to do more than simply tender a resignation.

He wanted to have a discussion about this city’s future and why replacing him should be a serious matter.

He wants there to be a plan so that the progress that has been made is not lost.

Allen admits he is having trouble getting through the duties of mayor as he juggles treatments and checkups and the ups and downs that go with a cancer battle.

“My sickness is moving faster than I thought it was going to,” he said.

He says he has leaned on city staff, his fellow city government leaders and others to help him get through the stress and many responsibilities that come with being the city’s leader.

“I have too many people giving too many answers for me,” Allen said. “If I can’t do it, I don’t want to be there. It is time to let go.”

It was not an easy decision to make.

And the reason why goes back to that first answer — the one he cannot quite seem to elaborate on.

Allen has fought for the city he loves for decades — and this act, his last decision as mayor, is being made because he wants to make sure Goldsboro’s future is in good hands.

When he first heard his diagnosis about 16 months ago, his first thought (after his family) was for his city.

“I worried about the city before anything else,” he said. “Goldsboro is a part of my life.”

He isn’t sure who will take the spot behind the mayor’s desk, but knows it is a tough ask — and an important one.

“This is a serious conversation,” he said. “And we need a serious answer.”

And that is why he has hung on so long. He’s worried about what will come next — especially in light of the city’s recent internal battles, race-baiting and council members, he said, whose behavior in meetings and in the public arena have done much damage to both the Goldsboro’s reputation and its ability to get and to keep quality personnel.

And it is why he is not sure who will be the person who takes the seat — and who will stick around on council and on the city staff to guide Goldsboro through its next challenges after he’s gone.

“There are people who would do it. I have friends who would do it. But I am not sure they are going to,” Allen said. “They need another me — or as close to me as possible.”

For the mayor, it is not about being irreplaceable. It is about understanding what it takes to be the mayor of a city that has to balance day-to-day business with concerns like budgets, tax base, education, economic development, transportation and an Air Force base that is a multi-billion-dollar asset.

The mayor has to be more than just someone who gladhands around town trolling for votes or spouting promises.

Success at this job is about balancing the city’s immediate needs with looking down the road to its next steps, he said.

And Allen is good at looking forward.

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Those who know him, who have followed his tenure in city politics and the battles he has fought, won and, sometimes lost, know he has connections everywhere.

Relationships, he said, are key to his success.

And they have taken years to build.

“I have spent my life counting votes,” he said. “You have to know how to talk to people.”

Allen said that’s why he has traveled all over the state and country meeting with leaders and military brass, encounters that have helped get attention for the city and keep Seymour Johnson Air Force Base right here.

Knowing who to call and how to get the ball rolling has earned him the reputation of being the person to reach out to when there is a concern or a potential project on the horizon.

“I know how to get things done,” he said.

He has fought for some big plans that were good decisions — like the revitalization of the city’s downtown — and for others he said, in hindsight, were not-so-good.

“I have made some mistakes,” Allen said.

Those who have seen him at his best, and at his not-so-good, know that comes with the territory. People with big ideas and plans can sometimes get caught up in the hype and the power.

But even when he miss-stepped, Allen’s goal was always based in the success of his hometown.

He is proud of the work downtown and the vision that continues to bring economic development to the community.

And despite his cancer battle, he has his sights on the next step — improving the neighborhoods across the city, and specifically, near downtown Goldsboro.

“There is a lot of comeback going on right now,” Allen said. “We do not want to lose those neighborhoods.”

But he knows how tenuous that progress is — and how easily a reputation for a being a community with bickering and grandstanding leaders can derail it.

He cites recent internal battles on the board — and racially charged accusations — as particularly dangerous.

“I think there is a divide, but I don’t know exactly when it started,” Allen said, adding that race relations has been an issue that has been aggravated by some for political clout.

But that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a conversation or that black members of the city council and county commissioners — and other leaders — cannot impact decisions made about Goldsboro’s future.

“There are things to talk about,” he said, referring to former council members and new commissioners Bevan Foster and Antonio Williams, and current council member Brandi Matthews. “They could bring a lot to this conversation, but they don’t.”

That’s why it matters that more people get involved, he said. And that involvement starts with voting and making the right choice now.

It is a goal he has had for years — to get the next generation ready to take the reins.

“I would like to get someone who can serve for at least another 10 years,” Allen said.

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Giving up the mayor’s seat is not going to be as simple as cleaning out his office.

Yes, Monday was his last council meeting for the foreseeable future, at least. He wanted to tell council and the city staff in person.

He knew a resignation letter was not enough.

Allen knows that he leaves a void, a leadership position that is critical to the city’s next steps — and the county’s.

He wants to help with the transition, as much as he can as he begins another round of treatments soon. But he is looking forward to spending time with his family, especially his grandson, Wes, his mini-me.

“This past weekend my grandson wanted to go somewhere and his parents couldn’t take him. He called me and asked me if I would take him,” he said, a hint of a smile crossing his face. “I said, ‘Sure.’”

His job as mayor did not always allow for that. So, he looks forward to being able to say yes more often.

That future he hopes he helped create for Goldsboro was also for that grandson, and for his children, and his constituents’ children.

It is how a hometown boy, a 1979 graduate of Goldsboro High School, and a lifelong resident and businessowner pays it forward.

And pay it forward he did.

But he doesn’t want to focus on the past tense. Not quite yet.

And he doesn’t want to talk about the battle he is facing.

“It will just make me sad,” Allen said.

Right now, he just wants his city to be OK.

And that, Allen said, is why he is calling on others to take the mantle — to finish what he started.

“This is an important decision,” he said.