For Goldsboro’s champion, a thank you … and a call to action

Mayor Chuck Allen has always been a lightning rod.

He has been part of big plans, important meetings and great ideas.

And he has had his challenges as well.

There have been a lot of people who have lobbed grenades his way over the years — sometimes deserved and sometimes not.

That is the price you pay when you take on a job like mayor.

That is why so many people don’t.

But as we begin to move on from the Chuck Allen era, we have to address more than just what the plans are to replace him.

A man who has dedicated more than two decades of service to Goldsboro deserves a tribute.

Whether you voted for him or not, you can’t deny that Allen has given much to this city.

As you walk downtown, you can look around and see just what has been accomplished under his leadership.

And he has been a big part of keeping Seymour Johnson Air Force Base here, too — no easy task.

Allen is a big personality with a good old boy charm. That’s how he got stuff done.

Sometimes, he did it with a huff and a puff about those who did not agree, and sometimes with the confidence of someone who saw a vision no one else imagined.

He said what he thought and worked politics and relationships expertly.

That was his secret.

But he wasn’t perfect — no one is.

The question really is what legacy he will leave now that he has decided it is time to step down.

And while Allen would never offer his own opinion on the matter, whether he was well enough to articulate one or not, the answer is really quite simple.

His legacy, his footprint on Goldsboro, Wayne County and Eastern North Carolina, is massive.

Allen is not talking about what he is facing — and has faced — for the last 16 months.

But you, his community, should know what strength it took to keep going.

All you need to do is research glioblastoma to understand how easy it would have been to walk away the day he received his diagnosis.

But that isn’t how Chuck Allen is built. And Goldsboro will forever be a better place because of it.

He stayed for you — and for his children and grandchildren.

He did it because he loved his hometown, his city.

So we can listen to those who will list his faults and diminish his achievements as they battle to fill the power vacuum he will leave or the pundits who do not have the history to understand how much he has helped change Goldsboro.

Or we can think about what we want to see for the future of our community and what must be done to get there.

We can answer the call to make it better, to have the conversations and to not be afraid to speak up when its reputation and future are at stake.

We can be brave.

Brave like Chuck Allen has been since November 2019.

Often, courage is not easy to come by, especially during a time when critics are ready to pounce at any moment.

But communities do not move forward unless those voices are heard when they are most needed.

We will speak. We promise.

You should, too.

Chuck Allen’s departure will not send Goldsboro into a tailspin. There are others who can and will be there to take up the mantle.

But there has never been a more important call to service than the one we have before us right now.

Allen knew that when he sat down with us at the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce last week — when he used what might very well be his final interview to talk about our future rather than his past and present.

We need a leader who understands what is at stake — and who is not afraid to deflect the inevitable slings and arrows.

We have work to do and a city to protect.

We owe its mayor that much, and a thank you for the decades he has dedicated and sacrificed to work on its future, our future.

Where we go now is up to us. We need to step up to the challenge, to ease his mind that we understand the responsibility of moving Goldsboro forward.

Chuck Allen deserves nothing less.