Who's on the ballot?
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 8, 2015 1:46 PM
Full Size
Four candidates have entered the battle to become Goldsboro's next mayor.
Incumbent Mayor Al King, who has served as mayor for more than a decade, is not running for re-election.
Mayor Pro-Tem Chuck Allen, Henry Jinnette, D.A. Stuart and Myelle Thompson will face off first in the Oct. 6 primary, which will narrow down the field to only two contenders for the Nov. 3 election.
Each man running for mayor has varying degrees of experience with local government.
Allen is a 54-year-old native of Atlanta, Ga., but has lived in Goldsboro since he was in the third grade. Allen graduated from Goldsboro High School, then went to Wayne Community College for two years and obtained his four-year degree from North Carolina State University.
He owns his own business, Allen Grading, and has served on the Goldsboro City Council for 12 years. Allen Grading is a sitework and utilities company that does paving, water, sewer and grading work.
In addition to serving on the City Council, he has served on the Family YMCA board of directors, the Red Cross board of directors, the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. board of directors and currently serves on the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce board of directors, is president of the Wayne Development Alliance and serves on the Highway 70 commission.
"Because I'm already serving in office, I already know what the requirements are going to be," Allen said. "Obviously the (office of) mayor will require more time, but I will rearrange my schedule to do what I have to do, because that's what I do every day. I'm pretty committed to what I do, and very seriously committed to my City Council position. I think I work as hard as anybody up there, maybe harder. I've never missed a City Council meeting in 12 years, and have always arranged my schedule so I can be there. I'm very serious about it. The mayoral thing will take more time, but it's something I feel strongly on that we need a good person doing it, and I'm committed to doing that."
Allen said he is running for mayor because he cares about Goldsboro since it is his home, and wants to see the community thrive.
"I'm running for mayor primarily because the mayor told me several months back that he wasn't going to run, and when we were going through it, he talked to me and we felt like I would be the best candidate," Allen said. "I've got the most experience and I have the commitment. I have the desire. I just really love this city and I'm very compassionate about this city and I want to see good things happen to this city. I think we've been doing good things for the last 10 years and I want to see the boat keep flowing the same way, I don't want to see a lot of the hard work we've done get changed."
Jinnette is a 75-year-old Goldsboro native who made his reputation as a businessman and investor. He served four years in the United States Air Force and is currently president of H.G. Jinnette Inc., representing five investment groups that look to invest capital in businesses across the nation.
He graduated with a four-year degree from Friends University in Kansas, and went on to study international economics at Oxford University, and has a master's in divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary.
Jinnette also served on the City Appearance Commission for four years. He ran for mayor in 2012.
"My dad ran a business right in the shadow of the old City Hall," Jinnette said. "I grew up helping him in his store -- he was an accountant who ran a shoe store. He had a lot of friends in city hall and around (town) and he knew a lot of things. When I was a toddler, I learned more about city hall than I should've learned. I've had a lifelong interest in Goldsboro City Hall."
Jinnette said he is running for mayor because he has a "concern for Goldsboro."
He said Goldsboro is at a crossroads. There are two towns divided by an interstate highway in Brunswick County, he said -- Belville and Leland -- and Leland has become a beacon of growth and economic improvement, while Belville has fallen behind the times and has become economically stagnant.
Like those two towns, Goldsboro can go either way, he said.
"I feel like Goldsboro needs somebody with experience in business operations to help Goldsboro become like Leland instead of Belville."
"What I'm saying is the towns changed, and if you aren't careful Goldsboro is going to change," Jinnette said. "Goldsboro is gonna grow, or it's gonna go. Basically, that's it."
He said he is "semi-retired" from his company, and would prioritize the office of mayor should he be elected.
D.A. Stuart is a 59-year-old native of Lewiston, Maine, who moved to Goldsboro in 1989. Stuart has a degree in criminal justice from the University of Maine-Augusta and served in the U.S. Air Force as a security police officer. He has been a reserve officer for the Pikeville Police Department and a special deputy for the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
Stuart began a business -- Renta-Spouse.com Home Improvements -- when he moved to Goldsboro in 1989.
He said his son has taken over primary operations of the business, which he said gives him the time to devote to being mayor should he be elected.
Stuart has run for various local offices every election cycle since 2000, running for county commissioner, City Council member and mayor.
This will be his third attempt to become Goldsboro's mayor.
"Someone once said there is nothing wrong with setting your goals high and not achieving them," he said of his continued attempts at being elected to a local office. "The problem is setting your goals too low and realizing them. They also say the third time never fails."
Stuart said he is running for mayor because he is not pleased with the way the city is being currently run, and seeks to change how business is conducted in the city.
"It irritates me that people are getting away with murder, figuratively, maybe literally," Stuart said.
Goldsboro is in need of swift change, Stuart said, and he feels he is the right man for the job.
"I feel that if I get in I can solve some of the problems here," Stuart said. "We've got a better City Council now than we have had in the past, but it needs to get a lot better, quicker, because Goldsboro, like the country, is going in a downhill spiral. There's a lot of good things about Goldsboro. We have a variety of workers, we have potential. I want to improve the city."
The final candidate, Myelle Thompson, was contacted multiple times for an interview but was unable to set up a time to be interviewed before press time.