Vic Fedeli breezes into the City of North Bay's mayor's office, 15 minutes late for an interview, in his trademark black suit and yellow tie (he says he has 53 of them).
"If you see me in something other than a yellow tie, I'm probably going to a funeral."
Two months into the job, the 47-year-old former marketing executive-turned-politician remains a man on the move, shivering through a -33 degree Celcius January day with a public works crew repairing a broken fire hydrant. Or perhaps accompanying police officers on a night-time ride-along, attempting to familiarize himself with every challenge the $90-million corporation faces.
Despite the 12-hour workdays, he is energized by every minute of it, knocking on doors to "beat the drum" to promote North Bay and bring new business to the city.
"I've never been more comfortable in my own skin. I love being mayor of North Bay."
There was not much of a settling-in period after he easily won last November's municipal election, replacing the retiring Jack Burrows.
Within 24 hours, the city's economic development commission was disbanded, its executive director sent packing, with Fedeli and members of council taking over the reigns, creating the Mayor's Office of Economic Development.
In calling the commission an "outdated model," Fedeli says having the mayor and council deal directly with prospects as the city's decision-makers should speed up the economic development process.
"I'm more happy sitting in a boardroom in Toronto with Home Depot cutting a deal with them; that is when I'm in my element."
He is backed up by a pro-business-minded council comprised of four sitting directors of North Bay's Chamber of Commerce and two past directors.
Fedeli says simply maintaining the economic status quo is not good enough anymore.
"Our taxes ballooned because we don't have the economic base to pay for the infrastructure we created. The only way to do that is to grow the community."
Frustrated by the city's lack of growth, a dwindling population and a local government unresponsive to the needs of business, Fedeli decided to run for the city's top job and prepared a pro-development strategy paper called his 20/20 Vision.
On his ambitious agenda is the task of bringing six "spanking new industries" to the city's neglected industrial park within five years, selling land at a $1 per acre. By establishing a community development corporation to start "bonusing" property, he hopes to lure companies north by offering cheap land outside the GTA and a better quality of life.
As well, he is trolling for a new tenant to fill the NORAD bunker being phased out at CFB North Bay by courting global data storage companies who could make use of a fully fibre optic-wired three-storey underground complex.
Taking on big projects is nothing new for Fedeli.
After retiring at age 35 from a successful local marketing agency, he took on the daunting task of saving the abandoned hangars at CFB North Bay from government bulldozers, as chairman of the volunteer-driven Air Base Property Corp., and created an aerospace industry from scratch.
Fedeli says city hall does not need to be run like a business, but in a more business-like fashion.
The perks for so-called volunteers on city boards and commissions are gone. No more days of pocketing $600 (complete with benefits and a life insurance plan) to attend a police board meeting.
"It was out of control."
To make better use of FedNor and Heritage Fund money, the city is advertising for GAP (Grant Accessing Program) officer to assist organizations in making better use of government leverage dollars for community projects, instead of coming to council at budget time.
Among his ideas include staging a think-tank to invite successful former residents back to the city to discuss ideas about attracting new industry.
Ad hoc SWOT teams (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) have been formed to accomplish specific tasks with a set time frame. Then they are disbanded. One SWOT team of selected North Bay business people is assisting the Ontario Northland Railway in its bid to land a $75-million contract to refurbish provincial GO-Transit coaches.
Fedeli makes no bones about it; past spending practices have placed North Bay in a financial crisis, and has left tax payers facing a 12.5-per-cent tax hike unless the city hunkers down.
That is why the city is scrambling to sell off as much surplus property as possible to replenish depleted reserves. Fedeli says the city is sitting on acres of undeveloped, fully-serviced residential lots that are ready to go. The plan is to sell 24 lots over the next six months.
One onerous burden is finding a way to pay for the $12.5-million CP Rail lands acquired for the city's waterfront development project. No provisions were made to pay for it and the city has been left with a prime piece of contaminated property.
But it is not all bad news, says Fedeli. City officials expect to see record-breaking building permit values with land development deals in place with Home Depot, True North Chevrolet Oldsmobile, Dalron Construction's $20-million waterfront seniors complex, and new residential construction at Nipissing University, Canadore College and the $215-million regional hospital groundbreaking this year.
