Vic Fedeli had no intention of being North Bay’s mayor-for-life. He has made good on one of his first promises when elected mayor of the Gateway City in 2003, that he was a two-term guy. After seven years in office, Fedeli announced Feb.
Vic Fedeli had no intention of being North Bay’s mayor-for-life.
He has made good on one of his first promises when elected mayor of the Gateway City in 2003, that he was a two-term guy.
After seven years in office, Fedeli announced Feb. 1 he will not be running in the Oct. 25 municipal election.
"I genuinely believe there should be term limits in this country for all three levels of government," said the popular 53-year-old former marketing executive and entrepreneur.
"No one person has the right to expect that they should be sitting in their chair forever."
Armed with a closet full of his trademark yellow ties and his business-friendly agenda, Fedeli hung out the Open for Business sign early on by creating a Mayor’s Office of Economic Development.
With a like-minded council on Fedeli’s side, industrial and commercial property taxes were slashed, surplus city land was sold off to replenish the city’s depleted reserves, and record investments were made in road, water treatment and waterfront improvements.
As owner of Fedeli Advertising, he was a Profit Magazine cover boy for one of Canada’s Best Places to Work before selling the business in 1992. He spent the next 11 years travelling the globe.
He dove into community work and spearheaded the creation of an aviation industry at Jack Garland Airport as head of the all-volunteer Air Base Property Corp (ABPC). The non-profit development group saved three Canadian Forces Base hangars marked for destruction and established an Aerospace Park resulting in Voyageur Airways and Bombardier Canada setting up shop.
Fedeli was motivated to run because he didn’t like the stagnant state of his hometown. Its population was shrinking, no construction was underway, municipal taxes went up nine per cent and in Fedeli’s mind, "the city looked dirty."
When he started complaining, his wife Patty challenged him to either run for office or "clam up."
Fedeli said it has not been his philosophy to chase smoke stacks, but to grow local businesses, something that economic development officials have always stressed.
"I was asked (at his Feb. 1 press conference), Vic you never landed the big fish but we certainly landed an entire school of fish."
Much of it came from the city’s successful Business Retention and Expansion program where Fedeli and economic development staff canvassed local companies, asking them, "What would it take for you to expand?"
The action plan resulted in new shops and more jobs at manufacturers such as Fabrene, Atlas Copco and Goodyear.
An ingenious ‘Buck-An-Acre’ program was created to fill up property in a largely dormant industrial park and Fedeli presided over an paralleled construction boom during his tenure.
For the last four years, the City of North Bay has successively smashed records for building permits, posting an all-time high of $92 million in 2009, despite worsening economic times.
"We restored hope and restored solvency," said Fedeli.
"Vic’s been excellent for the city," said CAO Dave Linkie, who’s been with the city for 32 years and through six mayors.
"He was the right mayor for the time. He lives and breathes the city and is passionate about North Bay. Certainly he’s given 110 per cent of his time to the community and he’s the consummate salesman."
Linkie characterized Fedeli as a "quick study", "thoughtful" and "sincere" who’s developed a very open, informal and frank working relationship with many staff.
Though Linkie said he hasn’t always agreed with Fedeli on some issues, the two have developed a nuanced, verbal short-hand.
"I’ll say, ‘We’ll talk about it later,’ and he knows it means, ‘It’s never going to happen.’"
Linkie jokes the best way for staff and council to keep tabs on Fedeli’s day-to-day movements is to check out the photo archive on the mayor’s web page.
"He’s very accomplished at promoting the community, he never misses an opportunity."
Besides helping local companies grow, Fedeli has been instrumental in getting new business leads through innovative ideas like his Boxing Day ‘Think Tank.’
In recent months, he’s campaigned internationally against the Obama White House’s ‘Buy American’ stimulus provision.
"I said to him the other day, ‘you sure can leave with your head held high,’" said Linkie. "It’s been a real good legacy and I’m a believer you make your luck so for anyone to suggest he was lucky is wrong."
Linkie said one of Fedeli’s ongoing frustrations has been over the federal government’s glacial decision-making in declaring the abandoned underground NORAD complex as surplus property. The city wants to market the military ‘bunker’ as a potential data storage facility.
"We had a global company at the altar, excited about doing something, but the feds just couldn’t pull the trigger."
Chamber of Commerce president Sean Lawlor credits Fedeli with coming up a pro-business development plan and sticking to it. And the result is evident in new retail development and job creation.
"He set a direction in his mind to follow and he’s certainly done it to a ‘t’ to address infrastructure in the community."
Lawlor’s father, Stan, was North Bay’s mayor from 1984 to 1994 and was defeated by Fedeli during a second run in 2006.
"Over the last few years, where most of the province and the country has struggled, we’ve been more fortunate than other communities, though we still have an unemployment rate of 11 per cent."
Whether or not a new mayor will have the same agenda as Fedeli’s, "time will tell," said Lawlor.
Fedeli said his greatest regret is that the city was not able to nail down sustainable funding from the province.
"We still have to rattle a tin cup every time we need money to breathe and that’s unconscionable for one level of government to have to bow to another constantly."
Fedeli said his work in the public service is not done but was vague on his future intentions.
"If (Ottawa) set up an ABPC-type not-for-profit for the underground facility, I would love to head that up."
Having never tipped his political affiliation ("that’s why I wear a yellow tie"), he deflected a question about whether he plans to run provincially or federally, saying he was looking forward to spending more time at home next winter with his wife, Patty.
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