No contest as Mayor Al McDonald wins big

23-yr old Deputy Mayor Sheldon Forgette with Mayor Al McDonald

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald was up at 7 a.m. to get to work, “It's going to be a regular day for me.”

Sitting comfortably in the mayor’s seat again, McDonald garnered 12,636 votes which is 84% of the mayoral votes cast.  He says he’s honoured by the win but laments the loss of Dave Mendicino sitting on council.

"I heard change and that we have to work together.  Councillor Mendicino was probably the hardest working councillor we had. He was everywhere and his will be a tough position to fill. But that's where the new councillors will have to step up because there's no time to rest.”

McDonald says North Bay has to be moving forward.

“We can't even wait for the swearing in. I'm going to sit down individually with every council member and get up to speed because we have to move forward. The chairs are going to have to get control of their budgets on all the different committees.”

When council resumes Dec.8^th, budget talks will begin. 

McDonald pointed out it will be a difficult budget because of the spending push. “Tanya (Vrebosch) is very clear in her message that she wants us to spend more money.”

McDonald has advised the new councillor on the block, Deputy Mayor Sheldon Forgette, to “just take a couple of days and relax. There is a huge learning curve on a number of files with a $150 million dollar budget. And it's a leadership role, in that you have to bring the whole council along for the budget.”

There could be a change in the way committee chairs get appointed. 

Councillor George Maroosis has suggested the mayor should appoint his choice of councillors in the three most important committees.  McDonald says he heard about it early on in the election campaign, and the city is now looking into it.

“Traditionally we allow the top finishers to pick the committees they wanted to sit on. But it still would be the wish of council as a whole being made up of 11 individuals. And they can decide. I like the idea because someone could have a lot more expertise in one area. I mean Chris Mayne did a tremendous job in public works. So would we be served well if someone moved over? Absolutely, we need different expertise in key areas.”