Victor Victorious (updated with photos)

"I will not let you down."
With those words new North Bay Mayor Vic Fedeli reassured hundreds of supporters in the lobby of city hall after his massive landslide victory over former Deputy Mayor Lynne Bennett.

It wasn't close from the start. When the first results came in at about 8:34 p.m., Fedeli had garnered 2,326 votes to Bennett's 576.

When it was all said and done, and when all 14 poll results had come in, the unstoppable Fedeli machine had crushed Bennett 13,025 votes to 3,147.

"Wonderful, exhiliration, that's what I feel," Fedeli told reporters upon arriving at North Bay city hall about 9 p.m.
"I’m excited, I’ve seen the 10 councillors who got elected and I’m absolutely thrilled they're going to be working with me now on council."

Time for hard work to begin
Fedeli had told baytoday.ca prior to the election he hoped to gain at least 70 per cent of the vote, and ended up with five per cent more than his target.

The new mayor celebrated with a big kiss for his wife Patty, seen above.

Tim Wright ended up with 686 votes, and Jeff Marceau finished with 508 votes.

Now that he is mayor, Fedeli said, it's time for the hard work to begin.

"There’s a huge huge task in front of all of us," Fedeli said.

"I think the budget is going to be one of the first things we’re going to do."

Incredibly important
There's also the "little yellow book," Fedeli said, refering to his 2020 Vision plan.

"And I want to make sure we can go through it step by step and get every bit of it implemented as soon as we can."

Fedeli said the first thing he'll do is meet with his new council.

"I'm also going to be looking at the top three people and deciding who’s going to be chairing which committee," Fedeli said.

"I think that’s incredibly important."

We're going to deliver
Fedeli knows the public will expect a great deal from him.
"Managing expections is going to be the biggest concern that we have," Fedeli said.

"People are going to expect, and I’ll tell you right now we’re going to deliver."

Upon entering city hall, Fedeli was greeted by a huge crowd of clapping, cheering and sign-waiving supporters.

"I can't thank you all enough," he said to them.

Patty said she and Vic decided to watch the results at home rather than coming into city hall.
"And that's good because we really got excited and yelled a lot, which is not nice to do in public," Patty said.

Her father Chuck Kelly was moved to tears.

"I’ve never been so happy in my life. Really, it's just wonderful because Vic is going to be a good mayor," Kelly said.

"I just hope he and Patty will conitnue to bring the dignity that Jack Burrows and his wife brought to the office."

Torch passed on

Fedeli's father Hub, who spent 20 years as a North Bay and Widdifield city councillor, was pleased the political torch had been passed on to his son.

"None of my own election victories have given me as much joy and satisfaction as Vic's tonight," he said.

Fedeli said he encouraged Vic to run for the mayor's job.

"The community has been very good to Vic and he wants to keep giving something back," Fedeli said.

The five incumbents councillors, Peter Chirico, George Maroosis, Mike Anthony, Sarah Campbell and Maureen Boldt retained their seats, with Chirico winning the deputy mayor's position.

The balance of the new council will be made up of newcomers Mac Bain, Darryl Vaillancourt, Dave Mendicino, Tom Mason and Judy Koziol.