Regular municipal elections were held in May 1908. The democrats took the upper hand and Dobri Filov became Mayor. He was no different from the number of Varna public figures and intellectuals at the time, who put themselves in service of their fellow citizen and their own town.
The resolutions of the Municipality Council show their concern with town sanitation, the new shops, hotels and "outlets for eating and drinking in general". Work on street widening, regulation and opening. Old house were pulled down and new, modern buildings appeared at their place. Conditions were set for sale of vacant municipal land "in the northern part of Varna, on both sides of the road to Dobritch" to proven poor and homeless families "at a fixed price and delayed payment". Part of the municipality-owned shops were leased out. The street and square lighting, the supplies to the municipal pharmacy, the printing of Varna Municipal Newspaper, the supplies to local schools, the repair of the Telegraph and Post building and other business activities were transferred to local businesses by tenders. The outfit of the fire brigade was improved. The Municipal Council discussed once again the construction of a hotel with a casino and sea baths facilities. Dobri Filov supported the idea to set up an actors' society and build a town theatre in Varna. Mayor Filov was personally engaged with the food supplies and the regulation of the main product prices.
Despite the good intentions of Dobri Filov, most of the urban development problems of Varna could not be solved at that period. The attempts of the Municipality before and at that time to set a general regulation plan for the development of the town, especially in the old part of the town, turned out to be a long and difficult process.
Filov's short term in the mayor's office was characterised by contradictions within the municipality council members and formation of two opposing groups, which hampered the realisation of the municipality priorities. After a number of consultations with Nikola Kanev, chairman of the democratic bureau in Varna, Dobri Filov resigned in the summer of 1909. In the following years he remained engaged with the town problems. He died on 1 May 1941.