RAPID CITY - Mayor Alan Hanks joked that he actually showed up five minutes late for his first day at the office but that he expects to make up for it by working late into the evening.

Hanks arrived at City Hall at 7:05 a.m. Tuesday, about 12 hours after being sworn in as Rapid City's new mayor. Instead of having butterflies as he walked in the door to his office for the first time, Hanks said he had more of a feeling of anticipation of things to come.

"I'm looking forward to all the challenges and opportunities. To me, I think this is really going to be an exciting couple of years. There's so much happening in Rapid City," he said.

Hanks spent the morning going through "pages and pages" of e-mail from well-wishers and getting acclimated to the mayor's office with the vital help of executive assistant Kay Rippentrop.

"She's been helping me with just little things, like getting the computer switched over so I actually have access to the computer, making sure my cell phone is working, making sure that any appointments I have are on schedule," he said.

In the afternoon, Hanks met with the city attorney, the finance officer and hoped to have time to head over to Rushmore Plaza Civic Center to visit with general manager Brian Maliske.

Though he had some informal conversations with department heads after winning the mayoral runoff election a week ago, Hanks said the in-depth kind of conversations about city operations had to wait until he was actually sworn in.

The next week or two, Hanks will be spending much of his time getting up to speed, something that takes a little time, considering that the city is a huge organization with 685 employees and a $140 million budget.

One of the things he wants to get to fairly quickly is appointing a new police chief to replace Craig Tieszen, who will retire later this month. Hanks said he hasn't had a chance to think much about it yet, but it will be on is agenda for the end of the week.

Despite his own orientation process, Hanks said city operation hasn't missed a step with the change in administrations because of the quality people at all levels working for the city.

The hectic pace of the mayor's office is not that surprising, Hanks said, and it reminds him a lot of the pace of the state legislature, when, from morning to night, there was always some place to be and something to do.

"There's always going to be plenty to do, and I anticipate working quite a few nights and weekends," he said.

Hanks said he can't emphasize enough how much he looks forward to serving the people and doing what's best for the community. He said his administration will be a team effort focused on providing services.

"I'm sure the newness will wear off shortly, but so far, it's been incredible," he said about his first day in office. "The people I've been running into have been absolutely supportive. The encouragement I've gotten and the excitement for the community is just incredible."

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com