CARBONDALE - It's been a busy first week on the job for new City Manager Alan Gill.

After just a couple of weeks of living in Carbondale, Gill is still getting acquainted with his new surroundings and Tuesday he officially took the helm as the city's chief administrator.

On Thursday morning Gill took a break from compiling his first city council agenda to talk about what a new city manager does to slip into the post as seamlessly as possible.

"I've touched base with all the council members and department heads and had my first staff meeting yesterday," he said. "Through the interview process I had a lot of tours and met a lot of the staff so I am not exactly coming in cold."

Gill added: "Council members will have questions and I need to be prepared to answer them."

Part of Gill's getting-to-know-Carbondale process has included boning up on the city code, department protocols and financial records.

"It's a lot of reading, and I'm not done yet," he said.

And then there are the standard hoops that many new employees must jump through, like filling out the required paperwork to become "official personnel" and signing up for a health care plan.

Gill comes to Carbondale from Pittsburg, Kan., where he also held the post of city manager. He and his wife, Suzanne, purchased a home in the city shortly after the city council approved his appointment in May.

He's making himself at home in his new office, which has a framed plaque commemorating the St. Louis Cardinals' 2006 World Series Championship and scenic photographs taken while on vacation lining its walls.

He said he intends to do the same around town.

"One of the things I plan to do is to really become a part of the community," he said. "I intend to be visible, to be out at events and activities and part of various organizations."

As taxpayers, Gill said, Carbondale residents are customers and, when he's out and about, he hopes to see that they are satisfied.

"There are about 25,000 people in the city and they are going to be touched by what the city does; that's why customer service is so important," he said. "They (citizens) expect us to do this (carry out city services) without bothering them. That's what they pay us to do and that's why we're here."

blackwell.thomas@thesouthern.com

351-5823