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Although he doesn't officially take his new post as Mayor Randy McClement's right-hand man until Monday, Richard B. Weldon Jr., has already begun preparations to take on a new year and a new set of challenges.

McClement (R) announced Friday that Weldon would serve as his executive assistant. Weldon said Monday that he spent the weekend reviewing the city's capital improvement and operating budgets and major city projects and prepping his agenda for meetings with city staff in the next few weeks.

"In my experience, in local government the way to really find out what's going on is to sit down with people and have an honest conversation," Weldon said. "I intend to be doing a lot of listening in the next couple of weeks."

Weldon said also took some time to line up priorities in the departments he will oversee, which include the Office of Economic Development, the Weinberg Center for the Arts, the Frederick Municipal Airport and the Frederick Community Action Agency. Weldon will also oversee capital improvement projects and any other duties assigned by the mayor.

Weldon will be paid $85,123 to work alongside McClement and oversee the city's day-to-day operations.

McClement, who originally included a "chief administrative officer" in his government organizational chart, kept the same salary and job description for the "executive assistant" position that he inherited from the previous administration. Changing the job title would have required changing the city's charter.

McClement said he wants Weldon to focus on day to day issues. "If I had to do that and the budget, I would not be in good shape," McClement said.

Weldon said that he spent the days after the announcement assessing how he could help with the current and future budget crises, focusing equally on where to find money and how to engage Neighborhood Advisory Councils, which he also oversees, in the budget dialogue.

"I've given a lot of thought to the NAC process to make that more effective and more in line with some of the mayor's goals with citizen outreach," Weldon said.

Weldon said that he also had time to reflect on his recent career move.

At the press conference announcing his new position on Friday, Weldon said it was not easy to accept the mayor's top administrative position, especially because he would have to leave his job at the United Way, and resign his position as a state delegate before completing his second, four-year term.

Weldon (Unaffiliated-Dist. 3B) of Brunswick, took the job as a president and chief executive officer at the United Way in April 2008. He was first elected as a state delegate in 2002, and was re-elected to another four-year term ending in 2010. He previously announced that he would not run for re-election in 2010.

"It's really bittersweet — especially with United Way, because we're doing some great things here," Weldon said Monday, adding that he plans to volunteer at the organization. "There's clearly a melancholy component that's taken some getting used to."

But Weldon is anxious to get back to local government — an arena he knows and loves. He worked as a city administrator in Brunswick from 1994 to 1999 and was the chief operations officer under former Frederick Mayor Jim Grimes from 1999 to 2001. During that time, Weldon oversaw every major city department except police, legal and finance.

He said he also looked forward to working with a new mayor, who he believes will bring a fresh style and perspective.

Citing his co-sponsorship as a delegate of the "Maryland Open Meetings Act," which governs public meetings to provide transparency, Weldon said that he is most excited to work under a new administration that has vowed an open and engaging government.

"I think I'm going to get a chance to work for the most transparent city administration in the city's history," he said. "I'm really excited about that."

E-mail Erica L. Green at egreen@gazette.net or Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.