Mayor Yvonne Spicer became the first mayor in the Commonwealth’s newest city when Framingham voters elected her months after narrowly voting to become a city. She has been on the job for a week as of Monday.

It was a busy first week for the mayor. On her third day on the job, Spicer sat down for a moment in her new office that still has the former town manager's decorations. When asked how she was doing, she replied, “I’m doing terrific, you know, I hit the ground running.”

That included planning for the first big storm of the year.

“We live in New England and we have to prepare for these things and so, hey, what better practice than day three of the job?” she said.

Spicer took the storm in stride, and that may be a good indication of how the former Museum of Science executive will run her administration. She just rolled with the punches. Is she overwhelmed?

“Not at all," she said. "The interesting thing of being in this place — a start-up, in many ways — is that there [is] a terrific team of people who work in the community that want to see us thrive.”

Spicer also announced a report from her transition team. The team made many recommendations, including that she hire a diversity and inclusion officer. That’s something she said she’ll push for.

“They felt that it was so critically important as we move forward as a city to really think about issues of diversity on an ongoing basis as we hire staff," she said. "This also includes professional development and training ways in which we implement policies.”

Spicer also attended her first City Council meeting on her third day. The new 11-member council represents every district in the city. She said her message to them was clear.

“We will tackle situations one at a time," she said she told them. "We’ll do that together, and [I told them] that my role as mayor is to support their leadership, but also set the agenda and make sure that strategically, we are moving forward.”

She has to balance supporting small businesses and larger corporations like Bose and TJX. The city has four under-performing public schools, and correcting that is something she calls a work in progress. Spicer said there are some issues she has to address right now, like making recommendations to appoint people to boards and commissions, such as the licensing commission.

"I did do some interviews and make sure that we put a slate of people forward to the council for approval," Spicer said. "I’m very happy I’m well ahead of schedule — the charter calls for me to complete that within two weeks of being inaugurated.”

Meeting and greeting is a priority for Spicer, the first popularly elected African-American female mayor in the state. 

“The first 90 days is definitely about getting to know a lot more about the communities, and one of the things that I am hoping to do is do a residence in various departments and spend some time," she said.

Spicer said she hopes to spark more community engagement.

“There is a seat at the table for all of us, and I would want to make sure that everyone felt that they could get involved in our community," Spicer said, "and it's all of us working together that’s going to make the difference for Framingham."

In other words, it’s a new day in a new city.